The Details
Age: 27
Cap Hit: $2,750,000
Expires: July 2017
Clauses: None
Brendan Smith, with injuries and being a healthy scratch he appeared in just 63 games last season. This season just in 24 games. For various reasons, he never turned into that top four defenseman we all wanted him to be. Last season, Smith fell behind former Red Wing Kyle Quincey on Jeff Blashill’s depth chart and was scratched often and rotating in and out of the lineup with Alexey Marchenko.
Many Wings fans would have rather seen Smith get more of an opportunity the past few seasons ahead of Quincey and Jonathan Ericsson.