Adam Henrique clears, Red Wings only team active on waivers Sunday.

As expected, in spite of his skills on the ice, veteran forward Adam Henrique has cleared waivers today.

Henrique was waived by the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday in a move that caught many by surprise, but the Ducks seemed confident that no one would risk picking him up under his current contract and that gamble has paid off. Henrique is in just the second year of a 5 year deal that carries an average annual value of $5.825 million per season, and rightfully teams shied away from bringing that potentially troublesome deal. 

As for new waiver transactions on Sunday the Detroit Red Wings were the only team active on the waiver wire, but it is a move that will no doubt go over well with their fan base. The Red Wings made the decision to waive veteran forward Frans Nielsen on Sunday, this after the 36 year old has picked up just 3 assists over his 18 games with the Red Wings this season.

Nielsen isn't a terrible player but he suffers from the same problem as the aforementioned Adam Henrique, his contract simply far outweighs his actual value to the team on the ice. Nielsen is currently in the 5th year of a 6 year deal he signed with the Red Wings, one that carries an average annual value of $5.25 million per season.

I would be shocked if Nielsen were to be claimed by any other team in the National Hockey League. Much like with Henrique, team's interested in these players would be much better suited to making a trade after the waivers process has been completed. This would allow them to send bad money back the other way or could allow them to negotiate some form of salary retention, something that makes a great deal more sense than taking on the full cap hit from either of these players. 

Nielsen's skills on the ice have seemingly been on a steady decline since signing with the Red Wings in 2016 and unlike Henrique you have to go back quite a ways to find a season in which he was a high impact player, arguably all the way back to his time with the New York Islanders.