Wondering about Detroit Red Wings' defense? Here's what Steve Yzerman had to say

Steve Yzerman needed to balance the dollars out and in on the Detroit Red Wings' defense corps.

When Jake Walman joined Justin Holl in the scratched-from-the-lineup category the last week of last season, it meant the Wings had two defensemen, each with a $3.4 million salary cap hit, sitting and watching games. It was one thing to have Holl there; he ended up not even playing half the games last season. But two highly paid blueliners on the sidelines — that added up to too much.

"We had to make some changes," the Wings general manager said Thursday. "We couldn’t afford to keep all of that same D corps. When the season ended, our last couple games, we had $6.8 million on defense sitting in the stands. We can’t do that this year with our young players contracts coming up. So we had to make some changes."

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Out went Walman, to the San Jose Sharks, even as it also cost a second-round pick (Tampa Bay's, acquired from Nashville in a prospect swap) to make the deal work. The next to go was Shayne Gostisbehere, via free agency. Yzerman tried to keep Gostisbehere, whose power play prowess (a team-leading 29 points) ameliorated his defensive struggles, but the Carolina Hurricanes offered Gostisbehere three years at $3.2 million per season, and that was more term than Yzerman was willing to offer. As with forward David Perron (two years and $8 million from the Ottawa Senators), the Wings had to move on.

"We lost David and Shayne," Yzerman said. "Both players, we talked with their agents right up until free agency opened. Ultimately, we couldn’t agree on contracts that worked for both sides. So we talked right up until the end and unfortunately we weren’t able to get deals done."

Instead, the Wings brought in Erik Gustafsson for two years at a $2 million salary cap hit. He doesn't have Gostisbehere's offense but he's better defensively, and cheaper.

Yzerman also had to consider that Simon Edvinsson will start next season with the Wings, and that Albert Johansson, a second-round draft pick from 2019 who is no longer waiver-exempt, will have to be on the roster. Johansson, Edvinsson, Gustafsson, Holl, Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry and Olli Määttä put the Wings at eight on the back end.

"It’s kind of like putting together a bit of a puzzle and you have a certain anount of dollars to do it, and if this piece takes up more money, then you’ve spent less on that part," Yzerman said. "Today, I’m pleased with what our D corps looks like. We’ll talk again at some point in the season and hopefully, we’re still pleased with it."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Steve Yzerman explains what Detroit Red Wings did on defense