As the trade deadline looms the Detroit Red Wings, like an octopus, have sent feelers out in just about every direction looking for the right piece to complete their roster as they aim to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.
And yet, on the eve of the deadline, it’s looking more and more like the Red Wings will be bridesmaids once more.
The Red Wings biggest need at the moment is a coin flip between a top four right shot defenseman and a top six scorer who can either play top line wing or second line center so that Detroit can play four lines a game. So far, Detroit has struck out on defensemen, being passed over by Tyler Myers for Dallas and outbid by Utah for the likes of Mackenzie Weegar. The Sabres even had managed to secure a deal for Colton Parayko before he blew the trade up by invoking his no movement clause.
Asset management
Weegar cost Utah three second round picks, a forward prospect, and former Red Wings defenseman Olli Maata. Detroit could easily have matched or exceeded that offer with the likes of Carter Mazur, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and a selection of draft picks or more prospects like Amadeus Lombardi, who doesn't look to have an exact spot in Detroit's future lineup yet.
They were outbid for Vincent Trocheck’s services this off-season, and even as the Rangers look to sell off parts in a fire sale, they are not the leading contender. Current rumors have the Minnesota Wild circling the third line center with red ink and good positioning to add at the deadline.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has always been a somewhat mercurial figure, more often than not leaving people to parse through what he hasn’t said rather than what he has.
However, in a world where third line centers are commanding mid to late first round draft picks, the Red Wings, who have a bevy of prospects on the precipice of making the NHL and a war chest of draft picks, seemingly aren’t willing to part with any of them in order to improve their roster now.
Tick Tock...
There’s still time for a trade for the likes of Rasmus Ristolainen or Robert Thomas, but failing to put forth a desirable offer before now has come to bite the Red Wings in the ass. The prices have only gone up, even as more teams seem willing to sell, and Detroit is shaping up to be making the same low impact, low consequence trades that seemingly undid them at the end of last year.
And it’s not like any of these needs were a mystery or sudden developments. Detroit has known it’s needed a second pairing defenseman for two months now as they’ve started playing rookie axel sandin-pellikka under 12 minutes a game. They’ve struggled to generate consistent offense on the top lines for going on two years, and while Marco Kaspers regression at the beginning of the season made the issue worse, it should’ve been seen by management as a glaring signal that this roster still needed more.
Instead Detroit will be overpaying for whats left at the end of the deadline, if they make a move. Regardless, they had the opportunity to do more earlier and instead let the chips fall in the other direction.
.png){kind=spacer}