Someone please explain to me what "****** situation" Datsyuk has left the team in.
There are two possibilities next year:
1. He plays on nonexistent ankles and hobbles around embarrasingly while the Wings probably **** the bed again.
2. He doesn't, and the outcome is the same.
The only alternative is that he doesn't play, the Wings move his cap hit, and actually use it on something of value. Which could end up actually benefitting the team, given that the player Datsyuk was to round out the season was far from a $7.5M asset.
They lose an asset they could easily trade. If everyone wants the Red Wings to rebuild you can't let assets like that walk away for nothing. He'd return at least a first round pick and a prospect.
I'd rather have Datsyuk in the lineup then dead cap space.
This assumes those are the only options. They could not have in the lineup
and not have to deal with the dead cap space.
And come on, man. The prospect of the Wings ever trading Datsyuk is nil. IF the Wings were ever rebuilding, they still wouldn't trade away a face of the franchise. They'd send Quincey types packing and make do with that.
And you can't premise your argument on Datsyuk being worth a 1st and a prospect. IF Datsyuk is still worth a 1st and a prospect at the deadline, then the Wings probably aren't rebuilding, because if Datsyuk were worth that, he'd probably be an even better player than he was this year.
Those aren't the only two possibilities.
Playoffs notwithstanding, Datsyuk was the Wings best player this year. Assuming he walks away from his contract, they lose one of their best players for nothing but still get stuck with his $7 mill cap hit.
To get rid of that cap hit by trade, they'll likely have to give up picks and/or prospects. They should be acquiring picks right now, not giving them away.
Datsyuk is going to play the World Championships on those "non-existent ankles" and may likely play in Russia on them next year. He has a long off-season to recover. Datsyuk on the 2nd or 3rd line playing 15 minutes for 50 games is still much better for the Wings than him being in Russia while Detroit takes his cap hit.
Datsyuk, at his best this year, was much less the player he was the season before. And Datsyuk, at the end of this season and in the playoffs, was half the player he was at his best at any point in the season, particularly defensively. The expectation that a 38 year-old Datsyuk is still going to be our best player next year when he wasn't even our best player yesterday is a huge stretch. The man was deteriorating before our very eyes.
The World Championship is a joke in comparison to the NHL playoffs. The KHL is a joke in comparison to the NHL. Datsyuk even openly said he'd be able to pull off some of the ol' Datsyukian magic in the KHL when he couldn't here, cause the standards for defense and checking aren't as rigorous. How many veteran players do I have to cite who "retired" to the European leagues when they couldn't even hack it in the NHL? How many elite Euro stars do I have to cite who couldn't even hack it in an NHL bottom 6?
Assuming the Wings don't make HUGE changes this offseason, Datsyuk leaving and having 7.5m in dead cap space is a good thing for the Wings. It forces them to be bad for at least one season, which is needed to get the young talent we so desperately need.
Right on. Worst case scenario, they're forced to play financially short-handed, putting on a rebuild that they can blame on stunted cap space. Boo hoo. Best case scenario, they move Datsyuk's cap hit and have the space to sign Stamkos, making us a better team in the short-term and solidifying our top 2 centers for the next 5+ years, basically continuing the Red Wings way by moving from Yzerman/Fedorov to Datsyuk/Zetterberg to Stamkos/Larkin overnight. Woo hoo. Now all of a sudden it makes sense to tread a little water in order to get that top pairing D or two when you have 2 great centers and a great goaltender to keep you afloat in the meantime. Here's to a 30 year streak.