OT: Red Wings buy out Stephen Weiss

Submitted by Randy Marsh on

For the many here who care, the Wings bought out Stephen Weiss today. This opens up some cap space for free agency which starts tomorrow.

More relevant to this blog, this opens up a spot at center that Dylan Larkin could compete for.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2015/06/red_wings_buy_out_stephen_weis.html

Edit: They also re-signed Brendan Smith, but that was expected.

Tater

June 30th, 2015 at 7:27 PM ^

Let's cut through the crap and get right to the "elephant in the room."  It's time to bring Stevie Y home.  

He rebuilt the Tampa Bay Lightning in a short period of time.  He has learned what he needs to learn.  Let Holland retire with a great record and fond memories.  Then let Stevie Y get on with fixing the Wings.

Fhshockey112002

June 30th, 2015 at 10:22 PM ^

But Not extremely tough to "build" when you walk into Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. That's a hall of fame winger and one of best young defenseman in the league.



Will give him credit for the Jon Cooper hire, and some decent moves in free agency (Ben Bishop), but let's not think he turned the Florida Panthers around.

justingoblue

June 30th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^

In any case, Yzerman has done more than enough to prove he should be the man in Detroit when Holland retires. His fellow GM's spoke loudly at the awards last week, like you said, he got his coach, he's navigated their cap issues well and I'd put money on him having a cup before he leaves unless something weird happens with Holland.

I'm not going to say he didn't have some luck (flipside is he had earned a shot with a non-awful franchise) but he's pretty much nailed every big decision he's needed to make and has two consecutive gold medals managing the Canadian team on his resume as well.

Yzerman is a legitimately talented GM.

814 East U

June 30th, 2015 at 5:29 PM ^

Weiss was a really bad move. And as it turns out so was Franzen > Hossa (but at the time it was a close call I will concede). Hopefully the wings can get a solid free agent that pans out. Also love all the trade rumors of the wings bringing in every veteran D man.

Dave98

June 30th, 2015 at 5:29 PM ^

Stephen Weiss 2 yrs with Wings: 78 gp, 11 goals, 29 pts. Buyout dead money against cap: Roughly $1M, $1M, $2.5M, 3 yrs at $1.67M.

What a complete waste. Almost as bad as the Uwe Krupp signing. 

ckersh74

June 30th, 2015 at 5:46 PM ^

Good riddance. I don't know why on earth we signed him in the first place. 

Next time just burn a pile of money in the middle of Woodward and be done with it. 

DingleberryFinn.

June 30th, 2015 at 6:02 PM ^

We signed him to fill the void as a second line center. It was between him, resigning Filpulla, or signing Tyler Bozak.

 

 

At the time, it looked like a fairly decent signing. I was excited to see him play in Detroit. Now I'm more excited to see him leave.

 

 

Anybody else wonder why they waited until the last minute to buy him out? Seems like another move has to be coming (cautiously optimistic for a RHD).

lilpenny1316

June 30th, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^

13 points in 76 games for an "offensive-minded" defenseman?  Dude was a scratch in a couple playoff games.  Unless Blashill said some really good things about Brendan, this makes no sense.

bacon1431

June 30th, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^

And we could have re-signed Valtteri Filppula that same offseason. For almost an identical contract. Just appalling. 

Going with Franzen and Weiss over Hossa and Filppula cost the Wings another cup IMO. 

Huss

June 30th, 2015 at 6:27 PM ^

the decision to choose Weiss over Flip cost the Wings another Cup, you haven't been paying attention to the Red Wings the past couple of seasons.

We have been squarely planted in the NHLs middle-class since our last Cup appearence.  Players like Weiss or Flip do nothing to change that. 

Luckily for the Red Wings, we have seen our farm system emerge into one of the leagues elite and have managed to stay afloat despite some decisions that didn't work out.  And it is that farm system that will give us another chance at the Cup, not re-signing a guy who refuses to shoot the puck.

EDIT: No arguments about Hossa v. Franzen.  I think the front office got caught up in their dates of birth and Franzen's magical Cup run and made a terrible mistake. 

bacon1431

June 30th, 2015 at 6:46 PM ^

Filpulla, at the very least, would have helped position us better in the playoffs. Weiss gave us 78 games and 29 points the last two seasons (and we have him 25 for 5 after he suffered an injury that caused him to miss 65 games the season before). Filppula was fairly productive for Tampa Bay the last two seasons. Maybe we avoid Boston first round in 13-14? Or we get home ice this past season. 

Probably shouldn't have included Weiss/Filppula in the difference b/w a Cup or not because you're right, Filppula does not give us a Cup either of the last two years. But it didn't make sense to go with Weiss over Filppula for the same money when Weiss was coming off an injury and Filppula was already familiar with everyone on the team and organization philosophy. 

lunchboxthegoat

June 30th, 2015 at 6:33 PM ^

IIRC Filppula was wanting a 5+ MM deal, the Wings weren't paying that and weren't waiting, they signed Weiss for the deal on the table for Fil and moved on. Fil signed later for what he could have gotten to stay here. Was an error on his agents part. (same with Damien Brunner who wanted an absurd deal that the wings walked away from). 

 

Franzen over Hossa looks bad now, but at the time Franzen looked every bit the player of Hossa and younger (plus a bit cheaper) I won't kill Holland for that. 

 

 

bacon1431

June 30th, 2015 at 6:54 PM ^

Franzen is only one year younger than Hossa. And his contract is only about a million less in cap hit I believe. I guess it's hard to go with Hossa over Franzen because the Mule was on fire in the two Cup runs while Hossa was in and out in terms of major impact. But Hossa was always a better two way player than the Mule and had a longer history of consistent production. But hindsight is 20/20. 

Jack Harbaugh

June 30th, 2015 at 11:19 PM ^

They didn't go with anybody over Hossa. They chose not to offer Hossa a massive deal that would handicap them. Choosing Weiss over Filpula was, at the time, the better move. In the same time Weiss has been here, Val has slipped from 2nd line center to 3rd line center in TB. Not really that bad of a move IMO.

Lionsfan

June 30th, 2015 at 6:06 PM ^

In related hockey news, the Blackhawks traded Saad. Reportedly he was asking for a 6x6 contract

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to laugh at every Blackhawks fan who told me, "We'll manage the cap just fine. Saad will take a hometown discount, so he can be a part of something special"

DenverRob

June 30th, 2015 at 6:39 PM ^

They traded saad for nothing special. It seemed someone was going to offer him as a RFA and Chicago wanted none of that.

Weiss being gone is great.

Smith being back is below average. Maybe he is trade bait with a two year deal.

Lines:
Z-pav-Abby
Nyquist-sheahan-Tatar
Pulk-Larkin-jurco
Glen-helm-whoever wants it more between miller, Ferraro, Anderson or a AHL player
Franzen LTIR

Yostbound and Down

June 30th, 2015 at 7:08 PM ^

It helps with cap space. Guy on LTIR's cap hit doesn't count towards the cap at all. Don't believe it changes what the team owes him.

The Wings will have a Pronger type situation with Franzen whenever he does hang them up because if he retires early the cap recapture penalties will be bad (same thing with the Hawks with Hossa).

Hotel Putingrad

June 30th, 2015 at 7:15 PM ^

Though I thought they might try to squeeze one more year from him. Wings won't truly contend again until a stud defenseman emerges, and those don't grow on trees.