Red Wings mailbag: Will anyone take Pavel Datsyuk's contract?

Free Press writer Helene St. James answers reader e-mails about the Red Wings in what's going to become a frequent feature.

From Twitter user @conman414: Candidates to take Pav's contract?

HSJ: Unfortunately for the Detroit Red Wings, not very many teams operate with a budget so low, they benefit from taking on a contract such as Pavel Datsyuk's, which has a salary cap hit of $7.5 million.

The Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes are possibilities. Maybe the Buffalo Sabres. The Winnipeg Jets are near the floor, too, but they look to be competitive with a good cast. One thing that hurts the Wings is that salary cap dollars are not used for revenue sharing calculations - if only that were the case, there would be more teams interested in order to get a bigger piece of revenue sharing.

Twitter user @Digitaltext1: Any Franzen updates?

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HSJ: Johan Franzen has not played hockey since the second game of the season. He remains bothered by after-effects of multiple head injuries, and remains on Long-Term Injured Reserve. It is highly doubtful that even if he feels good enough to think about skating, that he could find a doctor who would clear him. So he'll remain on LTIR and the Wings will get relief from his salary cap hit ($3.9 million) if the operate above the maximum cap.

Twitter user @NickKasperek22: Biggest hole in the lineup that could be addressed in free agency or via trade?

HSJ: With Niklas Kronwall in decline (he's 35 and has a bad knee), the Wings really need an upgrade on defense, a solid top-four guy who can be the all-situations workhorse like Kronwall was in his prime. There's been talk of St. Louis' Kevin Shattenkirk, but the asking price was Dylan Larkin, who is off limits. This is where trading Jimmy Howard (most likely in a package deal) could pay off, as a candidate such as Calgary could yield Mark Giordano or Dougie Hamilton. The Wings also have to make decisions on three defensive prospects, Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul and Nick Jensen, who no longer are waiver exempt. Ouellet, for one, has shown he's NHL caliber.

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