Red Wings waive Jordin Tootoo, set up compliance buyout
By Allan Muir
It looks like Jordin Tootoo will be the next to join the pay-to-go-away club.
According to Hockey Night In Canada's Elliotte Friedman, the rambunctious Red Wing has been placed on waivers and will have the remainder of his contract bought out.
No one should be surprised by this long-rumored decision. The Wings tried to find a taker for the veteran winger, but no one was willing to assume the final year of a deal that's set to earn him $1.9 million.
The Wings originally signed Tootoo in 2012, but he never quite fit on the roster--or earned the trust of coach Mike Babcock. He spent most of this past season with AHL Grand Rapids, going viral while playing 51 games in the minors as opposed to only 11 in Detroit, where he earned one assist and five penalty minutes.
It's possible that Tootoo hooks on somewhere else as a fourth-line winger at a commensurate salary--Winnipeg, near where he played his junior hockey in Brandon is a possibility--but his lack of foot speed and scoring touch means that this could be the end of his NHL career.
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