A major development in Detroit and two members of the Red Wings are leaving the organization for good
Photo credit: NHL.COM
There could be multiple players on the Red Wings roster who will not be back with the club next year per a team reporter, opening up considerable salary cap space.
Multiple subjects were covered by Red Wings Gm Steve Yzerman earlier in the week, including what the roster could look like next year.
Based on what Yzerman said, the Red Wings could very well be considering moving on from a pair of players.
According to Max Bultman of The Athletic, the Red Wings are "likely" to say goodbye to both Craig Smith and Tyler Motte, the latter of whom spent the entire year with the Red Wings after signing as a free agent during the summer.
Smith was excited to get traded to the Red Wings at the deadline, and while he didn't produce much in a fourth-line role, he is a veteran with a track record of scoring that clearly appealed to Detroit. The Red Wings will have to do some re-imagining with their bottom six, and the two points in 19 games will make him a natural candidate to move on as an unrestricted free agent, but it's not impossible to envision Smith factoring in, depending on what Detroit does elsewhere.
Motte is another pending free agent who is a possible candidate to return as a veteran fourth-line energy type who kills penalties. The Red Wings' penalty kill struggles were not on Motte, historically a very good penalty killer, but it is an open question how much Detroit will want to just «run it back» with the same personnel on the PK this time around. They likely couldn't bring back both Motte and Smith, and may not end up bringing back either, but there is at least a spot in that part of the lineup available if the Red Wings want to retain one of them.
Which of either Smith or Motte would you shatter the Red Wings bid farewell to one the summer?
Previously on Red Wings Insider
| POLL | ||
MAI 2 | 135 ANSWERS A major development in Detroit and two members of the Red Wings are leaving the organization for good Who would you most rather say goodbye to on the Red Wings? | ||
| Tyler Motte | 49 | 36.3 % |
| Craig Smith | 86 | 63.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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