With the Red Wings prepared to sell off their UFAs at the trade deadline, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill will have plenty of pieces to play around with for the last few weeks of the season. Before we dig into what those lines might look like, first we need to establish who gets moved.
First off, I think defenseman Nick Leddy and forward Vladislav Namestnikov will find suitors for a playoff run. They’re not the primary assets on the market, but they’re good budget pieces for teams that either miss out on the big fish or can’t afford their high price tags. I think GM Steve Yzerman will do anything to move those two.
I’ll add some contingencies in case they aren’t moved just for your viewing enjoyment. I won’t go into goaltending because I think Alex Nedeljkovic playing 2/3 of the starts with Thomas Greiss backing him up won’t change.
Primary Lines
Offense:
Tyler Bertuzzi — Dylan Larkin — Lucas Raymond
Jakub Vrana — Pius Suter — Filip Zadina
Michael Rasmussen — Joe Veleno — Adam Erne
Givani Smith — Sam Gagner — Taro Hirose
Defense:
Jordan Oesterle — Moritz Seider
Marc Staal— Filip Hronek
Gustav Lindstrom — Troy Stetcher
Scratches:
LD Olli Juolevi, F Kyle Criscuolo, LD Jared McIsaac
IR:
F Robby Fabbri, F Mitchell Stephens, F Carter Rowney, LD Danny DeKeyser
The top six is pretty much figured out. Vrana and Zadina deserve to play together after their chemistry last season and Zadina’s off year. Detroit will topload its stars on one line in order to maximize trade value in the event that someone calls on a guy like Bertuzzi or — as Red Wings Twitter has prophecized — Larkin.
The bottom six is where things get tricky.
Rasmussen and Erne worked well together last year as a checkin/scoring lunch bucket duo, while this year the goals have dried up. I think putting them with a playmaker like Veleno will help refurbish that part of their games. Smith-Gagner-Hirose is a do-it-all line that will work like a revolving door into the rest of the lineup.
On defense, Oesterle and Seider have shown plenty of feel-good success together, and keeping them together feels like the logical choice. Staal and Hronek is more of a mentorship move. Hronek needs a veteran to help him work through his slump. His piss-poor analytics finally caught up to him this season and he hasn’t really grown much this season. I second the calls by fans to move him while his value is still high, but I don’t see that happening until the offseason free agent class shapes up after extensions and retirements. Trading Hronek for draft picks or to move up a few spots would make sense in a deep draft where Detroit should look to bolster its center depth. The Red Wings should absolutely chase a center. I like Cutter Gauthier and Frank Nazar a lot, but they probably will be gone by the time Detroit picks, or they won’t be the best prospect on the board. Still, Yzerman proved with Seider that he’s willing to ignore draft slippage and take the guys he wants. If only Ken Holland did that and snagged Quinn Hughes in 2018.
Hypotheticals
If Gagner gets moved at the deadline — which looks like a possibility for teams needing a bottom six utility player — I see someone like Riley Barber getting a callup. Yzerman could give a prospect like Jonatan Berggren an early cup of coffee, but at this point in the rebuild there’s no reason to rush things. Berggren is developing nicely on a mid Grand Rapids team. Breaking up that growth for him to play limited minutes on a bad Detroit team doesn’t make much sense.
But with teams calling on Bertuzzi’s availability, it might be worth giving Berggren an early shot if top-six ice time opens up. Namely, if a Berggren-Larkin-Raymond line could cash in on his bromance with Raymond and give him a glimpse of his potential future, that might be worthwhile. I don’t think Detroit should move Bertuzzi right now because it’s rare to combine his grittiness and scoring touch — they’re not going to find that soon if they want to start inching toward the playoffs — but with that option on the table, a Berggren backup plan makes sense.
Defensively, I don’t think anyone else gets offered in a trade. Hronek will be held until the draft as I said previously, and Staal isn’t going to help many teams improve defensively. Offensive defensemen are pretty much set for playoff-bound teams. Maybe someone calls on Stetcher, but his injury history would make me hesitant if I were a GM.
Detroit has a lot of options when they send some players off to fields anew. They can play depth and tank for a better draft pick, or they can focus on developing the young guns and staging a contention push next season. Either path helps them win down the stretch, and Yzerman’s previous patience has paid dividends to help the Red Wings improve. Winning at the trade deadline is a big finishing touch on the waning rebuild, but it doesn’t carry nearly as much anxiety as past deadlines when Detroit felt a dire need to liquidate assets.
For Red Wings fans, that’s a sight for sore eyes.
Big Tex Goes to College 