Three big pieces of Detroit's roster at risk of being traded after bad season.

The Detroit Red Wings have missed the playoff for the first time in 25 seasons, and now insiders close to the team are expecting some big changes.

In a recent article for the Detroit News Wings reporter Ted Kulfan touched on some of the problems the Red Wings are facing moving forward. At, or near, the top of the list appears to be the cap issues Detroit is facing as a result of some of the more questionable contracts general manager Ken Holland has handed out as of late.

From Kulfan(emphasis our own):

Lengthy — and some would say generous — contracts to Justin Abdelkader, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Darren Helm and Niklas Kronwall are likely put the Red Wings in a salary-cap bind for several years after this one.

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That bind could be unwound if they’re able to trade a player or lose someone in the expansion draft (players on shorter terms such as Jimmy Howard, Mike Green, Gustav Nyquist).

Those are three very big names to put up on the chopping block, but they also carry large cap hits and could give the Red Wings some much needed flexibility as they try to retool their team for the future. The toughest sell to the fan base may be a trade involving goaltender Jimmy Howard, who has inarguably been better than Petr Mrazek this season, at least when healthy.

Needless to say we may be looking at a very different Red Wings team come next season.