After a strong start to the season, the Red Wings have struggled considerably as of late, winning just two of their last ten games to fall out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. While some may be hoping for Detroit to make a trade or two to get back on track, that doesn’t appear to be a likely scenario. GM Ken Holland told Gregg Krupa of The Detroit News that any movement between now and the trade deadline will simply be shuffling the deck internally:
“There’s a player or two we’d like to see in Grand Rapids. If we have injuries up front or on defense, there’s a young player or two in Grand Rapids we’d like to see what they can do. So, I think for the most part it’s going to be internal between now and the deadline.”
One of those young defensemen may be 2016 second-round pick Filip Hronek. He’s off to a strong start in the AHL, leading all Griffins defenders with seven points through 16 games despite just turning 20 years old last month. Others that Holland may want to get a look at include Robbie Russo who saw action in 19 games in Detroit last season or undersized rearguard Joe Hicketts who had a dominant junior career but has yet to reach the NHL level.
Of course, a big factor in their likely inactivity stems from their salary cap situation. Even with Johan Franzen on long-term injured reserve, Detroit has less than $271K in cap room at the moment per CapFriendly. That’s not much room to work with. The team is carrying a full 23-man roster and could waive someone to free up a bit more money but still, they would basically be in a situation where they will need to match cap hits in any trade of consequence.
If the Red Wings hope to get back into the playoff picture, it appears that they will have to get there with what they have on their current roster instead of looking for help elsewhere.
Holland already has an idea just what to expect from each name in the article. I have said this before, Joe Hicketts should have made the Red Wings right out of camp. The reason why he isn’t playing on the Wings already? Holland has several of the current Wings defensemen on terrible contracts, both in terms & the amount paid. We have heard the same empty rhetoric & excuses for many years now, from this outclassed, sorry excuse of a professional hockey General Manager. Holland lost his genius & GM in good standing the day that the league put the salary cap in place.
And, during his so called run as one of the best GM’s in hockey; Jim Nill & Jim D, made most, if not, all of the calls behind the scenes. With the money that was available before the cap, Forrest Gump would have looked like a genius running the Red Wings. Last night, in the loss to Montreal showed just how badly the Wings are coached & how bad this current team really is.
Agreed
Kenny gotta go.