Do NOT Buyout Stephen Weiss…Yet

Last year we saw glimpses of what the Red Wings expected after signing Stephen Weiss. His 25 points in 54 games provided the depth scoring the team desperately needed. However the points did not always outweigh his other deficiencies. On March 9^th he committed 2 ugly turnovers that resulted in shorthanded goals for the Boston Bruins and cost the Red Wings valuable points in the playoff chase. He played only one game over the next three weeks, and although he was in the lineup on a consistent basis to end the regular season he was benched after Games 2 of the playoffs and never returned to the lineup.

It appears clear that Stephen Weiss will never become the 2^nd line center the Red Wings expected. He has shown enough to suggest he could provide some value but it is apparent that he will never live up to his 5 million dollar cap hit. With the salary cap failing to rise as rapidly as expected, it seems inevitable that the Wings will cut their losses and buyout Stephen Weiss. However even if Weiss is destined to bought out, Ken Holland should wait before making the move.

Currently the Red Wings have over 14 million dollars in cap space to spend this offseason. Resigning Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Jurco, Teemu Pulkkinen and Brendan Smith will take a large portion of that space. But even after resigning all of the above players, and possibly Ferraro and Andersson, the Wings will be left with roughly 5 million dollars in free cap space. This number would climb to around 9 million if, sadly, Johan Franzen is unable to return and he “retires” on long-term injured reserve. If the Wings were to buyout Weiss this offseason the breakdown would be as follows,

However by waiting one more season and buying out Stephen Weiss after next year, he would remain on the books only until the 2019-2020 season.

While not a massive change in any single year, there is little reason to get rid of Weiss just yet. With so much cap space and no big free agents to sign, the team does not need the additional 4 million dollars in savings this season. However in 2016 Danny DeKeyser, Alexi Marchenko, Xavier Ouelette, Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Reilly Sheahn and Petr Mrazek will become free agents. By next season all of those are players expected to be a part of the Red Wings' core by that point so Ken Holland will be in greater need of cap space.

Undoubtedly Stephen Weiss has been a bust for the Red Wings. Watching Valteri Fillipula reach the Stanely Cup Finals with Tampa Bay only increases our disappointment in his replacement. Even though we want to cut ties and get Weiss out of his life, Red Wing nation should be patient for one more season. Of the Griffins' forwards only Pulkkinen is ready to play in the NHL full time, the rest are better suited to be injury replacements. As a result, there is no real downside to keeping Weiss for one more year. It will be frustrating to watch the Red Wings 5 million dollar investment provide little to no value for another season, however our short-term pain will be worth the long-term cap benefits.