The Wings knew one year ago they would be losing players this summer due to the salary cap, cutting into the club's depth. The exodus started Wednesday, when star forward Marian Hossa and fourth-line grinder Tomas Kopecky signed with Chicago and backup goaltender Ty Conklin signed with St. Louis.

The Wings were interested in keeping all three. But with approximately $3 million of available cap space and the need to sign restricted free-agent forwards Jiri Hudler and Ville Leino, there was no way to keep those players without dumping multiple others.

The biggest loss was Hossa, who led the team with 40 goals during the regular season but struggled in the playoffs (six goals in 23 games, none in the Stanley Cup finals), whose offense the team must replace from within.