Cleary meeting with Holland to discuss future with Wings

Should Daniel Cleary indeed make another reappearance with the Red Wings, he most likely would end up spending the season in the minors.

Cleary and general manager Ken Holland are meeting next week to discuss Cleary's future. A situation that bears the handprint of former coach Mike Babcock has put the Wings in the position of being honor-bound to keep Cleary, 36, aboard, even as he is coming off a season that saw him play just 17 games, producing two points.

This debacle began two years ago. The Wings had offered Cleary a three-year, $6.25-million contract before he became unrestricted July 1. He declined. The Wings then signed Stephen Weiss and Daniel Alfredsson, leaving little space under the salary cap. Then Cleary didn't sign with anyone. September rolled around. The Flyers offered Cleary a three-year deal for $8.25 million, but Cleary then decided he wanted to stay in Detroit.

He ended up flying to Traverse City, where the Wings already had begun training camp. He met in a hangar with Holland and Babcock. Holland pointed to a near maxed-out budget. Babcock pushed hard for Cleary to be signed. What resulted was a one-year, $1.75-million deal with the understanding the Wings would take into consideration what Cleary left on the Flyers table.

Cleary played 52 games in 2013-14, contributing eight points. Holland kept his word, and re-signed Cleary for another season, which saw Cleary score one goal.

Now comes Year 3. The Wings may end up signing Cleary to another $1.5 million one-way deal, and if he doesn't earn a job at camp, put him on waivers, gaining $925,000 in salary cap relief. Holland has made it clear he isn't losing another young player to waivers, a la last year with Andrej Nestrasil, although that didn't need to happen. Had Babcock been willing to let Tomas Jurco start the season in the minors, Nestrasil could have stayed in Detroit. Jurco ended up scoring three goals in 63 games, and clearly could have used more time in the minors.

Another scenario, albeit unlikely, has the sides working out a front-office job for Cleary. Cleary can look at it as gaining long-term employment with an organization known for treating former players-turned-employees well. He wouldn't make as much money (and that's huge, obviously) but it could turn into an ideal situation for both parties.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.