Put Abby on the fourth line and give Svechnikov the minutes to see how well he can do.

Washington has enough space to sign Carlson and Wilson. Orpik trade is unnecessary.

If you want bad contracts, there are plenty of others to be found. Seabrook? Clutterbuck? Ladd? Boychuk? Alzner? Dubinsky? Bogosian? Marc Staal?

I think turning Detroit from Hockeytown to Cap Dump Central will be difficult with the bad contracts they already carry but more importantly will be offensive to Zetterberg. Try a Rangers-esque retool this year while he plays out the string.

I dont mind an orpik deal since he has 1 year left. It would have to be a really sweet deal for detroit to take on multi year cap dump like the guys you mentioned. Its getting picks and young guys as we wait for the bad contracts we have to lessen.

Sure but the Caps will not be doing an Orpik dump this offseason. If they were ever going to offload his salary it would have been this past offseason so they wouldn't have had to trade Johansson to NJ for peanuts. Orpik also has played well this postseason.

Detroit is stuck in no mans land until Zetterberg retires. If he follows through with his intention of 2018-2019 being his final season, the Wings will incur a cap recapture penalty of $5,083,335 for 2019-2020 AND 2020-2021. Factor in Abdelkader and Helm's bloated long term contracts for bottom six guys and there is no clear path for Detroit to contention in the next few years due to too much bad money on the books and not enough cheap talent in the pipeline.

It seems to me that the best way forward (which will never happen with Ken Holland in charge) is to adapt the Sixers' Process to the NHL. Sell off any and every resource possible for future returns. Use cap space to take on bad contracts for future returns. Give waiver claims/fringe prospects a look against NHL competition to see if there are any gems hiding in the bargain bin. After 2-3 years of fielding a non-competitive roster and amassing top picks and young talent, use assets to move on from the final years of Abdelkader/any remaining bad money and aim to contend again. Additionally, this strategy will help the Wings get through the upcoming Seattle expansion draft unscathed - and might even help them take advantage of other teams' poor strategic planning by trading for their players before Seattle poaches them for free.

if the cap is estimated to be 80 mill and caps are at 66.5 right now, that gives you 8.5 for karlson, 3.5 wilson leaving 2/3 mill to resign 2 or 3 forwards, and 2 or 3 defense. they will need to dump a salary. I believe Orpik had a NTC last year

Detroit has cap space this year, not like karlson or JT are coming, they want to win now. may as well use the cash to get future assets. next year Z likley retire or Long term (Back). kronwall retire, last year for Daliy and Erricson, making them trade canditates, especially if we still have our 2 retained contract option. Helms no trade clause comes off and can get rid of him too, Gus is last year, could be traded, or resigned. Basically I see 3 young guys this year, and 4 or 5 more next year. Most of your young guys are not ready, I am not sure about Hicketts as a full time NHL player, love his game and jam, but he is freeking small. Honeck and Cholwlsky need more time AHL, with injury call ups during this year. Our Forward depth is a little concerning in the minors. If Svechnikov flames out we are real thin at young forwards. By the time we are ready to compete Abby salary will not matter, if the cap is up to 85 mill his contract will be inline with an experince 3/4th liner.