I know that the re-signing by the Detroit Red Wings of defenseman Jonathon Ericsson has left many people scratching their heads or searching for their bottle of cyanide pills (Kyle), but it actually makes sense in how the organization operates.
Lets start off by looking at the contracts & cap hits of current Red Wing defensemen:
PlayerCap HitContract LengthYear Signed% of CapLidstrom$6.25M120119.72%*Rafalski$6.00M5200711.92%Stuart$3.75M420086.61%Ericsson$3.25M320115.05%Kronwall$3.00M520075.96%Kindl$0.88M320101.49%* Retired, but included as he was under contract for 2011-12
The percentage shown above r...