Red Wings officially send two defensemen to AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins as they clear NHL waivers

With the NHL season officially starting tomorrow, analysts were expecting a big day on the waivers front yesterday, and that's exactly what happened.

Due to the 24-hour delays teams face when they want to place players on waivers, the organizations, and the deadline for submitting official rosters being today at 5 p.m., moves had to be made yesterday.

Thirty-three players were made available by teams yesterday, and four players were claimed:

The Wings had placed two players on waivers, but they both cleared and will report to the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL.

Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson, two veteran defensemen, were made available yesterday by the Wings, and they both cleared waivers:

This isn't considered a surprise, as the two players have been performing underwhelmingly in recent years but are still signed to heavy contracts.

Gustafsson makes $2M a year, and Holl $3.4M.

Steve Yzerman surely tried to trade them in the offseason but couldn't convince other general managers to take them.

At this point, the two players will be great candidates for call-ups from the AHL if injuries occur but will likely leave the Detroit Red Wings organization in free agency next summer.

As of now, it appears the Wings will go with Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Simon Edvinsson, Axel Sandin Pellikka, Albert Johansson, and either Jacob Bernard-Docker or Travis Hamonic on the blue line to start the season.

With all the cap space available in Detroit, fans would surely like to see Yzerman make a move to add some talent at that position.