Even after subtracting out Franzen’s contract, the wings are about 150k over due to the carryover performance bonuses. It feels like there will be some roster shuffling (frk to GR for someone with a lower cap hit) or Zetterberg going on LTIR for the year.

It’s ironic, that for a team that didn’t dress a brawler at a time when it was common place, that when nearly all teams have done away with them they’re playing Witkowski.

I agree that, with the current situation Cap-wise they may add a min salary player (of which Hicketts is a solid possibility given the Wings are only carrying 2 DMen on the Left side at the moment). But where is the chance to free up the $1M plus (to have some buffer to cover their performance bonuses) they will need to add Zadina and/or Rasmussen to their Forward group? They have space WRT roster spots to add them but no space against the Cap.

Either Zetterberg is going on LTIR at some point soon or there is a trade in the works or maybe Glendening gets buried in the AHL or they work out a trade with him, or Abdelkader, or Helm, or some other player in their forward corps. The Wings are lucky they have all 3 spots for retained salary transactions left as they will certainly be using at least 1 or 2 in the coming few months to manage this bizarre Cap crunch.

I say bizarre as it’s coming at a time when most teams in the Wings position have ample Cap space. It’s usually when teams have found playoff success and players are coming off their bridge or even ELCs that teams run into issues of this magnitude. I suppose a quarter century of playoff success brings with it a certain amount of hubris and a sense that they will always compete. Nothing else can rationally explain the contracts that were handed out a couple years ago.

I hope that this isn’t the end of Zetterberg’s career. He’s been one of the best players in the League for 15 years, and has put together a career that at least gets him into the discussion for HoF consideration. A couple more seasons at a reasonably strong level of play could really strengthen his case whilst providing leadership to what is increasingly a younger and inexperienced team.

yeah, I did forget about how close promoting Hicketts would push them against the cap. I made that comment yesterday and then saw articles from the Detroit Free Press and MLive about Zetterberg's back troubles and was like, "ah, and that is how the Red Wings will stay under the cap this season."

Seeing Zetterberg's career end like this would a real shame. He's been an absolutely stellar hockey player and should get HoF consideration. That being said, I'm callin' it now, either his contract or Franzén's is getting dumped onto the Sens in a year's time. The Coyotes actually have good young players that they need to start paying in the next two years, so they won't really have a need for dead money contracts.

This is a great signing, however I will say that the wings cap mismanagement seems to have precluded them from making a competitive 7 or 8 year offer. To do so would have pushed the AAV to high and they would have struggled to get under the cap this season. I sincerely doubt that putting Franzen on LTIR is enough and there is no way that an NHL team plays with no scratches. So what do you guys think they will do?

I posed the same question yesterday in this thread, suggesting a few different options. Read them for some ideas. Basically Zetterberg to LTIR seems like the prevailing idea and that his contract will likely get traded at some point in the next year to free up space for future RFA resigning and to make space for performance bonuses (which cannot be covered by LTIR).

I agree (that is seems like a near certainty now) that Z will be going on LTIR come September. The ONLY other plan will be a major trade of cap dollars, including Franzen’s contract & with salary retained, of someone like Darren Helm. Ottawa could find some use from Helm to bolster their bottom-6 and certainly have the cap space to cover Franzen’s contract plus most of Helm’s. Detroit will also have to part with a Top 5-10 prospect to lube the wheels. In return the Sens could give the Wings a 5th or 6th round pick while the Sens receive a Wings 3rd or 4th to move up in the Draft in 2019.

The Sens need to start parlaying the resources they have (including using Cap Space - and they’ll have more as they part with UFAs) to improve their cupboard of assets moving forward.

He's their CURRENT #1 Center

Ik, but no one knows the future

Is there a team w/ more cap issues than DET? For years, GM Ken Holland tried desperately to hold on to a playoff spot w/ mediocre, veteran players way past their prime. Now, they're experiencing a reckoning. The Atlantic Division is way too top heavy for DET to even think about making the playoffs for at least another 4-5 seasons. They'll join MTL and OTT as bottom dwellers for the foreseeable future. Still, Detroit is in better shape than either of them-the two worst-run franchises in pro sports.

Nice to see someone under 30y signing for Detroit

Probably close, but I think the amount of additional AAV required for each additional year past 5 will be more. I think 8 years costs north of $7M. Nylander has also said he wants a long term deal publicly, so I don't see a bridge happening.

I think the Team goes to him with the number (probably something Mid-6), and works on the question of how many years that buys, as getting the cap number right will be very important in the short run.

Cap and term seem fine. I think given where Detroit is, it was his decision to keep the term down, so he could reassess.

Contract talks are getting a little less interesting as teams are getting better using CH% and comparables to keep RFA's in line. We still get the odd Wilson contract, but for the most part it gets relatively easy to peg the type of money a player will get.