Red Wings: Three takeaways from Steve Yzerman’s first trade deadline

In the two deals that Steve Yzerman made, he gave up two veterans, and one prospect winger who has seen some minimal time with the Red Wings.

The Red Wings ultimately found the Oilers as their trade suitor, moving veteran Green to them on Sunday night before things got crazy. Yzerman sent Holland a puck-moving offensive defenseman who could play a specific role for the Oilers. Green is a veteran defenseman who could play a beneficial role to the Oilers power-play quarterbacking things as a play-maker while the speedy forwards make things happen upfront.

Hours before the deadline, a bidding war broke out over Red Wings forward Athanasiou, who was rumored to be headed to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Holland ultimately must have sweetened the deal. The Oilers would up the offer to Yzerman and bring in Athanasiou, who could be deadly for their core of forwards who are all incredibly fast on the ice. The Athanasiou trade has received mixed reviews across social media, believing that the Red Wings may have sold too low, but in all honesty, Yzerman got this right.

Also involved in the trade for Athanasiou was forward Ryan Kuffner, who was added to the deal after the original news was released. Yzerman parted ways with Kuffner, who was signed by Holland last spring after a strong performance with the Princeton University Tigers. Kuffner was signed around the same time as Taro Hirose, and ultimately, Holland has a liking towards Kuffner after acquiring him in this trade. Kuffner was not as dominant as Hirose was (to start), and the Red Wings relatively deep system and newly stocked draft stockpile made this leg of the trade possible.