Trade Deadline: 2019 Edition

After a busy pre-deadline period that saw Panarin, Tarasenko, and Fowler, among others, shipped out of town, GM Evans and the Wings weren't really looking to make a big splash on deadline day. However, after a few days of working the phones and seeing what was out there on the market, a few deals came to fruition.

Leaguewide it was a quiet deadline with only 11 trades made overall during the 2 day event. The Red Wings did their best to contribute to the deadline fun, making 4 deadline deals: 3 of the blockbuster variety and 1 minor swap of picks.

The Red Wings and divisional rival Maple Leafs kicked things off with a small deal, a swap of 2020 5th round picks. This move is a clear bet that the team will outpace the rival Leafs, possibly for the first time in GM Evans' tenure.

The 2nd deal of the Wings' day, struck just 5 hours before the deadline, was a little more impactful. The Wings added one of the biggest breakout players of 2018-19, Robin Lehner, from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for top prospect Sami Niku, Ottawa's 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2019, and Jared Coreau. When reached for comment on the deal GM Evans excitedly remarked, "This move gives us possibly the deepest pool of talented young goalies in the league with Lehner, Matt Murray, and Carter Hart. I'm hoping Lehner can be the legit #1 goalie this team has been lacking for the past few seasons."

As the deadline ticked closer, trade talks heated up around 30 goal scorer Evander Kane. Several teams had kicked the tires on Kane in the previous weeks, but Washington seemed to have the perfect pieces to seal the deal. Eventually a deal was struck sending Evander Kane along with youngsters Rudolfs Balcers, Lawrence Pilut, Connor Clifton, and Anaheim's 2020 4th to Washington for Boone Jenner and Washington's 2020 1st. "It was tough to give up a gritty scorer like Evander, and our scouts were sad to hear Pilut and Balcers would be changing jerseys. They put in great work unearthing those two gems late in the draft last season and both showed this past season that they belong in the NHL. On the bright side Boone Jenner is an ideal fit for the Wings, he's RFA age, and plays a gritty game. Even though his scoring has taken a step back from his breakout a few years ago, he's still a versatile top 9 forward with potential for more. Our front office has clearly put an emphasis on acquiring 1st round picks and with 6 in the next 2 years, including 4 in 2020, this strategy has been paying off."

In the fourth and final deal of the day, the longest tenured player on the team, Erik Karlsson, was headed off to Vancouver along with prospects Kody Clark and Axel Andersson in exchange for Drew Doughty. "This is an exciting deal. Karlsson is a great player and certainly one of the best defensemen in the league. This team has enough talent up front, plus other offensive defensemen stepping up ready to carry the load. Erik just wasn't clicking here for whatever reason, and I expect that Drew will be a better fit with our group. Drew can be a top 5 defenseman in this league, and is expected to anchor the Red Wings defense going forward. The 2 prospects in this deal aren't just throw-ins either: Clark has the ideal skillset for a bottom 6 forward and Axel Andersson has 4th D potential. These three players will be all be missed, but that's the price of playing poker. "

The Wings' Spring retool has focused on getting a more balanced roster, rather than the top-heavy approach of the past few years.

Adding players like Jenner, Reinhart, Muzzin, Athanasiou, Pionk, and Kampf in "downsizing" type deals, while simultaneously adding future pieces appears to strike the perfect balance between the win-now and build-for-the-future schools of thought. Hertl, Lehner, Doughty, Coleman, and Cernak were added by trading away some of the Wings' stockpile of future pieces, without completely emptying the cupboards or trading crown jewel Carter Hart.
 

After the many trades this Spring, the 2019-20 Wings project to look like:

Hertl-McDavid-Kucherov
Kreider-Couturier-Reinhart
Athanasiou-Jenner-Coleman
Raffl-Kesler-Kampf
Scratch: Hathaway, Leipsic, Cave

Muzzin-Doughty
E Gustafsson-Spurgeon
Pateryn-Cernak
Scratch: Pionk, Fantenberg, Simek

Lehner Murray
Scratch: Sateri

Prospects:
1) Hart 9.5A
2) V Olofsson 8.0C
3) M Samuelsson 7.5C
4) I Mitchell 7.5C
5) Morand 7.5C
6) D Gustafsson 7.0B
7) Nordgren 8.0D
8) Halbgewachs 7.5D
9) Ejdsell 6.5B
10) V Meskanen 6.5D

Picks:
2019
Round 1: DET, BUF 
Round 3: BUF, WSH
Round 4: WSH
Round 5: CBJ
2020
Round 1: DET, SJ, NJ, WSH
Round 2: DET
Round 5: MTL, NSH, TOR 

-Detroit Free Press