Welcome to a new summer series on Last Word On Hockey. In preparation for the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21st, LWOH’s Detroit Red Wings Department will be going in depth on every Wing that is eligible to be picked by the newest NHL squad, the Vegas Golden Knights, who will begin play in the fall. The team will likely follow the seven-forward, three-defensemen, and one goalie format of protecting players, and this series will follow suit with that. For a brush-up on the expansion draft rules, click this link. Without further adieu, we will continue this series with a newcomer from last year that more often than not did his job, Frans Nielsen.
Frans Nielsen
Center, Shoots Left
6’3″, 192 lbs
Age: 32 (This Past March 7th)
Cap hit: $5.25 million, five years remaining
Reasons for Protection
Nielsen already is an automatic protection due to his no-move clause that came with the contract he signed last summer, and it is highly unlikely he waives it to go to Vegas. He did however, relatively come in and do his job down the middle. No one is going to replace Pavel Datsyuk, but his 17 goals and 41 points was decent production given the team’s lack of superstars as he finished fourth. What’s more, on a team that hovered around last on the man advantage throughout the season, he lead the team in power play points at 15 including four goals.
His 53.90% Corsi-for percentage per 60 minutes placed second among forwards minimum 700 minutes behind Anthony Mantha. The 32-year old logged 151:27 on the PK, second-most among forwards behind puzzlingly Luke Glendening, showing the two-way play that Detroit expected of him out of the second-line center spot frequently with smart defensive reads. Now, one would say the Dane’s goals against per 60 was pretty high at 2.89 per 60, but his luck was not the best as his PDO was 97.54% with Detroit goaltenders posting a .903 save percentage with him on the ice, least among forwards who played at least 700 minutes.
Reasons for Exposing
For starters, getting Nielsen’s cap off the books would be a boon to make room in signing other free agents Detroit will have now and in the coming years such as Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou this summer along with Mantha and Dylan Larkin in 2018. It would take much negotiation for Nielsen to waive it however, and it frankly doesn’t look possible at this point with Nielsen committed to staying here long-term having just completed his first year of a six-season pact. Larkin will eventually supplant Nielsen as a top six center but has not proven himself consistent in a full-82 game slate yet and it is convenient to have that veteran insurance behind Henrik Zetterberg who will be retiring sooner rather than later.
Verdict
Protect Him.
There is little chance Nielsen waives his no-move clause for the chance to be picked up by Vegas, as that is the driving force behind this protection. The contract will get murkier as the years go by, but the team will lean on Nielsen to be a veteran voice down the middle after Zetterberg retires in the next few years, and it is key to have that as stability for young players going into a rebuild.
Check back tomorrow as Jonathan Ericsson takes his turn in expansion draft evaluation.
Each link is a gateway to analysis of each player.
Updated Protection List
Henrik Zetterberg (May 25th)
Mike Green (May 26th)
Frans Nielsen
Exposed:
Justin Abdelkader (May 27th)
Niklas Kronwall (May 29th)
Darren Helm (May 30th)
Danny DeKeyser (May 31st)
Advanced stats courtesy of Puckalytics.
Main Photo:
