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The Detroit Red Wings continue their pursuit for a right-handed shooting defenseman to add to their top-four after striking out a week ago when unrestricted free agents hit the open market on July 1st.
The latest mention comes from a column penned by noted Red Wing beatwriter Ansar Khan of mlive.com, who suggests that Mike Green of the Washington Capitals might make the most sense to meet the needs of the Red Wings for that right-handed shooting blueliner after the likes of Dan Boyle, Matt Niskanen and Stephane Robidas scoffed at GM Ken Holland’s overtures and decided to play elsewhere.
I am not in disagreement with Khan’s assessment that Green could fill the role in Detroit. Yes, Green has had his fair share of injury problems in recent seasons. What I do dispute is why the Washington Capitals would be in a rush to part with Green.
Yes their recent signing of Niskanen and overpayment for Brooks Orpik does put them rather close to the salary cap of $69 million. Yet unless a team comes forward to knock the socks off of new Caps GM Brian MacLellan, we could see a situation where Green does not get dealt this summer. The Caps do appear to need more depth up front (only 12 forwards currently signed) and the thinking is Detroit could help fill that need. But unless Detroit provides the Caps with an NHL ready forward, a deal will not happen.
Given the fact Green only has one more season before unrestricted free agency, the asking price should be less than what someone like Tyler Myers who is under contract for 4 more years would command. In addition, teams are often reluctant to trade big name players within the division without fetching a premium, which only adds to the difficulty in obtaining someone like Myers.
Then again, Green might not even be moved out of Washington anyhow, as new coach Barry Trotz is likely salivating over the current depth of his blueline group. By giving the group the early part of the season to sort things out, the new management group in Washington might determine they are better off waiting to make a deal midseason or parting with other UFA’s such as John Erskine ($1.962 million cap hit) to free up cap space.
Nevertheless, I can’t see a situation where the Wings part with a player like Gustav Nyquist or highly touted prospect Anthony Mantha to take a stab on soon to be 29 year-old Mike Green. Given the lack of depth down the middle, I would suspect Riley Sheahan wouldn’t be part of a package. If something is going to happen Tomas Tatar or Tomas Jurco might make the most sense to be part of a package as the Red Wings enjoy quite a bit of depth along the wings within their organizational system. The fact Green could essentially become a one-year rental though is ultimately why I think Holland will look elsewhere to attempt to find a “righty… on the blueline.
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