I have a hard time believing the wings would take neal at least, will need to add a major sweetener to make it happen.

As a Detroit fan I hope Detroit wouldn't accept this trade. Here's why:

Calgary:

Neal's contract is too expensive for too long. Detroit has 12 RFAs with contracts that expire at the end of this up coming season. Four of those players Detroit needs to resign. The next 6 could go either way but will come down how the play in the up coming season. The 2 remaining would have to have amazing seasons to be resigned or Detroit would have to have some cap left.

Frolik and Brodie I'm not sure if they are dumps or payment for taking Neal's contract. Both of them are just to old to fit in to Detroit's rebuild plans. They are also in the final year of their contracts and in case you haven't noticed Detroit isn't a popular free agent destination and they most likely wouldn't resign with Detroit. So from Detroit's point of view they are just cap dumps.

Detroit:
Detroit is still rebuilding so unless the return is great they'd rather keep the 3rd rd pick.

Helm is 1 of 3 older players Detroit could realistically trade, Glendening and Green are the other 2.

Abdelkader has completely fallen apart in the last couple of seasons. Add that to his awful contract and it would be great to see him go.

So Detroit is paying Calgary Helm and a 3rd to have 3 players dumped on them but they get rid of Abdelkader's contract. There is no reason for Detroit to make this trade.

As a fellow Wings fan I would definitely make that trade.

Neal for Abby + 3rd on it's own is almost a fair trade. Abby is what he is, Neal at least has the ability to bounce back. Both contracts are for 4 years, yes Neal is 1.5M more a year. If Neal fails to have a bounce back season, retaining 50% you have a chance to move him which would be impossible with Abby.

So you have Helm for Frolik and Brodie. Helm is a 3/4 liner, while Brodie has been top pair D and Frolik is a 2nd liner. Helm has 2 years left, while Frolik and Brodie are both on expiring contracts and could be flipped for multiple picks and prospects if they don't fit in.

IMO Frolik is a underrated player and would fit with with Athanasiou. Brodie could play top 4 and could move Green is he is healthy.

So you get out of 2 very hard to impossible to move contracts for a 3rd, and in return you get 1 bad contract and 2 players that could be very sought after at the trade deadline. Sounds like a win to me.