Detroit Red Wings Make Great Decision With Jonathan Ericsson
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings recently placed veteran defenseman Jonathan Ericsson on waivers. A move that should have happened a few years ago, but it’s better late than never, right?
It’s a move former Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland refused to pull the trigger on. The man was loyal to a fault. I mean, being loyal is usually a great thing. Being loyal to your spouse, being loyal to your work could come with some benefits. But when you are in the business of winning, being loyal to below-average players can be detrimental to a franchise.
I always link the former long-time general manager to players like Jonathan Ericsson, Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, and Johan Franzen. And don’t forget the Dan Cleary promised contract. While Franzen’s situation was a bit different because he was a 30-goal scorer, the others never had and still don’t have the same offensive upside as Franzen, yet all received massive long-term deals from Holland.
Players like Helm and Abdelkader are fourth line players (at best) receiving a paycheck that a second/third line player should receive. You know that feeling you have after a busy week at work, you relax for a minute and think ‘yes, I worked hard for this paycheck, I earned it.’ Abdelkader and Helm are merely robbing the bank, thanks to Ken Holland.
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The same could be said for Jonathan Ericsson. He’s in the final year (finally) of his long-term deal that, on average, pays him $4.25-million per season. He’d been sidelined to start the season with an injury. The Detroit Red Wings were calling it ‘general pain,’ possibly another term for old age? Despite being an odd injury, I can’t help but wonder if Steve Yzerman had Ericsson placed on IR until he decided what he wanted to do with the weathered defender.
The Detroit Red Wings wisely decided to place Ericsson on waivers. He cleared, although I like to think Ken Holland was sitting in his new office in Edmonton with a phone in hand being restrained by the entire Oilers brass demanding he hang up the phone.
In reality, Ericsson won’t have any suitors in today’s NHL. He’s not mobile at all; he’s never used his size to his advantage even when players were able to do so. He could potentially be a sixth or seventh defender on a lousy team that comes into injury issues but not for $4.25-million when you can bring up a kid from the American Hockey League for a league minimum. Teams would instead give a young, cheap player some experience rather than a player at the end of his career with absolutely no offensive ability.
More. What Kind of Architect is Steve Yzerman?. light
This move signals that the new management will be doing things differently moving forward. The Detroit Red Wings won’t keep players around just to have them around like the previous regime. Although the product on the ice currently appears the same, Steve Yzerman will have this roster overhauled over the next year or two; that’s when I expect to see significant change. The Ericsson move was just the first of many.