The Detroit Red Wings have sufficient salary cap space, so there is no urgency to buy-out anyone’s contract.
If general manager Steve Yzerman exercises that option when the NHL’s buyout period opens Thursday night, it’ll be to replace that player with a better option.
The Red Wings have two buyout candidates in forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Justin Holl. The buyout period ends on June 30.
Tarasenko, 33, is coming off his worst season, producing only 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games, unable to find a comfort level under two different coaches and with several different linemates.
The Red Wings expected a lot more from the six-time 30-goal scorer after signing him last summer to a two-year, $9.5 million deal. If they buy out the final year of Tarasenko’s contract ($4.75 million), it will cost them $1.583 million against the cap in each of the next two seasons, according to puckpedia.com. They would be adding about $3.1 million to their cap for the upcoming season.
Cap space is not an issue, though. The Red Winge have roughly $21 million in cap space with no big-money deals due for their own free agents, unlike last year when they had to sign Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond. Patrick Kane might be their only unrestricted free agent they’re interested in bringing back. Restricted free agents Jonatan Berggren, Elmer Soderblom and Albert Johansson won’t cost a lot to re-sign.
Yzerman, however, will look to make a splash in free agency or through trade, so additional cap room might help.
For what it’s worth, Yzerman after the season sounded like he’s planning on having Tarasenko back.
“I think his play was better probably than his production, what we’d expect from him as a goal-scorer,” Yzerman said on April 29. “I would say he was frustrated not being able to produce and I think that affected his attitude and affected his play. But overall, you try to reassure him that you’re doing a lot of good things out there and don’t let the missed chances or the inability to score affect your play.
“I’m hopeful and expecting him to give us more than he did this year because I know he can.”
Holl, 33, played in nearly twice as many games (73) this past season as he did in 2023-24, when he was a frequent healthy scratch who appeared in only 38 games.
If Holl were bought out of the final year of his contract ($3.4 million), it would leave the Red Wings with $1.13 million on the cap in each of the next two seasons.
Losing Holl would leave the team with only one NHL right-shooting defenseman (Moritz Seider) since Jeff Petry isn’t expected to be re-signed. They hope top prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka, a righty, makes the team out of training camp.