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Fleury Of Trades Shape Detroit's Rebuild (Part 2)

Fleury Of Trades Shape Detroit's Rebuild (Part 2)

By Tyler Hetherington

Welcome to part two of the review of the Detroit Red Wings wild offseason. An offseason that saw them make a total of fourteen trades. All in the name of a tear it down type of rebuild. Part one saw us take a close look at the first seven trades of the offseason. Things were crazy in the first half, but the second half got WILD. Check out how and why below;

2/17/20 Toronto Maple Leafs send Yakov Trenin, Kent Patterson, MON 2025 Rnd 2 to the Detroit Red Wings for Lukas Kaspar, Carson Soucy
As we said in part one. Lukas Kaspar wasn't meant to be a Red Wing for long. Kaspar was sent to Detroit in the Stalberg trade for salary reasons mostly but he still can contribute to an FNHL team. Just didn't fit with Detroit's rebuilding plan. The fact that GM Hetherington was able to get a 22-year-old Yakov Trenin and a second-round draft pick for him shows he still had some value. Goaltender Kent Patterson was also included to the Wings for salary and roster reasons. Depth prospect Carson Soucy also went to Toronto alongside Lukas Kaspar

2/17/20 Detroit Red Wings send Jaccob Slavin to the Winnipeg Jets for Julien Gauthier, $750,000
This was clearly a positional need type of trade. Both players are the same age and very similar pedigree and potential future. Detroit was loaded with defensive prospects and Winnipeg was hungry for some. So this trade made perfect sense for both teams. Gauthier joins the Detroit franchise as it's top-line right-winger on the farm roster. Seen as a big part of the organization's future on the wing. Hopefully, he can find some chemistry with Johnathan Dahlen and they can continue it in the very near future at the pro level.

2/18/20 New Jersey Devils send Seth Jones, Devon Toews, NJD 2026 Rnd 2 to the Detroit Red Wings for Mark Jankowski, Dimitri Kulikov
This one was a bit of a surprise. Both Mark Jankowski and Dimitri Kulikov were just acquired by GM Hetherington this offseason. Jankowski was acquired when the Red Wings traded Peter Delmas to Buffalo. Dimitri Kulikov was acquired from Calgary as a part of the Jonas Brodin deal. Both of those players were good pieces in their deals. However, neither was the centrepiece of their deals, so you could understand their potential availability. In return for them, Detroit got a 24-year-old second pairing dman with plenty of potential still in Seth Jones. Seth might never live up to his 3rd overall draft pick status pointwise. But he brings it every game and was looking to finally find a home and team that would give him a long term chance. Since being drafted he's been traded 5 times. No wonder he hasn't been able to break out yet. That is a lot of movement for a young player developing. GM Hetherington is committing to him long term and that has to feel good. Also acquired with Seth Jones was Devon Toews. Devon is a 20-year-old defensive prospect who was a second-round choice in last year's draft. He plays an impressive two-way game and can contribute on both sides of the ice. It'll take time for him to develop. But he has a great shot at being a contributing dman to an FNHL pro roster in the future. Devon skill-wise is pretty similar to Jones just has some leaps to take in his development still.

2/23/20 Washington Capitals send Alex Tuch, Michael St Croix, Esa Lindell, CGY 2025 Rnd 1, WSH 2025 Rnd 2, WSH 2026 Rnd 2, WSH 2025 Rnd 3, WSH 2026 Rnd 3 to the Detroit Red Wings for Darnell Nurse, Ondrej Kase, Jordan Martinook
If the last trade was a surprise, this one was even more so out of left field. The Red Wings traded newly acquired Darnell Nurse alongside Ondrej Kase and Jordan Martinook to the Washington Capitals. The "out of left field" part of this trade is obviously the Wings traded Nurse at all. They only just acquire him a month earlier for Jakob Chychrun straight up. It was at the time a move to add to Detroit's top pairing but now they've just dealt him again. In return though, the Red Wings get eight assets. Alex Tuch is a 23 year old forward who hasn't been able to shed his "prospect" status to a pro player quite yet. But has the raw skills just needs to continue to develop. He is expected to play on the top line of the farm team this season. Michael St Croix is a 25-year-old forward looking for his shot on a pro roster and it seems GM Hetherington is planning to give him a middle-six chance this season. Esa Lindell might be the biggest player piece of the deal for Detroit. He's a 21-year-old defender who plays a solid two-way game and is a small step away from the pro roster. Expect him to take the year to develop and then fight for a spot in next year's top six. In addition to the players, the Wings got five draft picks including a first-rounder, two second-rouders and two third-rounders. Still surprising deal, they traded a 21-year-old budding star in Chychrun for Nurse only to trade him for two players aged 23 and 25 who haven't been able to crack a pro roster fulltime yet, a defensive prospect same age as Chychrun but less skilled right now and some picks. Some people question quantity versus quality. But you cant deny GM Hetherington turned one asset into many. Things just have to go very right for this trade to look good in the long term.

2/27/20 Minnesota Wild send James Sheppard to the Detroit Red Wings for Sami Niku, SJS 2025 Rnd 1
James Sheppard was the other big piece GM Hetherington brought in two years ago similar to Kyle Turris for one more kick at the playoffs with Gilbert Brule and others. Again akin to Turris it didn't work out and James Sheppard was a one and done in Detroit. Classic rebuild type move he was traded to Minnesota for a first-round pick in 2025 and Sami Niku who was recently taken in the second round of the last draft. On the surface seems like a pretty cheap cost for a player with 723 points in his career. But it had what Detroit was after in this teardown rebuild. High draft pick and a prospect. Niku at only 19 years of age still has a lot of maturing to do and probably needs some luck as well to make and be a consistent contributor to an FNHL pro roster. But he has potential for sure. The key here was the first-round draft pick for a team that might be a bubble playoff team. The pick is a wild card on where it could land.

3/2320 Minnesota Wild send MIN 2029 Rnd 3, MIN 2030 Rnd 3 to the Detroit Red Wings for Scott Foster, Justin Kirkland, Alex Barre-Boulet
Not much to see here to be honest. Detroit sent three younger players who will most likely not ever have an impact to Minnesota for two draft picks. This was a move to create roster room and nothing more. With the restrictions of pro and farm contracts. This move was necessary. The Red Wings brought in a lot of young assets this offseason and they needed the playing time for the younger guys.

3/12/20 Detroit Red Wings send Jaret Anderson-Dolan to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Jakub Klepis
Not what you'd call a rebuilding move at all. Redwings traded for a 34-year-old forward who was a late bloomer. Not making a real impact in the league until he was 29. But it was that exact fact that made GM Hetherington covet him so much. He worked and never gave up. He amassed 499 points in 470 games in the farm system. Never gave up and waited for his shot. With the amount of players the Detroit franchise has brought in this offseason. They brought in a true role model in Jakub Klepis. It only costed them their 12 rated forward prospect. So fair deal in GM Hetherington's eyes. Someone needs to lead and play on the pro roster and be an example for what the kids should strive to be like. He alongside Jared Aulin another player who was doubted but made an amazing career out of hard work. Will be tasked to lead this team in the right direction.

That was a wild offseason. 14 trades of varying sizes and importance. All looking towards the future and turning this franchise around. One of the clear philosophies that has come from this rebuild. Is grouping together players in certain age brackets and having waves of talent moving and pushing the Detroit organization forward. For example; In the 24-26 age bracket with Petan, Conacher, St Croix, Backman, Vatanen, Jones, Bowey, Talbot... 22-23 age bracket with Connor, Fiala, Ekblad, Trenin, Tuch, Roy.... 19-21 age bracket with Karlsson, Dahlen, Norris, Gauthier, Kaut, Tolvanen, Toews, Girard, Lindell, Condon... the waves of talent will keep the Detroit franchise competitive for many years to come hopefully. In the end here is every player in and out this wild offseason;

IN - Kyle Connor, Seth Jones, Cory Conacher, Sami Vatanen, Michael St Croix, Jared Aulin, Jakub Klepis, Mike Condon, Josh Norris, Julien Gauthier, Alex Tuch, Esa Lindell, Givani Smith, Yakov Trenin, Sami Niku, Devon Toews, Kent Patterson, Martin Kaut, Eeli Tolvanen, Victor Olofsson, OTT 2025 Rnd 1, SJS 2025 Rnd 1, CGY 2025 Rnd 1, WSH 2025 Rnd 2, MON 2025 Rnd 2, WSH 2025 Rnd 3, NJD 2026 Rnd 2, WSH 2026 Rnd 2, WSH 2026 Rnd 3, FLA 2029 Rnd 3, MIN 2029 Rnd 3, MIN 2030 Rnd 3, $750,000

OUT - Gilbert Brule, Kyle Turris, James Sheppard, Peter Delmas, Nicklas Grossman, Jonas Brodin, Jakob Chychrun, Viktor Stalberg, Tyson Jost, Alex Lintuniemi, Carson Soucy, Ondrej Kase, Patrick McNally, Jordan Martinook, Scott Foster, Justin Kirkland, Alex Barre-Boulet, DET 2026 Rnd 2

Stay tuned for an update in the 25-30 game area to see how this rebuild has worked so far.

4/16/2020 - 1661 words


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