On Saturday afternoon, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Detroit Red Wings had placed forward Adam Erne on waivers.
Ahead of this move, the Red Wings sent down Jonatan Berggren to make room to activate Filip Zadina off of injured reserve. Zadina was then assigned to Grand Rapids on a conditioning stint but still counts against Detroit’s active roster. With Berggren’s play warrants a spot in Detroit as he is currently tied with Oskar Sundqvist for ninth in team scoring with 18 points (eight goals and ten assists), a spot needed to be created, and Erne was the odd man out.
It is a little surprising that Detroit chose Erne over one of Gustav Lindstrom or Robert Hagg, who hasn’t played since December.
Through 43 games played, Erne has six goals and eight assists, which would be career bests in both categories if he played a full 82-game season. Erne is still only 27 years old but carries a $2.1 million cap hit for the rest of this season. Given his physical style and usage on the penalty kill, Erne may be attractive for a team looking to bolster their bottom six without having to give up any assets. But where most teams are at salary cap-wise, it’s not a guarantee Erne will be claimed.
The Red Wings will know by 2 p.m. Sunday whether another team has claimed Erne or if he can be assigned to Grand Rapids.
