Detroit Red Wings: Frans Nielsen is another Stephen Weiss

The key word in the title here is “another.” When the Detroit Red Wings signed Frans Nielsen, they were expecting to get a reliable two-way forward, but he’s only lived up to half of the billing.

Frans Nielsen is yet another Ken Holland signing that has struggled to live up to his expectations after joining the Detroit Red Wings. We are not going to list a whole bunch of players, but the first player that immediately comes to mind is Stephen Weiss.

While we are talking about Stephen Weiss, who underperformed so much so that the fans started to boo him as he took the ice in Motown, remember the forward played somewhat locally for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League and was born just down the 401 in Toronto, Canada. Weiss was a top-six forward during his time with the Florida Panthers, having scored 20-plus goals three straight seasons and averaged just shy of 57 points per season during that span.

So what does this have to do with Frans Nielsen? Well, Nielsen signed a similar contract with the Detroit Red Wings after averaging 20 goals and 51 points per season during his final three years with the New York Islanders before joining the Wings. Nielsen signed a six-year deal in the summer of 2016 with Detroit worth 31.5 million dollars (5.25 AAV) with a Ken Holland special (no-trade) clause attached.

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Stephen Weiss signed a very similar deal in the summer of 2013, three years prior. This was a five-year commitment with Weiss worth 24.5 million dollars (4.90 AAV) with, you’ve guessed it a Ken Holland special attached to the deal. Who DIDN’T receive a no-trade clause from Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland?

Not only were their contracts very similar, but the production also has nearly mirrored each other. Nielsen has been a bit better than Weiss but not a heck of a lot. In three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings Nielsen has achieved 109 points in 230 games while playing as a minus -25.

Stephen Weiss only accumulated one seasons’ worth of work in parts of two years merely recording 29 points in 78 contests. Yes, 109 points are much more than 29, but the points per game are not much different, in fact, Nielsen is averaging 0.047 points per game and Weiss averaged 0.037.

They’ve both played 13 seasons in the NHL, Weiss recorded 423 points in 732 career games while Nielsen’s career is still playing out but to the present date, he’s recorded 458 points over 836 games. Once again very similar, too similar if you are a fan of the Detroit Red Wings.

Weiss owns a career 52.2% success rate in the faceoff circle which is better than Nielsen’s 48.6%. One other shocking stat is the Corsi possession statistic during even strength play; when the number is over 50% means said player’s team is controlling the puck more often than not. Last season Nielsen owned a pathetic CF% of 45.3%. His career average is 49.8% while Weiss’ percentage is 49.5%, again way to similar if you are a Detroit Red Wings fan.

The fact is we the fans were extremely hard on Stephen Weiss yet allow Nielsen to slide down the depth chart quietly. He’s quickly becoming a low ranked third line center and quite possibly a fourth line center on a good team, yet he makes over 5 million dollars per season for another three seasons if he played where he should on the Detroit Red Wings fourth line with Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm they would combine to be a 13.35 AAV million per season line. Understanding all three deals are nearly impossible to move; if that doesn’t churn, your stomach nothing will.

Next. Helm should be on the Trade Block. dark

Frans Nielsen simply needs to be more productive but as he grows older I’m afraid the offense will continue to dry up, he turns 35-years-old on April 24th and scored just 10 goals last season and was a minus -7 averaging 16:41 TOI per night. The Detroit Red Wings bought out Weiss but don’t expect the same to happen with Nielsen.

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