Nine years ago, the Detroit Red Wings drafted Michael Rasmussen with the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Rasmussen was chosen by then-general manager Ken Holland for his size and ability to play a net-front presence. Future Considerations praised him for his ability to block the goaltender’s view.

Since then, Rasmussen has 154 points in 450 games, with just 14 in 60 games this season.

Rasmussen, by all accounts, has fallen out of favor with the front office. He’s been relegated to a role on the fourth line, playing an average of 12:47 per game. This is just a slight uptick from his rookie season, where he played 12:05, and a far cry from his career highs of 15:11 in 2023-24. He’s seeing younger players cut into his ice time and deployment while his production continues to ebb away.

Last night, Rasmussen’s defensive lapse resulted in the Florida Panthers scoring the go-ahead goal in the final 14 seconds of the game.

It’s time for the Red Wings to have a serious conversation about Rasmussen’s future in Detroit.

Red Wings stuck between rock and hard place

This conversation would have happened earlier, had both Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp not suffered injuries yesterday. Until their recovery, however, the Red Wings need all the help they can get. Rasmussen will likely take on the de facto third line center role, with Marco Kasper and J.T. Compher assuming the 1C and 2C roles, respectively.

Whether this conversation is had during this season or at the end of it, the conversation still needs to happen. “We have a lot of guys that are just jerseys on the ice,” McLellan said in a post-game press conference. Watching Rasmussen passively float around the ice waiting for the puck is an exercise in frustration. To see it happen during this final stretch of games is another thing entirely.

But, without a whole lot of extra help, the Red Wings are forced to play an already underwhelming Ramsussen in a situation that sets him up for failure.

What the Red Wings can do moving forward

If enough is enough and the Red Wings decide to move on, they have only a handful of options at their disposal. The first option they’ll explore is to trade him. While teams in the past have expressed interest in Rasmussen, the former first rounder is playing some of the worst hockey of his career. His value couldn’t be lower. Even with his poor play, the Red WIngs should avoid a Jake Walman situation where they’ve sacrificed high picks to get a player off the roster.

They could waive Rasmussen as well, hoping that a team picks up his contract. Rasmussen has two seasons left after this one, making $3.2M per season. Should he successfully clear waivers, he can try to find a new gear to his game in Grand Rapids. Still, barring injury, Rasmussen’s final games with the Red Wings should come this season.

The nuclear option

If the Red Wings have exhausted all their other options, there’s one final option they can take: buying out Rasmussen’s contract. This move would create a $766,667 cap hit over the next two seasons and a $1.216M cap hit over the 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons. After the 2025-26 season, the Red Wings will see the last year of Justin Abdelkader’s buyout come off the books. If they’re truly left with no other option, they can buy out Rasmussen’s contract and replace one buyout with another.