No, because there's a massive risk of a team not wanting or to LTIR him or Zetterberg just retiring on his own causing massive cap issues for Detroit. Once you trade him he's out of your control. You can't "gentleman's agreement" anything once he's gone. If he retires you're screwed. While under Detroit's control you at least have a greater chance of figuring out how to hide his cap hit.
Holland absolutely should not trade him.
That Zetterberg recapture is not a big deal.
Let's say he is traded this season, goes for a contender and then retires. Red Wings will get a recapture penalty of 5.1million for 2 seasons.
So?
Replace him with Rasmussen ELC and it will cost the same 5.1M + 925k = 6.0M.
Basicly, trading Zetterberg will keep the salary cap things same, with or without him.
But he can land extra 1st rounders. That's a huge positive if he is dealt.
Also team will get weakened, so our our own 1st rounder will be higher.
It would be a rebuild-rebuild-rebuild move.