Detroit Red Wings enter final year of paying $1.06M for bought out player
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The Detroit Red Wings are entering the final year of paying a bought out player's contract, here's what you need to know.
It's been a long time coming, but the 2025-26 season marks the final year Justin Abdelkader's buyout will impact the Red Wings' salary cap. Originally bought out in 2020, the move left a lingering cap hit of $1.06 million annually for six years. Now, the end is finally in sight.
Red Wings To Finish Paying Abdelkader's Contract After This Season
General manager Steve Yzerman decided to cut ties with Abdelkader in October 2020, using a buyout to free up cap space.
At the time, Abdelkader had three years left on a deal that carried a $4.25 million cap hit.
Yzerman explained his decision by saying he wanted to save money, but here he is, five years later, still paying him.
"Just an FYI, the 2025-26 season is the final season that Justin Abdelkader's buyout is on Detroit's salary cap ($1.06 million).
When you don't spend your $$$ wisely, it hurts for a LONG time"
When you don't spend your $$$ wisely, it hurts for a LONG time"
Drafted 42nd overall in 2005, Abdelkader played his entire NHL career in Detroit, scoring 252 points in 739 games. He earned a big contract after a breakout 23-goal, 44-point season in 2014-15, but his production fell off after signing a seven-year, $29.75 million extension. Over the next four seasons, he only got 26 goals in total.
Despite the decline in performance, Abdelkader's passion for the team never faded.
Here's what he had to say at the time:
"All I ever wanted to be was a Red Wing. As a boy, that's what I dreamed of. It was a dream I felt like I could reach out and touch when I was five years old and I was at the Joe Louis Arena for the very first time. Walking through the concourse I must have looked like a kid on Christmas Day. I remember running up to the entrance of our section and peeking through the plastic curtains that hid the ice from the hallways - that was when I saw the Joe in all her beauty for the first time."
After being bought out, Abdelkader has been paid by the Wings while playing in Switzerland, and retired after the 2022-23 season.
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