Red Wings trade No. 16 overall pick to unload Datsyuk’s contract

By @MichaelCaples –

With the No. 16 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, the Red Wings…got rid of Pavel Datsyuk’s contract.

Detroit traded their first-round pick and the rights to Pavel Datsyuk to the Arizona Coyotes, in exchange for the No. 20 overall pick, the No. 53 overall pick and forward Joe Vitale.

The trade is huge for the Red Wings, who only move down four spots in the draft and keep all their notable prospects to get rid of the $7.5 million salary cap hit coming from Pavel Datsyuk’s early departure.

“Well, we’re thrilled to clear out the space,” Detroit GM Ken Holland said on the NBC Sports Network official draft broadcast. “Certainly, we want to be active on July 1. Obviously, Pavel’s a huge hole down the middle, probably our best player, so we’re gonna talk to lots of people here over the next few days.”

In the trade, the Wings acquire Vitale, a 30-year-old forward who has played in 234 games, mainly with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has 11 goals and 33 assists on his lifetime stats line.

Arizona was one of the teams originally discussed in the talk of who could take on Datsyuk’s massive contract in terms of salary cap space. New Coyotes GM John Chayka told NBC Sports Network during the official broadcast that he had trouble passing on Jakob Chychrun at No. 7, so he traded up to make sure he could select him at No. 16.

The beneficiary was the Detroit Red Wings and Holland, who found an impressive way to get out of Datsyuk’s contract and have money to work with during the free agency period starting on July 1.

So to sum it all up, the Red Wings moved down four spots to pick up another draft choice and free up a massive amount of salary cap space to be able to make a run at the likes of Steven Stamkos or Kyle Okposo. A good night for the Wings, and they haven’t even drafted yet.