The Detroit Red Wings placed goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic on waivers Sunday after he recently finished a conditioning stint with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Here’s what you need to know:
- Nedeljkovic posted a 3-2-1 record with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage in six games with the Griffins.
- The 27-year-old has struggled this NHL season and last appeared in a Red Wings game on Dec. 8, 2022.
Backstory
Nedeljkovic has only played in nine Red Wings games this season, going 2-4-2 with a 4.09 goals-against average and a .880 save percentage. He came to Detroit in July 2021 after spending four seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Nedeljkovic is in the final season of a two-year, $6 million contract and will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Will Nedeljkovic clear waivers?
This one will be interesting. On one hand, goaltending is at a premium right now in the NHL, and Nedeljkovic isn’t far removed from a dazzling rookie season in 2020-21, when he had a .932 save percentage in 23 starts with the Hurricanes. And he followed it up with a strong start in Detroit, too.
But since about this time last year, things have taken a turn for him. From Jan. 21, 2022, through the end of last season, his save percentage dipped to .884. Through nine appearances this season, he’s hitting .880.
He is coming off a strong AHL conditioning stint, but with a $3 million cap hit (and $3.5 million salary), he’s not going to be easy for many teams to fit under the cap. The fact he’s a pending unrestricted free agent doesn’t leave much room for a claiming team to reap long-term value, either. Nedeljkovic is talented enough to envision a team claiming him, even if only to audition him for the future. But salary and cap considerations could very well prove too big a barrier. — Bultmann
What does this tell us about Detroit’s plans?
The Red Wings were going to need to make a move like this soon, as the team has been carrying three goalies but has Filip Zadina due back from injury soon. The fact they chose to waive Nedeljkovic, though, means the Red Wings have liked Magnus Hellberg enough to keep riding him as their No. 2 for now.
Hellberg’s numbers aren’t dazzling either, and prior to signing with the Red Wings last season, when he played one game, he had played the last five seasons in the KHL. But his .896 save percentage is still higher than Nedeljkovic’s this season, and he does carry the lower salary and cap hit. It’s worth noting, too, that Nedeljkovic could easily return to Detroit this season if he clears waivers. He’s shown in the past he’s capable of stealing games at the NHL level, and while this season has been a rocky one for him, he would be a luxury to have in the AHL as a call-up option.
Beyond this season, though, both Nedeljkovic and Hellberg are UFAs this summer, and the Red Wings will likely need a new answer behind Ville Husso in goal. Husso has been a stabilizing force through the first half of the season, but like Nedeljkovic last season, he has seen his numbers start to dip with heavy usage. Entering the season, he and Nedeljkovic looked headed for a true split, but instead, Husso is on pace to start nearly 60 games. That feels like a big ask. — Bultmann
Required reading
(Photo: Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
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