The Detroit Red Wings came away from the 2016 draft with a handful of defensemen.
On the opening night of the draft in Buffalo, N.Y., Wings general manager Ken Holland unloaded the contract of Pavel Datsyuk in order to free up salary cap space. Datsyuk had informed the Wings that spring he would be returning to his native Russia, even though a year remained on his contract. That created a $7.5 million problem, as his salary cap hit still counted.
A deal was struck with Arizona: The Coyotes took Datsyuk’s contract and Detroit’s pick at 16th overall, and the Wings received the Coyotes’ picks at 20th and 53rd overall, and also absorbed the contract of Joe Vitale (a long-term injured reserve player with a year left at $1.