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Way Too Early Expansion Draft Possibilities: Detroit Red Wings


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So after a quarter-century straight of making the playoffs, the Detroit Red Wings are well into a massive retooling towards what they hope will be the new era of glory for the Original Six franchise. Not surprisingly, that means there's a LOT of roster changes in their future. Vegas has actually already helped them along quite a bit with the picks Detroit acquired from them for Tomas Tatar, but who might Seattle be getting from the Motor City in a few years?

Forwards: Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen, Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Luke Glendening

Defense/Defence: Danny Dekeyser

Goalies: N/A

It's a mere formality to put Zetterberg on the list, to be clear. He meets the criteria of being available but he's the one who'd going to decide how and when he's leaving Detroit. I'm sure Seattle would love to have him even for a year, but ti's not happening.

Dekeyser would probably be the most appealing possibility, being the youngest of the players here, but as a hometown kid I imagine he'd rather stay if at all possible. Now, he Abdelakder and Helm only have No-Trade Clauses, so I suppose they could all be made available. But it's easy to see Detroit maybe sending a pick to Seattle to ask them to lay off him. Additionally, Dekeyser is literally the only blueliner under contract longer than the next two seasons so keeping Dekeyser for continuity is probably also a consideration here.

Nielsen's is the most expensive (non-Zetterberg) contract here, but he has the No-Movement clause protecting him if he so chooses. Not to be ageist, but being the oldest player might also make him more likely to be bought out in a few years if deemed necessary. Seattle would have to determine he'd REALLY need to be worth the effort it would entail, and I just don't see the point.

So that leaves us with Glendening, Helm and Abdelkader. At this point in their careers, they're all bottom-six guys who can help out on the penalty kill and they all have pros and cons that seem to cancel each other out.

-- Helm and Abdelkader can both claim being contributors to the back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals trips a decade or so ago, so they have more a playoff pedigree than Glendening. That would be very useful in a new locker room.

-- Conversely, Glendening is two years younger and his contract is less than half of either Helm's or Abdelkader's. Perhaps the savings here could help absorb a bigger contract elsewhere?

-- Abdelkader is an assistant captain which is either a reason to keep him (if Detroit wants at least a little continuity to the Good Old Days or a reason to send him packing (if enough young players are trending towards forming a new leadership core that you'd want the letter to give to one of them).

-- It's a not a huge amount, but you could just fit an ELC contract into the gap between Helm's contract and Abdelkader's. Though both are over 3.5 million annually.

-- The big difference is Abdelkader's contract is also two years longer than Helm's or Glendening's.

-- Abdelkader can play either wing and Glendening can play all three forward positions. Helm is "only" a pivot, so far less versatile than the other two.

So I'd have to think Glendening will be available. The savings on his contract to Detroit would be minimal, nothing to write home about. If I'm Seattle, I'd probably be willing to spend a little more on the intangibles I'd get from either Helm or Abdelkader. But which of them "should" be the pick for Seattle? I think:

Darren Helm (Center/Centre)

Why Detroit Would Make Him Available: Assuming neither of them is bought out, the cap room would come in handy for the new contracts someone like Dylan Larkin or a goaltender. Detroit's roster is poised for a LOT of turnover and the more cap room the better. Even if there's a cloud over the decision makers themselves, no one doubts a lot of player movement is on the way.

Why Seattle Would Want To Take Him: That winning pedigree I mentioned earlier would be quite handy in building a good locker-room culture from scratch. Helm's contract being shorter gives you more options: if you think he's still useful you resign him, if not you trade him to a contender. While these things are also true with Abdelakder, you're committed for an additional two years at almost a million dollars more. Seattle would be right to want something extra for their troubles if they went for Abdelkader, whereas Helm is more user friendly for all parties involved.

I'm usually going to defer to what's going to give the Seattle NHL newbies the most/best options in these idle musings, and as similar as these three particularly might be (for good or ill)I really think Helm is probably the best choice of the lot.

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