Red Wings waive Alex Nedeljkovic, goalie for the Red Wings

Alex Nedeljkovic’s second season with the Detroit Red Wings keeps going from bad to worse, as the club placed the struggling goaltender on waivers Sunday.

The Red Wings decided to drop the netminder after a good conditioning session with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. He will be reassigned to the AHL affiliate if he clears at 2 p.m. Monday.

For the 27-yearold, Detroit life has been hard. since he was acquired from Carolina After a stellar 2020-21 season, where he had a.932 save rate and a 1.90 goals against average, he was named to the NHL All-Rookie team. He was also third in Calder Trophy voting, and was named to NHL All-Rookie.

After posting a 4.09 GAA in nine games and a.880SV% in the last, he was fired and lost his job as starting coach to Ville Husso. Nedeljkovic had a difficult season last year, his first in Detroit. He posted a 3.31 GAA in 59 games and.901SV% in the same period.

“Lately, it’s been ‘one goes in and it’s followed by another and then another,’” said Nedeljkovic after a 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Dec. 8—his last game to date for Detroit. “It’s been tough.”

Steve Yzerman, Red Wings general manger, has not hesitated to waive players who fail to perform to expectations. doing the same with Jakub Vrana Nedeljkovic was waived earlier in the month. Nedeljkovic was waived to make room for Filip Zadina to begin his own conditioning program with the Griffins. Filip broke his leg on Nov. 5th.

Nedeljkovic’s $3 million cap hit and the fact that he becomes an unrestricted free agent next season would most likely prevent him from being claimed. This would also provide a goaltending boost for a Grand Rapids team which has allowed the most goals in the AHL.

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