This Detroit Red Wings season has not gone according to plan.
Detroit always looked poised to take a step back this season, based on offseason departures that left the Red Wings’ roster thinner and underlying metrics that suggested the team might have already been overachieving a year ago.
But to be where they are Monday morning, with just eight wins in their first 20 games — on track for 74 points this season — speaks to just how hard those factors have hit.
The Red Wings’ scoring has fallen off a cliff this season due to reduced firepower down the lineup and a top six that skews small and tends to play on the perimeter. The blue line leans heavily on its top pair, with many question marks behind it. And underpinning at all, there just seems to be a bit less energy on a night-to-night basis.
It’s a lot to take in, and frankly, no single move general manager Steve Yzerman can make right now would be able to turn all of it around. But that doesn’t mean he can’t look for solutions.
He could follow the lead of the Boston Bruins — who beat the Red Wings 2-1 Saturday night in Detroit — and make a coaching change, hoping for a spark. Or, since Yzerman’s roster is realistically the more direct culprit for Detroit’s disappointing start, he could look for that spark in another form: an in-season trade.
The Red Wings certainly aren’t in position to go big for a rental with the season’s outlook already gloomy. And with so many obvious issues plaguing the team, there’s no silver bullet out there.
But if Detroit can find a player who makes sense for the team long-term and potentially start helping right away? There’s a definite logic to exploring that kind of move, even this early in the season.
So, with some help from Chris Johnston’s latest NHL trade board, here are a few names of players who fit that profile and could be in play.
David Jiricek, RHD, Columbus Blue Jackets
Why he makes sense: Things haven’t gone well for Jiricek in Columbus so far this season. The Blue Jackets sent him down to AHL Cleveland last week, and now Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell is openly acknowledging the possibility of a trade. But the 2022 No. 6 pick still has significant potential, and he fits a position where Detroit is thin.
He’s a profile the Red Wings have gravitated toward in the draft, as a big body at 6 feet 4, and has a track record of producing offense — including 19 points in 29 AHL games last season. Jiricek will turn 21 this week and could be an obvious long-term fit for the Red Wings on the right side, bringing length and a big-time shot behind Moritz Seider.
His play in Columbus so far doesn’t point to a player ready for NHL top-four minutes. But with lots of question marks behind Seider in Detroit, there would at least be a path to that kind of role for Jiricek if he finds his game quickly. And sometimes a fresh start really can do wonders for a player.
Thinking bigger picture, too: If Jiricek can get back on track, then a future right side of him, Seider and Axel Sandin-Pellikka could become a fearsome trio. It would also allow Detroit to be as patient as needed with Sandin-Pellikka once he reaches the NHL, likely in a couple of years.
The hang-up: There’s the obvious question about why it hasn’t worked out for Jiricek so far, but beyond that, it’s mainly about the cost. As a recent top-10 pick — even under a different management group — Columbus isn’t likely to move Jiricek lightly, and the Red Wings aren’t exactly in a position to be moving any first-round picks in the immediate future.
Detroit could certainly try for a package built around a roster forward and a prospect or pick, but Columbus doesn’t have to do anything here. Working out a deal with another team thinking more about the big picture than the present could be easier said than done.
Trevor Zegras, C/W, Anaheim Ducks
Why he makes sense: Despite a quiet start — and coming off a rocky season — Zegras is a proven producer in the league and the Red Wings are hurting for offense. He already has two 60-plus-point seasons on his resume, and his combination of vision and skill gives him the potential to go beyond that number.
He also fits the age range with Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond perfectly. And though Zegras’ profile might be a little redundant to the Red Wings’ current forward makeup in the top six — obvious skill, but question marks defensively and in the hard areas — they’re going to need a playmaker like him whenever Patrick Kane moves on, which could happen as soon as this summer (or even the trade deadline).
It’s no guarantee Anaheim will move him, but there’s been enough noise around the situation for the last year that it feels like a decent bet, and there might not be a (potentially) available player with more long-term upside.
The hang-up: Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek was Yzerman’s right-hand man for more than a decade between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit, and if Verbeek is trading Zegras, that might represent a caution flag for Yzerman.
Zegras’ game doesn’t really fit the two-way identity Yzerman has targeted in drafts, and in the short term he doesn’t necessarily solve the lineup issues the Red Wings have had to work around thus far, though he might be able to give them more offense from the center position.
Cost is a definite factor here, too, as Zegras was also a high pick and has a longer track record than Jiricek. The Ducks also have plenty of cap space, so there’s no obvious incentive to move his $5.75 million cap hit.
Bowen Byram, LHD, Buffalo Sabres
Why he makes sense: Byram would be able to help Detroit right now, is already playing a major NHL role for the Sabres, and at 23 is still plenty young enough to fit into a future contention window.
He’s highly mobile, brings offense and could drive the team’s second defense pairing. Or he could play opposite Seider on the first pair, potentially allowing Detroit to put Simon Edvinsson on his own pairing — splitting up the impact of the Red Wings’ top two defenders.
Long-term, another top-four left-shot defender looks like an organizational need, so this would be a chance for immediate help with an eye still toward the future.
The hang-up: Even once you get past Byram’s injury history, the logistics of working out a trade with Buffalo stand out as a major complication.
The Sabres are one of the teams Detroit has been racing to snap their lengthy playoff drought in the Atlantic Division, and in Johnston’s trade board article, he noted Byram was listed not because Buffalo is shopping him, but instead because he could be “the piece they have to put in play in order to make a significant shake-up.” Does Detroit have the kind of piece the Sabres would be seeking for such a shake-up? Color me skeptical — because the two teams are likely looking for many of the same things right now.
Perhaps the amount of money Buffalo has doled out to Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin is a mitigating factor, but with Detroit already locked in long-term with Seider (and not far off from potentially needing to do the same with Edvinsson), there might just be too many parallels in these two situations for a trade to come together.
Seamus Casey, RHD, New Jersey Devils
Why he makes sense: Casey might not have the same name recognition as the top-10 picks above, and he wasn’t listed on Johnston’s trade board. But when thinking about young defensemen who could be available, he’s one of the first names that came to my mind considering how crowded the Devils’ blue line is.
Casey made his NHL debut early this season at age 20 and put up 4 points (three goals) in eight games for New Jersey before the team got healthy on defense. The team sent him down to AHL Utica, where he’s been a point-per-game player right away.
On one hand, the Red Wings do already have a couple of smaller, puck-moving D down the lineup in Albert Johansson and Erik Gustafsson. Casey would likely be taking playing time away from one or both of them, in a similarly sheltered role. But he might have higher upside (short- and long-term) than either of them, especially with how rough Gustafsson has looked to begin this season.
At worst, he could be a bridge to Sandin-Pellikka as an offensive weapon. And at best, he could very well become more than that, either settling into a regular role for Detroit or eventually flipping to another team down the line.
His draft pedigree as a second-rounder also suggests he should be the cheapest option on this list to acquire — though his success so far could complicate that.
The hang-up: The Red Wings traded away Olli Määttä in part to make space for Johansson to play more, and bringing in Casey would quickly undo that, introducing another player in need of sheltered minutes to the equation. That also doesn’t solve Detroit’s issues on the second pairing, where the Red Wings are asking too much of Jeff Petry.
Still, the Red Wings had to have expected more offense than they’ve gotten so far from Gustafsson, and Casey has the potential to give them what they hoped for when they signed the journeyman power-play QB this summer. Casey might be relatively unproven, but he could give Detroit a mulligan at trying to replace the offense and puck movement it lost from Shayne Gostisbehere last offseason.
Of course, none of these options is a slam dunk. All have their questions, and in some cases, the concerns and hang-ups outweigh the potential attraction.
But for the Red Wings, all of them provide compelling long-term appeal, with the potential for a short-term spark, too.
And with how things have gone so far, just about every idea has to at least be on the table.
(Top photo of David Jiricek: Ben Jackson / NHLI via Getty Images)
