Green is still a positive asset for the Red Wings, they could probably get 1st round value for him so this would be selling really low.

Yeah zero chance that we sell low on either Green or Zetterberg, We do not need to move Green to resign AA and a 4th and 5th round picks for Green and Zetterberg is crazy both could net us at least a late 1st round pick if not more. and the Nielsen buyout with 4 more years remaining so you're willing to waste another 8 years on Nielsen along with 3 more years of dead cap space on Weiss good luck with that it's called bad asset management.

While I agree that Green's value is higher, I don't think anyone is giving up a first for a 31 year old rental anymore. Combine that with having a terrible bargaining position due to cap hell, I just don't think you can reasonably get more than a 4th. Perhaps a 3rd. Also, this deal is get you cap space to sign AA this summer, who you really should try hard to keep, whereas you should try to move Green (as stated above).

There's no having your cake and eating it too for DET right now unfortunately. It's either get fair value and lose AA or get out of cap hell and re-sign AA. I prefer the later.

Fair enough. AA should get offer sheeted more than DET can afford then though. You should also not get a 1st rounder for either of these guys based solely on cost and age. As for the buyout, I'm more of a glass-half full type of guy. You're saving nearly $9 million in '18 and '19 by doing this. If you want your RFA's, it's a solid decision. Not to mention, you're still positive on cap savings until 2022. Then it only costs you $1.3 a year for 4 years. That's less than 1 year of Nielsen's current salary. Sure it's a bit of dead space, but your savings are massive.

Green will net us a 1st rather easily or at worst maybe 2 2nds he wont get moved unless we get the return we want. As far as Nielsen is concerned we will keep him at least for another 2 years then he will be half way through his contract and he should be a little more easily moved if he decide he wants to go elsewhere but we can't afford another 8 years of dead money that's just not going to happen.

Not trying to be mean but this is just bad. Green is a veteran offensive defenseman that could be very valuable for a team as a rental at the deadline. We don't have to clear that much to sign AA and there are better ways to do it then selling low when you don't have to. And the Zetterberg trade is maybe worse then the Green trade.

Outside perspective people have been making trades of Green to Edmonton for a first and a decent prospect. I'd give 2 seconds at TDL not a first. Shattenkirk should have been a wakeup call for the league

I'm not disputing most of what you wrote here, but the "he won't get moved unless we get the return we want" line of thinking is a poor strategy. If you don't trade him by the deadline you'll be left with nothing at all, so positive asset management dictates that he should be traded to the highest bidder regardless of what that bid is.

Any return is better than no return at all.

Edit: this is supposing Detroit is out of the playoff hunt by the TDL, of course.

You're probably right about Green, but the point was to get cap space for AA without him getting an offer sheet that puts him above the team's ability to match.

As for Nielsen, no team should ever take a trade for him. Unless he's producing 60+ points a season or you're willing to dump a high pick, that contract is immovable. Nielsen has never produced that high and isn't going to start doing so. Also, if you wait 3 seasons to buy him out, he'll be 36, making $5.25 million. You save only about $1.5 million at that point. It's not really worth it from then on. What you're not realizing is that the money is dead already. My point is to re-coup as much as you can at the end of the '17/'18 season.

Zetterberg is virtually not tradeable. Too much term and money in his deal. The only way it happens is if money came back to the Wings, which defeats the purpose of the trade. Green can be traded at the deadline to a contender when he contract doesn't affect the cap much.
Wings really have many unattractive contracts which really can't be moved.

Totally agree with the 2018 NHL draft being one of the better drafts in recent memory, I doubt we would get a 2018 1st round pick 2018 2nd+2019 2nd is probably the best we can hope for.