Red Wings to trade or buy out Jordin Tootoo
The Detroit Red Wings will use their second compliance buyout on forward Jordin Tootoo if a trade cannot be reached in the coming days, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. The team used its first buyout to part ways with defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo last offseason.
More from Detroit Red Wings
- NHL Trade Grades: Red Wings land Alex Debrincat in trade with Senators
- NHL Mock Draft: Connor Bedard No. 1, but who’s next?
- NHL rumors: Calgary in Flames, Kings, Flyers set for big deals, Hall to Chicago
- NHL rumors: Alex DeBrincat-Red Wings noise gets louder
- Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2023 revealed: Welcome to immortality!
Tootoo, 30, appeared in just 11 games with the Red Wings in 2013-14, struggling to fit into the puck-possession style deployed by coach Mike Babcock. Since signing a three-year, $5.7 million deal with the team in the summer of 2012, the partnership with Detroit has always seemed questionable at best.
The Red Wings will still try to trade Tootoo before settling on a buyout, but it’s unclear what kind of interest the forward is commanding. The past two years in Detroit certainly haven’t helped his trade value, but he was a prominent part of the Nashville Predators’ lineup not too long ago.
In 2012, Tootoo recorded six goals and 30 points in 77 games with Nashville, also leading the team in penalty minutes with 92.
During Tootoo’s first season in Detroit, he recorded just three goals and eight points in 42 games, though he kept the penalties coming with 78 minutes in the box. In 2014, he recorded just one assist over 77 minutes of ice time, spending the majority of his time on the bench.
Following the 2012-13 lockout, each NHL team was granted two compliance buyouts that could be used to remove a player’s salary from the salary cap. Per the CBA rules, a compliance buyout requires the team to pay two-thirds of the contract’s remaining value over double the remaining length, but the cap number is removed.