Red Wings to Reconsider Veteran Defenseman Buyout

Last month saw a lot of buyout action. Cam Atkinson, Adam Boqvist, Jack Campbell, Nate Schmidt, Jeff Skinner, and Ryan Suter were all released and found new deals for this season.

Many thought Justin Holl would be next. He got a three-year contract worth $10.2M with the Red Wings after playing well for the Maple Leafs.

But Coach Derek Lalonde didn’t use him much last season. Holl was healthy but only played 38 games, getting five assists and a +8 rating while averaging 15:05 on ice.

Red Wings’ Offseason Moves:

Detroit had lots of cap space this summer. People expected GM Steve Yzerman to make big moves to end their playoff drought in 2025. They needed new deals for Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider and hoped to sign top free agents.

However, they didn’t make many big changes. The biggest addition was Vladimir Tarasenko , replacing David Perron who went to the Senators. They kept Patrick Kane with a one-year deal worth $6.5M and swapped goalies James Reimer for Cam Talbot but traded Jake Walman to the Sharks in a cap-dump move.

Fans might think the team has taken a step back from last year when they missed playoffs due to a tiebreaker with the Capitals.

Yzerman’s decision puzzled some when he traded Walman instead of buying out Holl’s contract. A buyout would mean $1.13M dead cap hit for four years—something they wanted to avoid as they aim for contention.

Coach Lalonde had reasons not to play Holl much last season even though he gave him easier tasks than in Toronto; Holl still performed poorly with just 42.6% expected goals controlled compared to over 50% during his time with the Leafs.

With Walman gone and more pressure on young players like Simon Edvinsson this season, Holl might be needed more as backup insurance. Bultman thinks Yzerman doesn’t see Holl as hopeless yet since he signed him just last year.

If Holl repeats last year’s performance though, Detroit might consider buying out his final contract year next June which would mean $1.13M dead cap charge but only for two seasons instead of four—freeing up over $2M by 2025 when no core players need new deals anymore plus goalie Ville Husso’s big cap hit along with Olli Maatta’s and Jeff Petry’s contracts ending too.

What do you think? Should they have bought out Justin Holl?