The Detroit Red Wings have waived defenseman Jakub Kindl, according to multiple sources.
The Wings need to make the move to clear a roster spot and salary cap space to activate Kyle Quincey, who had ankle surgery in mind-November and is expected to rejoin the lineup on Monday, according to MLive.com’s Ansar Khan.
Interestingly, Khan notes that general manager Ken Holland “stepped up efforts” to find a trade partner for Kindl over the last few days, but “nobody was willing to acquire him for a draft pick or a prospect” and the team isn’t in a place to retain salary in a move. Kindl has another year remaining on a contract that carries an AAV of $2.4 million.
It’s clear that the team is ready to allow Alexey Marchenko become a fixture of the lineup, starting him almost every game this year and making Kindl a healthy scratch in the last four contests. The team is ready to commit to him and move on from Kindl. It’s not an effort to get Kindl to the minors to rekindle his game. They’re done with him.
Holland said, “We’re going through the maneuvers we’re going to have to go through to position ourselves. If [Kindl] is claimed, I’ll be happy for him. If he’s not claimed then we’ll have to make a move.”
Though there’s some wiggle room in here, General Fanager has the Red Wings with $5.18 million in cap space available. Quincey carries a $4.25 million cap hit when he’s activated. Even with some buried salary relief after Kindl is reassigned to Grand Rapids, there’s not much room for error. The team still has Teemu Pulkkinen and Johan Franzen on IR, handcuffing their ability to make moves at the deadline.
Despite a cap hit of $2.4 million, it’s hard to imagine that there isn’t a team out there willing to claim the 28-year-old Kindl for nothing.
UPDATE:
Kindl has cleared waivers. The Wings will need to find another solution to their cap issues.
Jakub Kindl clears waivers. DET going to have to find more cap relief elsewhere.
— Damien Cox (@DamoSpin) January 10, 2016
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