Ericsson on waivers, per Freidman

[Konnan511]

Wishing him the best if he is moving on, I'll try not to pile on the guy and just say it will be really nice when we are out from under that contract.

It's the final year of his contract, we aren't under anything. He has had a very manageable cap hit for the past entirety of his career.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Jeez... so much love for a guy who didn't accomplish much at all, regardless of where he was picked.

Ericsson was a two-way defenseman who was misused in Detroit by Babcock, who wanted him to be a stay-at-home, tough, crosscheck you in the back defenseman.
You could always tell he forced himself to be that kind of guy.
But he really wasn't. He was never that good in the defensive zone. His positioning was always off. For a big guy who spent so much time in the dzone, he blocked so few shots.

I don't think he thought the game quite quick enough to get the most out of his offensive skill set, which was underrated. Or maybe his hands just weren't fast enough. Over the years, he's had some nice breakout passes, flashing that ability. But his point shot... the dude just couldn't get it off.

He's been overpaid since two contracts ago.

But... he had a decent career. Nothing special, obviously. Never did live up to what he showed in the AHL and the 09 NHL playoffs. Not even close But still, yeah, great for where we drafted him.

Oh yeah... "He was great for being a 9th round pick and was able to hang in the NHL for 12 years." That's some damn high praise.

 

[Richard Gibson]

Ericsson is a success story with the wings. Drafted in the 9th round in 2002.
Jonathan Ericsson was a forward when he was drafted or only a few years before he was converted to a defensemen.
Here is an NHL article on his milestones in the offseason: By the Numbers: Jonathan Ericsson

This man turned out to be a great D man for us for a decade. The only reason everyone around here is upset with Ericsson is because they moved him up to the top pairing in the past few years. That is an unfair way to measure his effectiveness as a hockey player.

Ericsson was a career Red Wing. He played well for us over the years. I wish him all the best.

NOT a"great" d man.EVER.Lidstrom was a great dman,Ericcson was servicable at best

 

[Kronwalled55]

The peak of my Ericsson fandom was Game 7 of the 2009 Finals. The man did score our only goal

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

WOW

Is this indicative of the end of the Swedish mafia?

Looking like it.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

This is what Yzerman is here for.

Amen.

 

[KJoe88]

Kinda sucks how much hate he has gotten over the years. Deserved better. Hell of a career for a last pick who converted from forward to D.

Agreed so much. Loved his physicality too

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

Wish Big E the very best in whatever happens.

 

[saska sault]

He's had a good ride, may not fully be over but at least if he clears and goes to GR, he can mentor kids... Help keep the flies away from the prospects and be called up for injury or if we move Daley, Green or whoever. People may not have liked his play but most of the time that was a result of being pushed up the line up, and not his own fault. He was perfectly find as a bottom pairing dman for many years, and always represented the Wings with class.

 

[RedWingsfan55]

My bet: He clears, "fails to report," the Wings suspend him, then do the whole contract termination thing.

Then he becomes a skills coach in GR or something.

And lose out on 4 or 5m? I forget what it is. I think hell take the assignment to GR. Which I'm ok with, he'd be a decent vet leader for the youth.

I hope he gets his last home goodbye game with the wings though. I love ericcson, was a solid "pylon" defender and a good person as well as teammate. Not his fault he was overpaid and signed too long.

 

[Richard Gibson]

Agreed so much. Loved his physicality too

he sucks

 

[FabricDetails]

Memories.

EDIT: And yes, I'm assuming this is it for him.

 

[vladdy16]

Ericsson was fine.

His rookie year, his skating looked so good for such a big guy, it was hard not to think he had big potential.

If that never happened, and he spent his career bouncing around as a #4-6 physical mercenary on bubble/playoff teams, he would be remembered fondly as a good competitor with an extra tick of skill.

Let him potentially be a part of taking over Jiri Fischers job by committee, so we can get Fischers coaching career under way imo.

 

[newfy]

Ericsson was never good.
I just can't get behind a NHL level hockey player handling every puck like it's a live grenade
Just lucky he was a Swede on the team favoring Swedes for years.
He wouldn't have had anywhere close to 14 years career under any other GM

This is such revisionist crap. When Ericsson came up he was a solid, stay at home top 4 dman. He played physical and cleared the crease well. He got arthritus in his hip and that completely screwed his mobility and he started to suck. Same thing happened to Cleary and people started saying crap like this, making it sound like he was bad his whole career.

 

[SirloinUB]

Kinda sad people still feel the need to shit on him at this point. The guy gave it his all for this team and was a fine #4/#5 for a good chunk of his career.

 

[StargateSG1]

This is such revisionist crap. When Ericsson came up he was a solid, stay at home top 4 dman. He played physical and cleared the crease well. He got arthritus in his hip and that completely screwed his mobility and he started to suck. Same thing happened to Cleary and people started saying crap like this, making it sound like he was bad his whole career.

Nothing revisionist about a guy who maybe had 1 decent year, which happened to be a contract year.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

He won't clear. Edmonton needs a rock on the second line LOL

 

[2xJack]

Agreed so much. Loved his physicality too

Physicality? What??? Sorry, he was not physical at all. He was a stay at home D, but he was soft like Lilja. Kronwall, Vladdie... those are physical D.

Ericsson was serviceable, but most of his career came when the team was in a steady decline. It is time for him to go. He's not part of the future, and his best days are behind him.

Now, I can't wait until Flip and Franz Ferdinand (Nielsen) are no longer on the roster. Oh, and Helm and Abdelkader. All are past their expiration date on a rebuilding team.

 

[JoesuffP]

He was legit with Kronwall around 2013

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Nothing revisionist about a guy who maybe had 1 decent year, which happened to be a contract year.

Jonathan Ericsson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

Oh yeah, his career just SCREAMS one crazy peak year before a contract. For fun... what one of those 13-15 point seasons was his "one decent year"?

Ericsson was not a star. He wasn't a top tier or great defenseman. He was, however, a guy who reasonably should have been anywhere from #5-7 on a good team's depth chart. He was given a 3x3 and then a 6x4.25 contract because the thought was he'd grow a bit more as an offensive D and be a bona-fide top 4 guy, but he ended up not growing further, due in large part to the massive injury bug he ran into. Ericsson was always slotted above where he should have been. Had the Wings kept a D core like Lidstrom/Rafalski/Stuart/Ericsson, so basically added Suter in 2012 and Fischer hadn't been retired by his heart. Ericsson would be MUCH more fondly remembered.

Say the Wings D in 2012 was Suter, Kronwall, Fischer, Ericsson.

 

[StargateSG1]

Jonathan Ericsson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

Oh yeah, his career just SCREAMS one crazy peak year before a contract. For fun... what one of those 13-15 point seasons was his "one decent year"?

Ericsson was not a star. He wasn't a top tier or great defenseman. He was, however, a guy who reasonably should have been anywhere from #5-7 on a good team's depth chart. He was given a 3x3 and then a 6x4.25 contract because the thought was he'd grow a bit more as an offensive D and be a bona-fide top 4 guy, but he ended up not growing further, due in large part to the massive injury bug he ran into. Ericsson was always slotted above where he should have been. Had the Wings kept a D core like Lidstrom/Rafalski/Stuart/Ericsson, so basically added Suter in 2012 and Fischer hadn't been retired by his heart. Ericsson would be MUCH more fondly remembered.

Say the Wings D in 2012 was Suter, Kronwall, Fischer, Ericsson.

And the point is, no other GM in the world, outside of Kenny, would give him anywhere near the 6 years deal.
His "Above Replacement" value is a bag of peanuts, aka ELC contracts

 

[SimonEdvinssonAtSix]

And the point is, no other GM in the world, outside of Kenny, would give him anywhere near the 6 years deal.
His "Above Replacement" value is a bag of peanuts, aka ELC contracts

This is just false. I could start listing off all the bad term contracts signed by GMs not named Holland, but the list is so long I'd prefer not to.

 

[Richard Gibson]

He was legit with Kronwall around 2013

that's 7 yrs ago

 

[Retire91]

I think he does have a legit accomplishment as a final pick of the draft. But the defense of this guy is overboard. If it weren't for his contract he would have been out of the league years ago. His absence is celebrated because its another sign of an end to the 6-8 year period of mornic GM'ing and watching this team go downhill with no end in sight and his contract was part of that. Wheather the contract was his fault or not it made him untradeable and his $4,250,000 salary hits the cap no matter where he played so he was another player on the roster that was part of the problem with no way to get rid of him. Any player with that performance that was making league minimum or two way wouldn't have been in the league. I am not going to pretend there is no feel good story here but let's also not gloss over that contracts categorization as part of the problem along with Cleary Weiss Neilson, Abby, Helm, etc... Let's not de-legitimize when a fan's is happy to see another key milestone in the rebuild.

It's the final year of his contract, we aren't under anything. He has had a very manageable cap hit for the past entirety of his career.

It's just nice to see an exclamation point on the contract that its that terrible they would rather eat it and send him down than deal with it any more.

 

[newfy]

I think he does have a legit accomplishment as a final pick of the draft. But the defense of this guy is overboard. If it weren't for his contract he would have been out of the league years ago. His absence is celebrated because its another sign of an end to the 6-8 year period of mornic GM'ing and watching this team go downhill with no end in sight and his contract was part of that. Wheather the contract was his fault or not it made him untradeable and his $4,250,000 salary hits the cap no matter where he played so he was another player on the roster that was part of the problem with no way to get rid of him. Any player with that performance that was making league minimum or two way wouldn't have been in the league. I am not going to pretend there is no feel good story here but let's also not gloss over that contracts categorization as part of the problem along with Cleary Weiss Neilson, Abby, Helm, etc... Let's not de-legitimize when a fan's is happy to see another key milestone in the rebuild.



It's just nice to see an exclamation point on the contract that its that terrible they would rather eat it and send him down than deal with it any more.

No one is saying he shouldnt/wouldnt have been done a while ago. Its the BS part about how he was never good. The exact same crap happened with Cleary as well. Did they overstay their welcome to fans? Definitely, but that doesnt mean they werent good hockey players at some point in their careers. Some people cant separate the old guy from the young one who earned a solid contract