DETROIT - Losing Tomas Nosek to the Vegas Golden Knights in Wednesday's expansion draft did little to free up salary-cap space for the Detroit Red Wings, in addition to costing them one of their better prospects.

The Red Wings' current cap figure stands at $67.7 million. But that will change over the course of the summer.

They must sign restricted free agents Tomas Tatar (likely in the $5 million per year range), Andreas Athanasiou and Xavier Ouellet. That would push them close to or slightly above the $75 million cap for the 2017-18 season.

But they will get relief from the injured Johan Franzen's contract (close to $3.95 million). If they're able to trade goaltender Petr Mrazek that would free up as much as $4 million (depending on what they get in return). Other trades are possible.

Still, it doesn't appear the Red Wings will have a lot of wiggle room heading into free agency on July 1. Even if they did, it's a thin pool of talent.

Detroit's biggest need is a top-pairing puck-moving defenseman. Kevin Shattenkirk of the Washington Capitals is one of the few free agents who fits that bill. He'll likely get a long-term contract in the range of $6 million per season and probably has no interest in joining a team that finished 16 points out of a playoff spot.

More affordable free-agent defense options include former Red Wing Brendan Smith (New York Rangers), Karl Alzner (Washington), Michael Del Zotto (Philadelphia), Cody Franson (Buffalo) and Michael Stone (Calgary). But none are top-pairing players.

The Red Wings' only realistic hope of filling that need is through a trade, and options are limited.

Here are the Red Wings' salary-cap figures for 2017-18:

Forwards

Henrik Zetterberg $6.083 million

Frans Nielsen $5.25 million

Gustav Nyquist $4.75 million

Justin Abdelkader $4.25 million

x-Johan Franzen $3.95 million

Darren Helm $3.85 million

Riley Sheahan $2.075 million

Luke Glendening $1.8 million

Dylan Larkin $925,000

Anthony Mantha $863,333

Tomas Tatar (restricted free agent)

Andreas Athanasiou (restricted free agent)

y-Stephen Weiss $2.56 million

Defensemen

Mike Green $6 million

Danny DeKeyser $5 million

Niklas Kronwall $4.75 million

Jonathan Ericsson $4.25 million

Nick Jensen $812,500

Ryan Sproul $625,000

Xavier Ouellet (restricted free agent)

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard $5.29 million

Petr Mrazek $4 million

Jared Coreau $612,500

x-Long-term injured reserve

y-buyout