Detroit Red Wings: 2 trades to consider before the trade deadline
By Devin Jones
With the NHL trade deadline is a month away, many players will be on the move. The Detroit Red Wings are in a tough spot concerning their position in the standings.
The Detroit Red Wings need to decide within a month if they want to gain talent or trade talent to other teams for draft picks and up-and-coming players. With the Red Wings being in the position they are in, the future of the franchise is in question.
The Situation
The Wings find themselves ten points out of the final wild card spot. They recently played the last wild card team, the Philadelphia Flyers. Detroit dropped that affair 3-2 in overtime, gaining a point to their total but falling another point further behind the Flyers. There are roughly 32 games remaining in the season, the Wings will have to decide to push for the playoffs or sell for a rebuild.
Potential Trade With Colorado
We all know the past that the Wings and Colorado Avalanche have had in the past. Now it seems like that both teams are polar opposites of each other. With the Wings starting to rebuild, and the Avalanche are an up and coming team behind Nathan MacKinnon.
With only a few dozen games to go the Avalanche sit in a tough spot regarding playoffs. They are the last wild card and need help along the blue line to hopefully push them into the playoffs.
A trade the Wings can make to help both teams would be to send defenseman Mike Green over to Colorado to help their playoff push. In return, the Wings would receive Colin Wilson and Patrik Nemeth. Colorado needs help at their blue line so the edition of Green will hopefully give them the push needed to get in the playoffs.
Wilson will help the Wings on the third or fourth lines and help anchor the left wing position. Then the addition of Nemeth for the Wings will help them fill the void of on the blue line of giving up Green. Nemeth is a younger defenseman that needs his time to shine in another city.
Potential Trade With Carolina
Another trade the Red Wings should make is with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes need help in the crease, and the Red Wings can help with that. Detroit has a two-headed monster with Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard. So it only seems right to get rid of one of them.
Even though Mrazek has been hot of late, it just seems right for the Hurricanes to acquire him. In order for this to happen the Red Wings should acquire Noah Hanifin, a young defenseman out of Boston College. In order for this trade to go through the Wings might need to add in another defenseman in the trade, perhaps Danny DeKeyser or Xavier Ouellet. For this, the Hurricanes might have to throw in a draft pick in the later rounds.
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The Red Wings need to do something with the talent they have. It is just not working out for the common goal to win the Stanley Cup. Gaining draft picks through trades will help better the future of the franchise.