Red Wings Acquire Kolesar from Knights for Draft Picks

The Detroit Red Wings acquired forward Keegan Kolesar from the Vegas Golden Knights in return for a pair of draft picks on Wednesday.

The deal hasn’t formally been announced but reportedly a seventh-round pick in the 2027 NHL Entry Draft and a third-round pick in 2029 head to the Knights in return.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Red Wings needing to become harder to play against. In his five full-time NHL seasons, Kolesar has thrown between 237 and 279 hits. Last season that came along with 17 points playing fourth-line minutes, which would have been good for 13th on the Red Wings.

I’ve said before that I’m not sold on “grr, must hit more” as a path forward for the Wings. With that in mind, I’m not sold on this deal, though I think the cost is low enough. That Kolesar also outscored Michael Rasmussen, Mason Appleton, and basically everyone else Detroit tried out on the fourth line is something I appreciate more.

Frivolities… Yes, I ran a photo of Kolesar from 2018 with this story. It’s what I’ve got.

Kolesar wore #55 with the Golden Knights. I’m curious to see if the Red Wings make it available to him. Apparently #9 was his number growing up but he won’t have that in Detroit, obviously.

The move came as a flurry of depth-related acquisitions for the Red Wings. They also signed likely-Grand Rapids-bound forwards Cameron Butler and Wilmer Skoog.

Defenseman Jacob Bryson got an NHL-level deal but I see him as this year’s Ian Mitchell. He could make the Red Wings but he’s got a lot of bodies in front of him.