Steve Yzerman knows more than you.
The Red Wings general manager may deny it if you ask him, but sometimes the former center says things that make you think he's psychic.
Detroit was relatively quiet at the trade deadline, perhaps to fans chagrin. The Red Wings completed a total of three trades, shipping out Elmer Soderblom to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and bringing in two players who should help move the needle.
Their forward group didn't see a high impact player added to the lineup. Instead, the Red Wings opted to reunite with David Perron, who unfortunately won't be available for any game action for at least the next two weeks.
"You know, even a healthy guy could step on the ice tonight and get hurt." Yzerman said during a post deadline press conference.
Red Wings Captain Dylan Larkin unfortunately went down later that night on a non-contact injury during the third period, thinning out a group that has already had problems finding the back of the net consistently.
Not always the moves you make...
However, the cost of adding a top forward to the group didn’t make sense at the deadline. The Avalanche had to package first round picks with other assets just to acquire players who best project to their third line.
"It's funny, we all value players differently. We're all in different situations as far as where we are and our expectations." Yzerman said, "Some deals, you kinda, we all might scratch your head at... It's a funny time.”
The Avalanche and the Red Wings are in two completely different places right now as organizations. Colorado can afford to throw out picks like that because they spent the better part of the last decade hitting so consistently on their first round picks.
Stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Gabe Landeskog represent years of the Avs being bad and getting top ten draft selections that they have developed into consistent performers.
Two of those three are in their prime years and still under contract for the next two years, when those picks would be hitting. The Avalanche are betting that their best players will play their best hockey in their prime, and the late first round draft picks they sent away won’t be as useful to winning a Stanley Cup.
Cost of doing business
The Red Wings are just entering their contention window. They can’t afford to be moving multiple first round assets or their longest tenured veterans because they still need them to help build and complete the frame for that contention window.
Yzerman still managed to find value in a very competitive market, though, and his trade for Justin Faulk should help the void on the right side of the defense. Detroit managed to navigate the deadline and come out without giving up a king's ransom, and they added value in the places they needed to. Yzerman and co. still have plenty of assets to work with in the future.
Faulk cost the Red Wings their 2026 first round pick, the rights to Dmitri Buchelnikov, Justin Holl, and the third round pick they acquired from sending Elmer Soderblom to Pittsburgh, which is actually San Jose’s.
Perron cost the Red Wings a conditional fourth pick, which, at the moment, is the pick that they acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets when Detroit moved down in the draft last year.
If it's math'd out on paper, Faulk, who should be the team’s third best defenseman, cost Yzerman two fringe NHL players, an unsigned second round prospect, and a first round pick. Dumping Holl’s contract is an added bonus, as he’s been playing for the Red Wing’s AHL affiliate for the past two years after signing a three year, 3.4 million dollar contract. Faulk, by the way, carries a cap hit of slightly less than double that, and has been playing top pairing minutes with St. Louis. Seems like addition by subtraction.
Top prospects like Nate Danielson, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, and Eddie Genborg were all kept in the system. Given that the Red Wings had to call up Brandsegg-Nygard the next day, the price paid for Faulk seems minimal, especially when compared to the impact he’ll have on-ice.
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