Meh, I think the Wings were on course to one of the worst arbitration cases since Tommy Salo... He might have been worth more at the draft but he wasn't going to be on the roster after that weekend in Montreal regardless. So if he went into a full on malaise for the Month of March and dipped to minus 60 I am not sure the return is any different. It was time to turn the page. Hopefully AA learns from this and a more dedicated player shows up in Edmonton.
AA has full arbitration rights and can push himself directly into free agency. Mantha can as well which means if extension talks don't go well, I can see him getting shipped at the draft in his hometown as well. We will have to see, but Yzerman decided AA wasn't a part of the future and moved on. I think the message being sent to Bertuzzi, Mantha and Larkin was a part of why he did it now.