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Given the less than enthralling unrestricted free agent class expected to hit the market at midnight on July 1st, speculation has been rampant that the trade market will be extremely active with all the general managers present at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft in Philadelphia this weekend.
GM Ken Holland and the Detroit Red Wings have not been shy in stating their hope to add a solid, experienced top-four defenseman to play with the trio of Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, and Dan DeKeyser. As you may recall, rumors swirled last year at the draft that the Vancouver Canucks and the Red Wings were in discussions to move rearguard Alexander Edler to Detroit. Nothing ended up materializing last summer and the likelihood is that a major deal from Holland won’t take place yet again this weekend.
I know....I know....how boring is that.
Forget about Ryan Kesler, Joe Thornton, Christian Ehrhoff or Mike Green.
Watch....I probably jinxed myself and Holland pulls off a big deal at the draft.
However, when you consider the fact that since the inception of the salary cap in the 2005-06 regular season, Holland and the Wings have only made 19 trades. None of those deals involved a trade for a significant player during the NHL Draft.
In six of those deals, Holland acquired a player at the trade deadline:
**Red Wings acquire Cory Cross from Pittsburgh for a 2007 fourth round pick #118-Alex Grant on March 9th, 2006 **Red Wings acquire Kyle Calder from Philadelphia forJason Williams in a 3-team trade with the Blackhawks & Flyers on February 26th, 2007
**Red Wings acquire Todd Bertuzzi from Florida in exchange for Shawn Matthias, a 2007 conditional pick (#58-Nick Spaling) and a 2008 conditional second round pick (if Bertuzzi re-signed with Red Wings, which was not exercised) on February 27th, 2007
**Red Wings acquire Brad Stuart from L.A. in exchange for a 2008 second round pick (#61-Peter Delmas), 2009 fourth round pick (#119-Ben Chiarot) on February 26th, 2008
**Red Wings acquire Kyle Quincey from Tampa Bay in exchange for Sebastien Piche, 2012 first round pick (#19-Andrei Vasilevski) on February 21st, 2012
**Red Wings acquire David Legwand from Nashvile in exchange for Patrick Eaves, Calle Jarnkrok, 2014 conditional 2nd round pick (second round if Red Wings make 2014 playoffs, or else third round) on March 5th, 2014
Meanwhile, four of the 19 deals involved Detroit trading down or out of the first round to acquire an extra draft pick. Given the absence of Detroit’s 2nd round pick in this year’s draft thanks to the ill-advised David Legwand deal in March, Holland moving down from 15th overall would not surprise me in the least and is the most likely scenario we see from the Red Wings, if any, this weekend.
**Red Wings acquire two 2006 second round picks (#41-Cory Emmerton) and (#47-Shawn Matthias) from Phoenix for a 2006 first round pick (#29-Chris Summers) and 2006 fifth round pick (#152-Jordan Bendfeld) on June 24th, 2006
**Red Wings acquire a 2009 second round pick (#32-Landon Ferraro) and 2009 3rd round pick (#75-Andrej Nestrasil) from Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2009 first round pick (#29-Carter Ashton) on June 26th, 2009
**Red Wings acquire two 2011 second round picks (#35-Tomas Jurco) and (#48-Xavier Ouellet) from Ottawa in exchange for a 2011 first round pick (#24-Matt Puempel) on June 25th, 2011
**Red Wings acquire a 2013 first round pick (#20-Anthony Mantha) and a 2013 second round pick (#58-Tyler Bertuzzi) from San Jose in exchange for a 2013 first round pick (#18-Mirco Mueller)
The remaining 9 deals involved conditional draft picks, minor leaguers or Holland trading away players who wanted a breath of fresh air or new area code (Ville Leino, Brad Stuart).
** Red Wings acquire a 2006 seventh round pick (#191-Nick Oslund) from Phoenix in exchange for Jamie Rivers on March 9th, 2006
**Red Wings acquire a 2007 conditional draft pick (not exercised) from Vancouver in exchange for Drew MacIntyre on September 12th, 2006
**Red Wings acquire Francis Lemieux from Montreal in exchange for Brett Engelhardt on February 8th, 2008
**Red Wings acquire Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a 2011 fifth round pick (#145-Mattias Backman) from Philadelphia in exchange for Ville Leino on February 6th, 2010
**Red Wings acquire Jordan Owens from the New York Rangers in exchange for Kris Newbury on March 3rd, 2010
**Red Wings acquire Riley Armstrong from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Andy Delmore on March 3rd, 2010
**Red Wings acquire a 2013 conditional seventh round pick (if Commodore plays in 15 2011-12 regular season games and Lightning make 2012 playoffs - not exercised) from Tampa Bay in exchange for Mike Commodore on February 27th, 2012
**Red Wings acquire Andrew Murray, a 2014 conditional seventh round pick (if Stuart re-signs with Sharks) from San Jose in exchange for Brad Stuart on June 10th, 2012
**Red Wings acquire a 2014 conditional seventh round pick (if Flyers re-sign Huskins to a contract prior to 10-01 - not exercised) from Philadelphia in exchange for Kent Huskins on March 30th, 2013
Although history doesn’t always accurately predict future events, the likelihood for Red Wing fans is that a top-four defenseman is acquired not by trade at the draft, but via free agency. If Holland does swing a trade this weekend, as mentioned earlier it will likely involve the shuffling of draft picks to make up for his gaffe at this year’s trade deadline.
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mark.spizzirri@hockeybuzz.com