Red Wings may part ways with J.T. Compher without a trade
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Red Wings may part ways with J.T. Compher without a trade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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The Detroit Red Wings are going to have their offseason headlines dominated by Dylan Larkin trade rumors.
They might have another center on his way out of town, too, though -- J.T. Compher.
Compher simply hasn't worked out since arriving from the Colorado Avalanche, and he's now viewed as a potential buyout candidate.
Daily Faceoff's Matt Larkin lays out the case for buying out Compher in a new article on Friday, and it would be savings of more than $3 million apiece over the next couple seasons for the Red Wings -- although they'd overall pay Compher for four more seasons instead of his current two remaining at a $5.1 million cap hit, just for much lower amounts spread over time.
"Compher’s production and ice time have declined in each season of his ill-fated five-year pact, which he signed when the Wings bought high after his career year playing on a stacked second line in Colorado," Larkin writes. "Straight up: he was one of the NHL’s worst regulars this season, a 23rd percentile offensive play driver and a sixth percentile defensive play driver. Detroit was outscored 55-41 with Compher on the ice at 5-on-5. The Wings have close to $30 million in cap space but have several top-nine wingers to re-sign and must make a decision on a backup goaltender, if they decide it still isn’t Sebastian Cossa’s (or Michal Postava’s) time, so the $3,133,333 in cap savings for the first two seasons of the buyout would be useful."
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The only major problem with potentially getting rid of Compher is the hole it creates in Detroit's center depth chart if a Larkin trade is also on the cards.
But on the flip side, if the Red Wings are trading Larkin, they'll be looking at least a little bit out into the future anyway. And in that timeline, there's no reason to keep Compher around.
Detroit would probably prefer to trade Compher rather than release him, but his salary and lack of productivity could make that tough.
Regardless, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him elsewhere in 2026-27.