The crazy thing is I think you'd have to give up more to get rid of those contracts. I think you'd be better off retaining salary and getting something for them.

maybe helm but the other 2 you need to give up way more to get those contracts gone

You'd have to add a first rounder and a prospect to the Abby and Ericsson trades and lower the ask to a conditional seventh rounder.

On top of all the othe comments, all 3 have NTC and would have to accept trades. NOT going to Happen.

Helm's contract isn't even bad. Hagelin and Eller have similar contracts and all 3 won a cup. Detroit already has issues getting out of the defensive zone, the Wings would be that much worse at it without Helm. He has chemistry with pretty much the entire roster, can fill any role, and he's probably one of the best PK'ers in the league. Zetterberg has back issues so having an extra center is pretty nice (Nielsen can be 2C and Helm 3C if Hank is injured). Yeah that Abdelkader contract sucks especially since Bertuzzi, Mantha, and soon to be Rasmussen took his role(s). He's not even a bad player, I think he would fit in perfectly for Carolina since they addressed they wanted to be harder to play against. I still can't believe Riggy is still in the league let alone on our top pairing, seriously I've wanted him gone since 2012. And he was still bad last year, he just had a good season by his standards.

That's the big problem I think after all...

The NTC's for the most part all have a set of conditions. Each one is a little different but Abby's states something along the following: If he plays bottom line or bottom 6 minutes, his clause is waived entirely at a certain date until a certain date. There are loopholes in all of them, so it can be done, just not today!!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the light gets a little brighter with the more bad contracts we can dump off, and considering we will have to give something significant up to do so, I think it will actually be worth it to go that route.