For the first time in nearly a decade, it appears that the Detroit Red Wings will be buyers at the trade deadline. Rumors are swirling that general manager (GM) Steve Yzerman is looking to bring in reinforcements for a team that has been at or near the top of the Atlantic Division for most of the season.
According to reports, the Red Wings would like to add a top four defenseman and a top six forward, both with term left on their contracts. These are both significant pieces; it will almost certainly require a large investment of picks and prospects to acquire both. However, if Detroit can find a team that can offer both the forward and defenseman in one deal, that may just be a cleaner way of doing business, resulting in less value lost due to bidding wars on various players.
Those teams do exist, and the Red Wings may be wise to identify them and discuss the parameters of what a larger deal might look like.
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are the only clear sellers in the Eastern Conference. They are the only team in the East with a sub-.500 points percentage (.439), and they recently addressed their fans with another letter explaining their intent to retool their roster and invest in future assets.
Rangers GM Chris Drury and Yzerman surely have each other’s numbers. They were reportedly knee-deep in trade negotiations involving Jacob Trouba a couple of years ago before the trade fell through. They know each other’s intentions with their rosters, and they likely have a good idea of which players they are open to discussing.
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The Rangers have a young defenseman in Braden Schneider the Red Wings could target, as well as almost any of their centers. Mika Zibanejad is enjoying another near-point-per-game season with 52 in 55 games, but he turns 33 years old in April and is signed at $8.5 million until the end of the 2029-30 season. Vincent Trocheck has historically not had the same level of impact as Zibanejad, but he averages around 60 points a season is signed at $5.625 million until the end of the 2028-29 season. Trocheck also played AAA hockey from 2006 to 2009 with the Little Caesars program in Detroit.
Yzerman also has familiarity with J.T. Miller, having traded for him back when Yzerman was the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Miller’s reputation has come under the microscope recently due to his time in Vancouver ending abruptly and the Rangers entering a tailspin shortly after his arrival. Miller turns 33 next month and is signed at $8 million until the summer of 2030.
As for Schneider, he’s a 24-year-old right-handed defenseman who went 19th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft. To this point in his career, he’s been a physical defender who makes his money by keeping it simple in his own end. He could become a legitimate top four, shutdown defenseman if an organization can “unlock” him.
Regardless of how they approach it, the Red Wings have some options to consider in New York.
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are clearly in need of a retool and maybe even a full rebuild. They are in seventh place in the Pacific Division, and they don’t really have a young core of talent to build around as they head into the future.
The Red Wings could look to the Western Conference instead of the East, as there are far more legitimate sellers out west, and Detroit won’t have to worry about sending out future assets that could come back to bite them in inter-conference play. Flames GM Craig Conroy and Yzerman don’t have a lot of history in management, but they did compete against each other as players.
The clearest fit for the Red Wings at forward is center Nazem Kadri, a 35-year-old forward with over 1,000 games of NHL experience, including a Stanley Cup ring as a member of the 2021-22 Colorado Avalanche. He has 98 goals and 237 points across 302 games with the Flames, and he has a reputation for engaging in the nasty side of the game when the stakes are high.
Kadri is signed at $7 million until the summer of 2029, so there would certainly be concern about how he and his contract will age over the next couple of years. Still, he would add legitimacy and snarl down the middle for the Red Wings. Alternatively, they could also target 26-year-old center Morgan Frost.
On defense, the Flames have two players that could be of interest to the Red Wings: MacKenzie Weegar and Zach Whitecloud. Weegar, who was acquired along with Jonathan Huberdeau in the trade that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, is a 32-year-old defender signed until 2031 at a cap hit of $6.25 million. He plays big minutes, engages in the physical side of the game, and he still generally produces positive results despite playing for a struggling Flames squad.
Whitecloud was acquired on Jan. 19 in the trade that sent Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights. He’s a 29-year-old defender who historically made his living on the Golden Knights’ third pairing, but his physicality makes him useful in defensive situations, and he has plenty of experience in big games, having been on several long playoff runs during his time in Vegas.
Whitecloud is signed through the 2027-28 season at a cap hit of $2.75. He may not be the most exciting option the Red Wings could target on defense, but he very well might be the most cost-effective.
St. Louis
There is a lot of chatter surrounding the St. Louis Blues as we inch closer to the trade deadline. Doug Armstrong is in his final season as GM as the organization announced back in 2024 that Alex Steen would take over as GM following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. That means Armstrong only has a few months left to leave his mark and set the team up for success once Steen takes over.
With the Blues near the bottom of the standings, it appears St. Louis is about to undergo a retool that will include what will likely be a top-five pick in this year’s draft. As they set their eyes on the future, there is a rising expectation that the Blues will look to deal away current players to bring in future assets that Steen will have to manage. Armstrong and Yzerman’s relationship is well-documented, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the Red Wings are linked to the players reportedly available in St. Louis.
The biggest name in the rumor mill is center Robert Thomas, one of the Blues’ alternate captains who has 342 points in 339 regular season games over his last four and a half seasons. He is signed until the summer of 2031 at a cap hit of $8.125 million, and he would be a top six centerman for almost any team in the league, including the Red Wings. He turns 27 years of age in July.
If Yzerman would like to add an impact forward ahead of the trade deadline, it is debatable that anyone available would have the same level of impact as Thomas. The Blues have understandably set a heavy acquisition cost for their top center, but the Red Wings are one of the few organizations that are capable of meeting their price.
The Blues also have a couple of defensemen that Detroit could look to include in a deal for Thomas. Justin Faulk has become a popular name in the rumor mill following the Golden Knights’ acquisition of Andersson from the Flames. Faulk, who turns 34 in March, has over 1,000 games of NHL experience, split between the Blues and the Carolina Hurricanes. He has historically been more of an offensive defenseman, but two-way play has been a key characteristic of his game since joining the Blues in 2019.
Faulk is signed through the end of next season at a cap hit of $6.5 million. The short amount of time left on his contract would allow the Red Wings (or any team that acquires him) to inject him into their lineup without having to figure out a long-term fit for him in the lineup. With Axel Sandin-Pellikka also on the right side of the blue line, that ability to insulate their young Swedish defenseman with Faulk for another season would likely appeal to the Red Wings.
For a bigger swing, the Red Wings could also target Colton Parayko on defense. At 6-foot-6, 228 pounds, Parayko would immediately add size and physicality to Detroit’s blue line to a degree that they currently do not have. He blocks shots, blocking over 200 two seasons ago, and he generally doesn’t overcomplicate things when he’s on the ice. He turns 33 in May and is signed at $6.5 million until the end of the 2029-30 season.
While there are other teams the Red Wings can execute an efficient deal with, the Blues are probably the team best suited to complete a full-blown blockbuster trade with Detroit. The Red Wings could put together a package of prospects and picks that would kickstart the Blues’ rebuild under Steen, and in return, Detroit would receive two significant pieces, one of which would almost certainly be a top six center for them for the foreseeable future.
At What Cost?
If the Red Wings do decide to try to address their two biggest needs in one deal, the cost is not going to be cheap. In some cases, they may be looking at parting with their first round pick in this year’s draft, maybe a second round pick, and two notable prospects. It almost feels like a foregone conclusion that any trade that moves the needle for the Red Wings will at least cost one of Nate Danielson or Marco Kasper.
Aside from picks and their two budding young centermen, Red Wings fans may also need to get comfortable with the idea of their favorite team parting with one of their two top goalie prospects, whether it’s Sebastian Cossa or Trey Augustine. Yzerman and his scouting team have diligently built up an overflow of goaltending talent in their system, and that surplus can certainly be used to address the needs they have this season.
For the first time in a long time, the Red Wings appear to be ready to make a big move to add talent to their roster. The cost will be high, but the potential impact on their playoff hopes as well as their long-term outlook is just as significant. If they are ready to make that kind of move, the three teams listed here should be at or near the top of their list of potential trade partners.
