The Detroit Red Wings will not be using a compliance buyout on forward Johan Franzen, general manager Ken Holland confirmed.
Johan Franzen buyout is ‘crazy,’ says Red Wings GM
General manager Ken Holland says Johan Franzen will not be extended a compliance buyout. However, the door has been left open for that option being used on another player.
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When conducting his end-of-season press conference, Holland explained that Franzen would be returning to the team next season. In fact, Holland believes that the speculation about a buyout of Franzen is “crazy,” via Ansar Khan of MLive.com:
”Yeah, it’s crazy (speculation) for me. I don’t know where you find 30-goal scorers. There is no hockey store.
“He played 41 games, he had 14 goals. If you times it by two, that’s 28 goals. How many players in the league score more than 25 goals?”
Franzen will be entering the fifth-year of an 11-year, $43.5 million contract in 2013-14, which carries an annual average value of $3.9 million against the salary cap.
The Red Wings have the option of using two compliance buyouts over the course of the next two offseasons. This summer’s buyout period will begin 48 hours after the deciding game of the Stanley Cup Final. It was originally scheduled to close on June 30, but that date is seemingly subject to change given the altered schedule this season.
Holland says it is too soon to tell if the team will use a compliance buyout this summer. However, he did say the option is at his disposal. The team currently has $53.4 million allocated to 19 players next season. Brendan Smith, Jakub Kindl, Joakim Andersson and Gustav Nyquist are all restricted free agents this summer. In addition, Damien Brunner, Daniel Cleary, Drew Miller, Ian White and Valtteri Filppula are unrestricted free agents.
The salary cap ceiling will be set at $64.3 million next season.
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