Stephen Weiss was a huge disappointment for the Detroit Red Wings in 2013-14. Actually, that’s a pretty big understatement as Weiss appeared in just 26 games, recording two goals and two assists, after signing a five-year, $24.5 million contract over the summer. It looked like Detroit found their second-line center, or at least a valuable member of their offense, but that wasn’t the case as Weiss missed most of the year with injuries.
What does the future hold for Weiss? That’s difficult to forecast, but GM Ken Holland commented on the situation.
From the Detroit Free Press, Holland stated that Weiss needs to have a big summer, but he’s not sure if that will happen.
Holland:
“We’re going to continue to look for answers to why is he not getting healthy. It’s hard to know where he’s going to be in September. A lot of where he’s going to be in September is really going to be about, is he going to be able to … have a June, July and August where he’s able to hit the gym and come to camp healthy, fit, ready to go.
We made a significant signing — we thought Stephen was going to be our second-line center. It was a disappointing year. He struggled early, and then he had a bit of a groin injury, then he came back. My take would be that probably a month before we shut him down in early December, he was probably having groin injuries. He had surgery, and we thought he’d be playing coming out of the Olympic break. He never felt right.
I thought he’d be healthy six weeks ago. We need him to get healthy before anything positive can happen.”
The 2014-15 season will be a pivotal one as far as Weiss’ relationship with the Red Wings goes. The first year was a failure and Weiss will need to be healthy and producing this upcoming season if the deal is going to avoid the “total bust” label.
