2021 Deadline Part 2: Shopping in the Bargain Bin

March 22, 2021

The 2021 trade deadline just seemed to have a higher level of urgency this year in Detroit. By deadline day the Red Wings had a 34-27-13 record in a league-leading 74 games played, and held the final wildcard spot in the East with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Washington Capitals hot on their heels, all with multiple games in hand. The Red Wings sat in the unique position of holding a playoff spot but relying on other teams to lose a few games to avoid getting leapfrogged.

After dealing his starting goalie and #1 defenseman in the previous few days, GM Evans continued to work the phones throughout deadline day. Talks heated up with a number of different teams and dozens of trade possibilities were thrown back and forth. Only one thing was certain on deadline day: The Red Wings would be active.

To kick off a busy day, the Wings struck a deal to send out three of their summer UFA signings, Joel Persson, Emil Djuse, and Zac Leslie to Arizona for a ’22 5^th round pick. The three were unlikely to see the ice in Little Caesars Arena and will hopefully have a better opportunity in the desert. This deal marked an inflection point for the Red Wings direction; from here on out the focus would shift away from selling off UFA’s and toward adding a strong backup goalie and a few rentals to round out the roster for a playoff run.

In the biggest move of the day, a familiar face returned to Hockeytown; Petr Mrazek was re-acquired from the Sharks. He had been traded there in 2018 along with a 3^rd round pick and Byron Froese in exchange for Nikita Zadorov after losing his starting job in ’17-18. Petr had been the Red Wings’ starter from 2015-17 in the early days of GM Evans’ tenure and had been a fan favorite. The organization had made acquiring a second goalie a top priority for the deadline. With Carter Hart young enough to be exempt from the expansion draft, and inexperienced enough that he could use a veteran mentor, it seemed a prudent use of assets. The 5-for-1 swap saw recently acquired Boris Katchouk and Sammy Blais a ’22 4^th round pick, summer UFA signing Ross Colton, and prospect Leon Gawanke headed off to San Jose.

GM Evans: “Mrazek is signed for next year at 4M. He will back up Carter down the stretch this year and may push Carter for starts next year. This type of trade really highlights the success of our pro scouting, our yearly binge of depth UFA signings keeps our farm system stocked. This was also good way to recycle some value back to the roster by using players acquired in the Burns and Kunin deals as trade chips.”

Within an hour of the Mrazek acquisition, the Wings had reached another trio of deals. First, another UFA signing, Tanner Jeannot, was shipped off to Dallas for defensive forward Casey Cizikas. Next, Milan Lucic was acquired from Ottawa for yet another UFA signing, David Kase. Lastly, Jonas Johansson was shipped off to Arizona for a 2021 4^th round pick to clear a roster spot.

As the final minutes of the deadline ticked closer the Wings managed to swing a final pair of deals, first dealing prospect German Rubtsov along with Colton Sissons, who had been pushed out of a roster spot, for rental Tyler Johnson and a 2022 4^th round pick, and then flipping Tyler Johnson to Tampa Bay for a 2021 6^th round pick.

Rumours swirled near the end of the night of a potential blockbuster deal, but our reports say the Red Wings were unwilling to move either of their 1^st round picks. It looks increasingly likely that the Wings will have a pair of lotto picks and may even have a top 5 pick from the sliding Flyers going into the lotto.

At his final press conference, GM Evans sounded happy about his recent acquisitions and hopeful about the team’s playoff hopes. “I think this trade deadline season was productive. We added Brock Nelson, Tyler Pitlick, Patrick Marleau, Casey Cizikas, and Milan Lucic to increase our forward depth, we added Mirco Mueller to play a depth role on defense, we added a pair of talented goalies in Petr Mrazek and Justus Annunen, and we added trio of late draft picks while shipping only one out. It was tough to move Brent Burns and Robin Lehner, and I was hoping Luke Kunin would show a bit more this year after paying a good price for him at the 2020 draft, but we didn’t lose any major long-term pieces this deadline and we only moved out one draft pick and one guy drafted by our organization in Leon Gawanke. We were even able to recoup some assets for Jonas Johansson and some of our AHL defensemen. I think this team has what it takes to make playoffs and make a championship run”

-Detroit Free Press

Hertl-McDavid-E Lindholm
Nelson-Couturier-Teravainen
Kreider-Zajac-Killorn
Marleau-Cizikas-A Svechnikov
Koivu, T Pitlick

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H Lindholm-Pionk
Cole-Mueller
Marincin

Hart
Mrazek