5 Players the Detroit Red Wings Would Make Available in an NHL Expansion Draft

Being an Original Six franchise, the Detroit Red Wings have never picked in an NHL expansion draft.

With rumors galore of NHL expansion being on the horizon, now is as good a time as any to discuss whom the Red Wings would give up in said expansion draft.

According to the Toronto Star, the NHL isn't looking to expand right now, making it nearly impossible to predict all of the Red Wings who will be taken in an expansion draft almost half a decade from now.

So here are five Red Wings who would be made available if the expansion draft happened prior to the 2014-15 season.

Note: These players would be available based on Detroit not seeing any immediate need for the player on the roster, as the Red Wings have one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL and could call up a player to fill the same role.

Dan Cleary

Jerry S. Mendoza/Associated Press

Don't take anything away from Dan Cleary's performance with Detroit from 2006-07 to 2010-11. With that said, Cleary would not be on Detroit's list of protected players should an expansion draft happen this week.

Cleary put up at least 40 points in every season except one from 2006-07 to 2010-11, but since then, he has just 23 points in his last 100 regular-season games in Detroit.

Granted, he hasn't been healthy. However, Cleary's ability to play through injuries in the past two seasons hasn't been anywhere near where it was before. Having never played a full season in a Detroit uniform, the Newfoundland native was stellar at playing through injuries and somehow managing to put up points at the same time.

Cleary almost wasn't brought back on a contract for the 2013-14 season and put up just eight points in 52 contests last year.

His best years are behind him, and regardless of how healthy he may be this season, he would be left unprotected in an expansion draft if it happened this week.

Jonas Gustavsson

Jose Juarez/Associated Press

As good—or lucky—as Jonas Gustavsson was last season, he would be exposed on expansion-draft waivers if the draft happened this week.

SLAM! Hockey indicates that teams had to expose at least one goalie, one defenseman and two forwards in the 2000 expansion draft based on certain experience requirements.

If the Red Wings fail to protect just one goalie and choose to protect two in the same circumstances, they would only be able to protect three defensemen and seven forwards.

Thus, by protecting only Jimmy Howard, they could retain Petr Mrazek, as he doesn't meet the minimum standards to be claimed in an expansion draft under the rules of the 2000 expansion draft (10 games played last season or 25 over the previous two seasons).

Those rules were for just two teams (Columbus and Minnesota), so the NHL could double the players available from each team.

Not protecting Gustavsson would still allow Detroit to keep more defensemen, should the club want to do so.

The Red Wings have already made a long-term commitment to Howard and Mrazek will likely get the nod in the future for a backup position.

Kyle Quincey

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

The Detroit Red Wings hoped and hoped that they were going to get an upgrade on defense this season.

It didn't happen.

As free agent after free agent signed with teams not named Detroit, the Red Wings grew desperate and re-signed defenseman Kyle Quincey despite fan disapproval.

Not only did Detroit re-sign Quincey to a two-year deal, but the Wings gave him a raise to $4.25 million per year over the next two seasons.

Would the Red Wings gladly give that contract up if Quincey struggles to generate any kind of offense like he did last season?

Absolutely.

It would be surprising if the organization protected him in an expansion draft if it happened this week. Quincey is a top-four defenseman in Detroit, but that doesn't mean he would get anything in the way of protection from an expansion draft.

Joakim Andersson

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

The Detroit Red Wings have drafted a lot of notable Swedes over the years, but Joakim Andersson is not one of them. Simply put, Andersson would struggle to make the roster if all Red Wings forwards were healthy.

Andersson's biggest issue stems from his lack of consistency at both ends of the ice. The Swede managed 78 shots on goal last season, scoring on over 10 percent of those shots, but finished with just 17 points in 65 contests.

He often lost his man in his own end, resulting in a minus-11 rating for the season.

Although he helped Detroit out on the penalty kill, averaging 2:37 in short-handed ice time per game last season, Andersson wouldn't be put on a list of protected forwards.

He has shown capabilities as a third-line center and was even bumped up to first-line center for a game last season when Detroit was missing its top three centers in Pavel Datsyuk, Stephen Weiss and Darren Helm. For this reason, he would be an enticing target for a new franchise in an expansion draft.

Justin Abdelkader

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Justin Abdelkader is a great hockey player—no doubt about it.

But Abdelkader likely hit his peak, offensively speaking, last season and will not approach those numbers again. With 10 goals and 18 assists last season, Abdelkader took full advantage of playing top-six—and often top-line—minutes in Detroit.

The problem is, this season, he won't be playing those kind of minutes—at least early on. Ansar Khan of MLive.com reports Darren Helm will be taking that spot.

This basically takes Abdelkader away from the top-six forward minutes that he would be getting otherwise and makes his $1.8 million cap hit seem a bit high. This is because Abdelkader would be one of the highest-paid bottom-six forwards on the team under this scenario. Only Cleary could make more with bonuses.

If an expansion draft were to take place this week, Abdelkader would be deemed expendable for the sole reason that Detroit has other cheaper options like Mitch Callahan and Landon Ferraro who could challenge for a bottom-six role.

Neither Callahan nor Ferraro have a waiver exemption anymore, and both would have to clear waivers to be assigned to Grand Rapids.

Abdelkader would be an option to expose in favor of moving in some younger bodies in the bottom-six forward group.

All salary-cap and contract information via CapGeek.com.