The Athletic’s Gentille offers salary cap rankings

The Athletic’s Sean Gentille offers a set of salary cap rankings from best to worst in the NHL, and he says this of the Red Wings’ cap situation:

Detroit Red Wings

2022-23 salaries: $51,478,889
RFAs estimate: $2.5 million
Dead money deals: Justin Abdelkader buyout ($2.305 million), Richard Panik retained ($1.375 million), Frans Nielsen buyout ($500,000)
Notable unsigned UFAs: Sam Gagner, Thomas Greiss, Marc Staal
Problem contract: None
Projected cap space: $28,564,486

The Red Wings, for all intents and purposes, could spend their summer figuring out their approach to the futures of 2023 UFAs Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. Of the three players they sent qualifying offers on Monday, Filip Zadina is the relevant piece — whether it’s to hold, cheaply extend or flip for another team’s change-of-scenery RFA. Only new goalie Ville Husso and Robby Fabbri are signed for more than two seasons. The team’s other two cornerstones — Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond — each just finished the first year of their entry deals.

There’s also more than enough space for Steve Yzerman to add an actually relevant player or three, if he wishes. Those could be short-term deadline-flip plays, or they could be legit pieces for the next good Red Wings team. Max Bultman went over 10 solid options, starting with Ondrej Palat.

Continued (paywall)