Surprised but not surprised. Surprised because I hadn't considered waiving him. Not surprised because, by all accounts regarding his health, it makes total sense. He appears to be in the midst of a very long recovery period in an effort to return to being NHL-caliber. Either he:
A) returns to relevance before his contract is up and once again plays some meaningful games for Detroit
B) doesn't return to relevance and finishes out his career as a Quad-A type, never quite getting over the hump again
C) doesn't return to relevance and winds up LTIRetired sometime in the next 14 months
Either way, I don't see a scenario where he gets claimed tomorrow, picked in the expansion draft, or traded. I also don't see a scenario where he sticks around the organization beyond his current contract. I hope for his sake he accomplishes option A and signs somewhere else after next season.