Moves A Sign of How The Mighty Have Fallen

Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist were steady producers, who could be counted on to be at or about 20 goals per season, sometimes more. Nick Jensen was the top defenseman in his NCAA conference and developed into a steady penalty killer and defensive presence. All three of these players should have proven to be building blocks in the continued success of the Detroit Red Wings. Instead, via their departures, they are all exhibits of how the mighty have fallen. Instead of building blocks, they became trade chips in an attempt to assemble a brighter future. Last year at the NHL trade deadline, it was the move of three-time 20 goal scorer Tatar that netted the Wings a cache of draft picks. This year, the shipment of Nyquist, second on the team in points, and Jensen garnered a return of two second-round and a third-round draft pick and 23-year-old defenseman Madison Bowey. This is how losing teams operate, and it isn’t the way anyone who wears the Winged Wheel or works for the franchise wants things to continue. “It’s no fun to be at the deadline three years in a row and trading away people and talking about draft picks and future,… Red Wings GM Ken Holland told Mlive.com. “Our fans want to talk about what additions we made and the potential for our team to go on a playoff run.… In the dressing room, seeing another close friend and just as importantly, a key piece of their current puzzle, off to greener pastures in pursuit of future gold didn’t leave anyone smiling. “I’m gonna miss him a lot,… center Dylan Larkin said of Nyquist. “He’s a great teammate, a great worker, someone who I enjoyed playing with. I had great chemistry with him.… Not only are they distraught at seeing a good friend and teammate sent packing, the Wings also must own up to the reality that as a team, they’ve hit the skids, failed to maintain a long tradition of success for this franchise. It’s 11 years and counting since the Wings won a Stanley Cup, their longest skid since Detroit’s 1997 triumph ended a 41-year drought. “When you have winning teams and you’re in the playoffs every year and you’re making runs for the Cup, guys don’t really get moved too often, other than to bring news faces in to try to make a run,… defenseman Danny DeKeyser said. “On the other side of that, when you’re not in the playoffs and you haven’t been in a few years, that’s when guys start to get moved and changes have to be made, because obviously the group here hasn’t been working in a few years, so you kind of change things up a bit.… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer