Red Wings on the Move Again? - jhendricks316's Blog

jhendricks316's Blog

Red Wings on the Move Again?

Posted on January 23, 2014 at 09:48 PM.

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GM Hendricks is never satisfied with the Detroit Red Wings. Any doubters should see this latest slew of moves executed by him. Perhaps Hendricks is concerned about his future. The executive is in the third and final year of his contract, and his owner's expectations are high.

Despite winning the Stanley Cup last season, some insiders are still concerned about his status. Regardless of which team he calls the shots for next season, Hendricks has at least made sure that the Red Wings are fiscally responsible:

Detroit acquires Jarome Iginla from Calgary* in exchange for Bryan Bickell and a 2nd Round Pick. Before this deal, Hendricks had gained a repuation for acquiring skilled veterans with expiring contracts. The most recent of these moves (the acquisition of Patrik Elias) boded well for Detroit last year, and they hope Iginla will spark scoring on that 3rd line. Brandon Sutter was also injured at the time of this trade, so it prevented a call-up from Grand Rapids.

Detroit acquires Alex Stalock from San Jose in exchange for Jonas Hiller and a future 3rd Round Pick. Detroit controversially traded Jimmy Howard this offseason in exchange for Boston's 1st Rounder. Thankfully, they still have one of the league's worst record. Regardless, the "Jonas Hiller" experiment that was intended to save Detroit for this year did not work. Stalock is essentially a young Hiller.

Detroit acquires Mikael Backlund from Calgary in exchange for Derick Brassard and a future 2nd Round Pick. The Red Wings overpaid to keep Brassard under contract (with help from funds after the release of Pavel Datsyuk). However, his $5.4 million price tag for the next two years would not bode well, since Detroit intends to retain Michael Grabner. He leads the league in goals. Nevertheless, Detroit trusts that Mikael Backlund will be able to produce in a capacity similar to Brassard. That is why the trade was made in the first place.

*Using NHL 13