The Detroit Red Wings received defenseman Marc Staal and a 2021 second round pick from the New York Rangers on Saturday in return for future considerations.
UPDATE: The #RedWings have acquired defenseman Marc Staal and a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft from the New York Rangers in exchange for future considerations. pic.twitter.com/EO9cWDACOE
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 26, 2020
I love this deal. The Wings get a second-rounder to bail the Rangers out of cap trouble. As I tweeted earlier, Staal only having a year left on his deal is probably why the Wings “only” got a second rounder, but because his deal is expiring it’ll be easier to flip him for even more assets (not that I expect much of a haul there) at the next trade deadline.
The only problem as I see it is that this gives the Red Wings eight defensemen under contract right now who I would want (or otherwise expect) to see in the Detroit lineup on opening night. That’s Staal, Danny DeKeyser, Patrik Nemeth, Alex Beiga, Filip Hronek, Moritz Seider, Dennis Cholowski, and Gustav Lindstrom. Plus Madison Bowey as an unsigned restricted free agent.
That’s an easy fix, though. I’d like to see Lindstrom up but he could go back to GR (assuming the AHL is playing) easily, as could a returning Bowey. That’d give Detroit seven defensemen without their big-name kids getting buried.
Of course, that assumes Staal even stays on the Red Wings’ roster. They could buy him out and spread the smaller cap hit over two seasons. In that case, they’d have the space to do another deal like this.
Between the Staal and the Gagner and Elson deals, it’s been a busy day for Steve Yzerman.
Like you, I like the deal and should he remain on the roster; What does it do for the Ericsson situation? He’s 33 and experienced which is valuable for the kiddos on the backend since we’ve lost our veteran presence. Also of note; this is the last year of the Franzen and Zetterberg contracts which means more cap room next season.
Yzerman addressed the Ericsson situation in his presser after I wrote this. Neither Ericsson nor Daley will return. I’d assumed as much in my write-up, which is why I didn’t include them, but that’s confirmed now.
Franzen’s LTIR comes off the Wings’ books this year (as does Brodziak’s, not that anyone thinks of that). The Xavier Ouellet buyout is done, too. Zetterberg and the Stephen Weiss buyout still have one more season to go.