After much speculation before the first round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pavel Datsyuk, coined “The Magic Man,” has played his last game for the Detroit Red Wings. As Hockeytown and the rest of the hockey world celebrate his career, the business side of things remains a big story. Due to Datsyuk foregoing his last season, the Wings would have been left with a $7.5 million cap hit in dead money. That will now not be the case.
TRADE: #Coyotes acquire draft pick No. 16 & Pavel Datsyuk’s contract from Detroit for Joe Vitale, No. 20 pick and No. 53 pick
— Dave Vest (@davest4yotes) June 25, 2016
Pavel Datsyuk’s Contract Traded To Arizona
It is expected that Arizona will terminate the contract and take on the dead money in order to help hit the salary cap floor. The Wings will still pick in the top 20 with the 20th overall pick, also acquiring a second round pick and Joe Vitale, a grinding center entering his age 31 season that will likely play in Grand Rapids.
With Datsyuk’s contract unloaded, the Red Wings will now have some flexibility for July 1st and beyond. They currently have nearly $20 million in cap space with Danny Dekeyser, Alexey Marchenko, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Petr Mrazek as restricted free agents. Drew Miller is an unrestricted free agent, but will likely return on a low-salary one-year pact. Meanwhile Darren Helm will probably test the market. Brad Richards, Kyle Quincey, and Joakim Andersson will not be back. Players such as Kyle Okposo, Milan Lucic, Loui Erikkson, oh, and Steven Stamkos are on the market.
Let the speculation madness begin.
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