it seems like it was just last week the Red Wings were sitting atop the division and had a playoff spot in November for the first time in years.
Probably because that was last week.
But this is this week.
The Red Wings have gone 0-4 in the past week. That's including getting trounced by the bottom-of-the-league Nashville Predators 6-3 at home. Now, fans are getting ready to get their pitchforks out. The rumor mill is starting to churn up names as thoughts of roster blowups across the league start.
The Red Wings have been in a similar situation, or at least one that feels like it, in each of the last few years. Now though, in the tenth year of a playoff drought and after seeing continual diminishing returns from the pro-scouting department in the trade market and free agency, the team needs to make a change.
Hughes:
Rumors have been swirling around the Red Wings and a potential trade for Quinn Hughes over the past week. However, any trade for the Canucks star would have to center around players Detroit is unlikely to part with, especially given the possibility Hughes' may not want to re-sign with the team.
Beyond that, Steve Yzerman hasn't shown much of an inclination to swing blockbuster trades. Even during his tenure with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Yzerman's biggest swing with the Lightning was bringing in Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller. So far in his tenure with the Red Wings, Yzerman has only traded two first round picks out.
One as part of the deal to acquire Alex Debrincat (and it was Boston's pick, not Detroit's) and another to move up in 2021 to draft Sebastian Cossa.
Hughes would instantly make Detroit's top four one of the best in the league, and any package to acquire him would include one of Detroit's young blueliners. But that doesn't fit the pattern that Yzerman has established, especially when you consider that this is the year that Yzerman has decided to let the prospects he's been sitting on come up and make the roster.
Three rookies made the team out of camp, and while one of the names has changed, the number has stayed the same for the roster through the end of November. Yzerman and Coach Todd McLellan are showing that they're willing to have their potential young stars learn by the seat of their pants.
Going Out:
This isn't to say the Red Wings won't be making any moves at the trade deadline, but they are more likely to be sellers than buyers at that point. Micheal Brandsegg-Nygard, since being returned to the AHL is playing at just under a point-per-game pace. Sebastian Cossa is playing probably the best hockey of his career. So was Amadeus Lombardi, before exiting the Grand Rapids' lineup after the Griffins' game on Nov. 21st.
Meanwhile, the Red Wings main roster consists primarily of veterans who have not managed to get more than three goals so far this season. There are, in fact, only two outside of the veteran trio of Dylan Larkin, Alex Debrincat, Lucas Raymond, and the rookie Emmitt Finnie.
Those two are Micheal Rasmussen and J.T. Compher, who both just recently added their fourth. They sit behind Finnie who has five. With a dominant AHL team, one way or the other, the Red Wings need to be active in the trade market if they want to progress in Detroit, even if that means attaching picks to dump bad contracts. Yzerman showed a willingness for it when the player wasn't a "culture fit" with Jake Walman. At this point he should be willing based on the performance of some of the people brought in by the pro scouting department.
Brandsegg-Nygard made the roster out of camp. John Gibson hasn't performed as advertised and Sebastian Cossa's draftmate Jesper Wallstedt has already stepped into a starting role with Minnesota. Maybe it's time to make room on the roster for more of those youngsters, even if that means another year added to the playoff drought becomes that much more certain.