Yzerman explains Red Wings' Jake Walman trade: "It's really difficult to move money right now"

If you ask Steve Yzerman, he had no choice but to sweeten the deal to unload Jake Walman's contract on the Sharks.

While Walman would seem to have value as a top-four defenseman making $3.4 million per year, the Red Wings traded him along with a second-round pick to San Jose this week for future considerations. It was a shocking salary dump , considering the cost.

The second-rounder that the Wings sent to the Sharks had been acquired by Detroit earlier in the day as part of a prospect swap with the Predators.

"What made me willing to (do it)? Well, we were able to acquire, in the trade with Nashville, a same-level prospect, at least on our board, for Andrew Gibson in Jesse Kiiskinen and get a second-round pick. And it’s really difficult to move money right now," Yzerman told reporters Friday night at the NHL Draft. "I’ve tried. Honestly, I’ve tried.

"Needed to move at least one contract to do some of the things we want to do, and unfortunately that was the price to do it. I didn’t really want to trade Andrew Gibson, but we were able to recoup a prospect and get a pick that we used to move out a contract."

The Red Wings have lucrative extensions to hand out to Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond this offseason, unrestricted free agents they'd like to bring back like Shayne Gostisbehere and Patrick Kane, and perhaps players they'd like to bring in on the open market. Yzerman said Friday that the Red Wings "continue to talk" with their pending UFA's, who will hit the market July 1.

"I don’t know that we get everybody done, but I’m hopeful that we can get some of them done," he said.

The Red Wings currently have about $32 million in cap space, one of the highest figures in the NHL, but about half of that will be consumed by the contracts for Seider and Raymond. Asked if the Wings will have any money left once they take care of their own players, Yzerman said, "It depends on which ones we get, how much they cost."

"It’s literally a puzzle," he said. "Trying to chip away and start somewhere here and cross one off the list and go to the others. It’s tricky."

What the Red Wings won't do is set aside roster spots for the top prospects in their system, like Marco Kasper. Yzerman still doesn't think they're quite ready to jump into the NHL.

"Today, I wouldn’t want to say to any of these young kids that, hey, they don’t have a chance to make it, but they’re going to have to push somebody out," he said. "So at this stage I’m not prepared to leave a roster spot open, not in the top nine, for one of these kids yet. They’ll have to really, really take a step, and that’s possible if they have a good summer and a good preseason.

"But we anticipate, really, most of those kids at least starting in Grand Rapids. But again, it’s not a hard-and-fast (stance). If a guy has a good camp and they look like they’re going to play, we’ll find a spot on the roster for him."