The moment that Tyler Bertuzzi filed for salary arbitration, the Red Wings received two benefits as an organization: first, Bertuzzi was made exempt from restricted free agent offer sheets, and second, Bertuzzi’s filing for arbitration opened up a 48-hour window in which the Wings will be able to buy out another player’s contract.
There’s been significant speculation that the Red Wings will buy out Frans Nielsen with 2 years remaining on his contract to both open up a roster spot for younger players and to simply rid themselves of an underachieving forward, and CapFriendly has a buyout calculator, so you can peek under the hood of what would be a relatively costly buyout.
In a subscriber-only article, MLive’s Ansar Khan suggests that, despite the roster ramifications of keeping another forward on a crowded roster, the Wings ought to keep Nielsen on for at least one more season:
There are reasons why the Red Wings would want to keep Nielsen.
Nielsen can meet one of the Red Wings’ two exposure requirements at forward for the 2021 Seattle expansion draft (teams must expose two forwards under contract for 2021-22 who played 40 games in 2020-21 or 70 games combined the previous two seasons – a figure that might be adjusted depending on the length of next season’s schedule).
The Kraken would not claim Nielsen, but this might enable the Red Wings to protect a forward they might otherwise be forced to expose.
Nielsen could also provide depth if they experience multiple injuries and when they inevitably move some forwards at the trade deadline for draft picks.
Continued (paywall); my gut feeling is that the Wings won’t buy out Nielsen, but that’s my guess.
