The Athletic’s Harman Dayal discusses “seven NHL teams that will shed bad contracts and gain major salary-cap relief in 2025,” and the Red Wings make his list. Here’s the text part of what he has to say:
Inefficient contracts expiring: Ville Husso ($4.75 million), Jeff Petry ($2.343 million)
Dead cap reduction: Justin Abdelkader and Kailer Yamamoto’s buyout cap hit shrinks from $1.58 million to $1.05 million
Projected cap space (assuming a $92 million cap ceiling): $39.9 million (12 players signed)
2025 pending UFAs: Patrick Kane, Christian Fischer, Tyler Motte, Husso, Olli Määttä, Petry, William Lagesson
2025 pending RFAs: NoneThe Red Wings will be able to spend more efficiently in net once Ville Husso’s $4.75 million AAV contract expires.
Husso has registered a save percentage below .900 in both of his seasons with Detroit and was limited to just 19 games because of injury in 2023-24. If top prospect Sebastian Cossa looks ready for NHL duties by 2025-26, the Red Wings can allocate Husso’s cap savings to upgrade other parts of the roster.
Detroit’s glut of veteran third-pair quality defenders will also start to clear up. Jeff Petry and Olli Määttä’s contract expiration will open up an additional $5.3 million in cap room.
However, the $39.9 million of projected cap space for next summer is misleading because both Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are currently unsigned. Seider and Raymond are projected to sign long-term extensions in the $8.1 million and $7.75 million cap hit range, respectively, according to AFP Analytics.
With those cap hits plugged in, Detroit would be left with $24 million to spend in the 2025 offseason, which is still some serious dough. The 2025-26 campaign will mark Steve Yzerman’s seventh season as Red Wings general manager, so he’ll likely be feeling pressure at that point to capitalize on that cap space and ice a playoff team.
Continued; it could be argued that next year will be the year in which Detroit makes its first real playoff push due to some inevitable turnover on the roster, but I can’t imagine that the GM and management group will feel any more pressure than they already do to end the Wings’ playoff drought.
That, and one way or another, Husso will either be playing for the Red Wings as a healthy goaltender, he’ll be buried in Grand Rapids, or he’ll be traded by the end of December. The Wings are going to rectify his situation this season.
