Thoughts on the Red Wings at the Trade Deadline

I wrote on Tuesday morning that I didn’t think standing pat at the trade deadline would work for the Red Wings, but that’s exactly what the team did today, as the 3:00 PM deadline passed without a move from Detroit.

As I said then, if the prices were too high for the Wings to acquire a “missing piece” then it’s better that they didn’t overspend to do so. You won’t hear me say they should have gotten into a bidding war with Columbus for Marian Gaborik or St. Louis for Jay Bouwmeester or Boston for Jaromir Jagr.

General manager Ken Holland’s comments this afternoon show that’s exactly what would have been required.

“There were a couple of players we had interest in,” general manager Ken Holland said. “Didn’t get it done. We made offers. At the end of the day, maybe somebody likes somebody else’s players better.”

It happens. And if your only goal is a run this year, there’s nothing else you can do. As was Tweeted at me earlier…

@detroithockey96 @TPLhockey its not that they ‘made a decision” not to make any moves. Offers were made, other clubs offered more.
— BioPat (@PatAldrichTGN) April 3, 2013

The problem is that ignores the fact that this is not just about this year.

When the Red Wings drop out of the playoffs in the first round after five or six games, it’ll be the last time that Ian White or Daniel Cleary suits up for Detroit. Might even be the last time we see Valtteri Filppula or Damien Brunner or Jimmy Howard.

And it will not have been worth it, because the Red Wings will have fewer tools with which to attempt a better result next season.

White and Cleary (I still hold out hope that Filppula and Brunner and Howard will be retained with sane contracts) won’t be Red Wings next fall but they could have become draft picks that would have been. Or picks that could have been part of a draft-day deal, as Holland suggests, for the missing piece that was too expensive today.