Today, the Detroit Red Wings bought out the remaining three years of Stephen Weiss, putting an abrupt end to what was originally a five-year pact made in the offseason of 2013. The story of Weiss' downfall doesn't quite begin with his signing on the dotted line for the Red Wings though.
When the 2010s arrived, the Red Wings had been hoping for someone to stick in the second-line center position so that the Eurotwins Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg could play together consistently on the top line. For a while, it looked like the answer to that hope could be found in Valtteri Filppula.