Red Wings Offseason Recap - jhendricks316's Blog

jhendricks316's Blog

Red Wings Offseason Recap

Posted on January 7, 2014 at 07:28 PM.

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The stars aligned for Detroit at just the right time. They could barely afford the talent that they did have, and contract negotiations broke the bank. At least they won the Cup.

Call this off-season aggressive. The departure of Datsyuk wasn't the only big move for the Red Wings. We'll start with the draft. The picks weren't big news, but the trades were:

Detroit acquires two 1st Round Picks from Phoenix for Luke Schenn and a 2nd Round Pick.

Detroit acquires Bobby Sanguinetti from Carolina for Dennis Seidenberg, Francis Pare the restricted rights to Cory Emmerton.

Later on, Detroit found Datsyuk's "replacement", and took active steps to improve their defense:

Detroit acquires Jordan Staal from Carolina for Gustav Nyquist. Staal was named alternate captain upon the trade. Staal is cheaper than Datsyuk and solid enough of a replacement to not be a concern. Nyquist is by no doubt a budding star, but Detroit will win the trade (in the beginning).

Detroit acquires Rene Bourque from Montreal for Jan Mursak and future draft picks. Bourque provides the defense that Mursak couldn't. His longer contract is also a plus.

In a cap-cutting move, Detroit acquires Justin Shugg from Carolina for Hal Gill and a 3rd Round Pick.

In another cap-cutting move, but a much more controversial one, Detroit acquires next year's 1st Round Pick from Boston (worst record in previous season) for Jimmy Howard. Jonas Hiller was signed the next day.

Detroit acquires Mark Giordano and re-acquires Jakub Kindl from Calgary for Jordan Leopold, Mike Weaver, and future picks. Giordano is younger and has a longer and cheaper contract. Jakub Kindl was added for depth on defense.

Detroit acquires Shawn Matthias and Jeff Taffe from Florida for Darren Helm and Teemu Pulkkinen. This move was made to beef up the 4th line. Helm's contract was also expiring.

Detroit also signed D Joonas Jalvanti. He joins Sanguinneti on the 2nd line of defense.

For the future, Detroit is still concerned about the expiring contracts of Stalberg, Paajarvi, Grabner, and both goalies. The forwards will ask for big raises. Detroit will prioritize Grabner, but the front office is more confident in goalie negotiations. Detroit will keep Hiller if he has a good year and doesn't decline an unreasonable amount.