Detroit Red Wings' 3 Worst Contracts of 2023-24

The Detroit Red Wings are right in the playoff hunt, but the postseason is no lock for them. There have been some players have impressive seasons, but others struggle on contracts the team wishes they didn't have. Here's a look at the worst three this season for the Red Wings.

Justin Holl

Detroit made a number of offseason changes and brought in some older defensemen. This has worked to an extent, but one defender, Justin Holl, has become a burden and isn't even in the lineup anymore. He is in the first year of a three-year, $3.4 million AAV deal and is pretty much the eighth defenseman on the depth chart this season since Simon Edvinsson recently got recalled and is in the lineup. Holl has only played 37 games this season, averaged 15 minutes per game, and has five assists. The team has the cap space to hold onto him for now, but it isn't ideal one bit.

Ville Husso

Who would have thought that the third string goalie going into the season, Alex Lyon, would be the team's saviour this season. The expectation was that Ville Husso, the starter to begin the season, would bounce back from last season, but that wasn't the case. The 29-year-old has played 19 games and has a .892 SV%, not to mention being injured for the majority of the season. He still has one more season left at $4.75 million AAV. The team is lucky Lyon is signed through next season at $900,000 AAV.

Radim Simek

The Red Wings haven't had Radim Simek for very long as he was swapped with Klim Kostin, but his contract isn't ideal at all. While it is perfectly okay for Detroit to go out and get more defensive depth at the trade deadline, Simek is sitting in the minors with a cap hit of $2.25 million AAV. For many teams this would be a burden, but not the Red Wings this season, fortunately for them.