Detroit Red Wings: Four players Steve Yzerman won’t be able to trade

Justin Abdelkader is a thirty-two-year-old, thirteen year veteran of the Red Wings, but Yzerman is going to have a tough time trying to move him at the deadline with the terrible contract he holds.

Making his debut for the Red Wings back in 2007-08 and 2008-09, where he would only play two games each year, Abdelkader technically began his tenure in the NHL with the Red Wings. Abdelkader has been with the team for thirteen years and seemingly has begun regressing quickly. Now, he is not a scorer, but Abdelkader has never scored more than fifty points throughout his career.

In 2019-20, Abdelkader played in forty-three games, notching only three assists on the year, being a minus-ten rating on the year. Abdelkader’s role as a bottom-six, fourth line grinding forward, has become more defined in recent years.

Looking at past seasons, his Corsi ratings have been inconsistent, bouncing above and below the team averages frequently, with 2014-15 being his best Corsi rating, being 56.4%, which was 4.0% higher than the team average that season.

The issue here with Abdelkader is the regression and the contract that is making him someone that Yzerman is most likely going to be stuck with, no matter how bad he wants to move him. Abdelkader being slated for $4.25 million over the next three seasons AFTER this year is nothing but the work of former GM Holland, but it makes the little trade value he does have fall to nothing.

His regression in terms of play to a grinder type forward makes him less valuable to teams looking for scoring, though some teams may want to add a depth guy, the odds are that they will be scared away by that cap hit.