Detroit Red Wings: Five players Steve Yzerman needs to move on from
By Bob Heyrman
Justin Abdelkader’s best days were playing alongside the great Pavel Datsyuk, well Pavel isn’t here, and Abdelkader for some reason is still in town.
I’ve said it before, and I can’t help but mention it again, Justin Abdelkader should send a percentage of his contract to Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk earned Abdelkader more money than any agent in the world could have ever imagined.
Ken Holland signed Justin Abdelkader to a seven-year contract extension after back to back good seasons playing a regular shift on Datsyuk’s wing. The deal is worth an average of 4.25 AAV per season. It’s merely a way too costly deal for a forward playing on the fourth line who also struggles to chip in offensively.
His best days are long behind him, the tread on the tire is wearing thin, and the Detroit Red Wings need to figure out what to do with him. There are a few options; they could try and find a trade partner for Abdelkader and eat half of his remaining salary over the next four NHL seasons. I think the team would be hard pressed to find a club willing to add the veteran forward even at a couple million per season especially if the Wings are expecting to receive something in return for his services.
The Detroit Red Wings could merely buy him out of his contract and according to CapFriendly.com to buy out the deal it would work out to 1,145,833 million per season until the conclusion of the 2026-27 season. The first couple of seasons the team would need to pay basically half of the cap hit he’s signed for and then it’s 1.145 million per season until 2027. It would be something the Wings should strongly consider especially if they are unable to find a trade partner.
Two seasons ago Abdelkader was able to notch 35 points that included 13 goals. Not a great season by any stretch of the imagination but not nearly as bad of a season this past year was. In 71 games he recorded 6 goals and totaled 19 points. He went through a 40-plus game stretch between goals and looked slow as he struggled to keep up with the pace of the game. He played over 15:00 minutes a night, yet his CF% was atrocious at 46%.