Speculation: Jonathan Ericsson

[Inspiration]

8 defensemen have played 20 or more games for the Red Wings this season: Ericsson is averaging the fewest TOI per game of any of those players, including Cholowski and Hronek. He was healthy scratched this week for the first time that I can remember and his average TOI is by far the lowest of any year since '12/13. With the speculation that Kronwall might be brought back for one more year (by Friedman and others), I wonder if Ericsson is the odd man out in '19/20. I don't think he's tradable at $4.25mm, but with only one year left on his contract this might finally be the year the long-anticipated buyout comes to fruition.

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[SCD]

No reason to buyout one year of a contract at this stage. Waive and put in GR if necessary. At this stage of the rebuild, we should not use that cap space.

 

[SimonEdvinssonAtSix]

Would buying him out in his last year have to be paid out over two years? If so, what would the cap hit be?

 

[Big Ed]

Would buying him out in his last year have to be paid out over two years? If so, what would the cap hit be?

1.4 million for two years.

 

[DetroitRed]

I think just let him return and hope he plays with enough inspiration in his contract year to trade him next deadline. If that doesn't work out, then you can let him walk and be done with it then and there rather than to buy him out now, get nothing out of it, and then have his debt spread over several seasons.

 

[SimonEdvinssonAtSix]

1.4 million for two years.

Yeah, no. At that cap penalty I'd rather wave the guy or use him as the 7th Dman for a year.

 

[Inspiration]

No reason to buyout one year of a contract at this stage. Waive and put in GR if necessary. At this stage of the rebuild, we should not use that cap space.

That's sounds great, but they aren't going to do that for a few reasons:

1) There is already a logjam on D in Grand Rapids, and they aren't going to make it worse for a player with no future with the franchise. Plus buying him out saves a contract spot (from the 50 contract limit)
2) Buying him out saves $1.4mm of actual cash vs. waiving him. We may not care about the money, but I guarantee you Chris Illitch does.
3) As much as we may roll our eyes over it sometimes, the Red Wing organization cares deeply about how it treats its players, particularly the guys with a long history with the team. They aren't going to make a 12 year veteran toil away in GR if they can let him seek other opportunities instead.

We saw them do the same with Ouellet last year - waiving him and burying him in GR would've been a better cap move, instead they bought him out and let him move on. I'm not saying it's what should happen, but I bet it's far more likely to happen than waiving him.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Why would we buy his one year contract out? He's got one year left and were rebuilding

 

[datsyukfan]

I hope to god he’s on ltir retired I can’t watch him for much longer. If Bowey isn’t in for him on Tuesday I’m gonna lose my mind

 

[Winger98]

Instead of buying him out, I think Holland would look to just eat part of the contract and deal him somewhere.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Instead of buying him out, I think Holland would look to just eat part of the contract and deal him somewhere.

This or put on waivers.

 

[obey86]

Please do not buy him out. Would be a waste of future cap space. Just ride out his contract if you can't find someone to take him on in a trade.

 

[PelagicJoe]

Buy out or not, the general consensus is that he's toast, yes?

 

[Go Wings]

There isnt a lot of defensmen available this year so Detroit shoukd trade him tomorrow at the trade deadline even if they have to eat some of his salary for a year.

 

[Syckle78]

Damn near any veteran defenseman is tradeable if he doesn't have a bad contract. They can easily get a mid pick for him next year.