The NHL Trade Deadline came and went today with a decent amount of movement around the NHL. Notable additions to playoff teams out West include the Chicago Blackhawks getting Johnny Oduya from Winnipeg, the Nashville Predators acquiring forward Andrei Kostitsyn to play alongside his brother Sergei, the Predators getting Paul Gaustad from Buffalo, the Vancouver Canucks acquiring the services of Sami Pahlsson, and the San Jose Sharks grabbing Daniel Winnik and TJ Galiardi from Colorado.
Detroit’s general manager Ken Holland told the press that he was looking for a depth forward with some size to add to Detroit’s lineup, but the only move he ended up making on the day was to send veteran D Mike Commodore to Tampa Bay in return for a conditional 7th round pick (the conditions involve Commodore playing 15 games with the Lightning this season and Tampa making the playoffs). Commodore had played in only 17 games for the Red Wings this season and was rumored to have requested an opportunity to get more playing time elsewhere. Holland told MLive’s Ansar Khan that Commodore was “buried” on the Detroit depth chart and that the club is looking to get young phenom prospect Brendan Smith into more NHL games going down the stretch.
Initial reaction to the deadline’s passing has a lot of Wings fans shaking their heads in frustration. Me? I’m not among them.
Well sure, I would have liked to have seen Gaustad or Pahlsson; maybe even Winnik, Roy, Kostitsyn, Semin, or hell even Rick Nash. I think Detroit would be a better squad with a fourth line center with more skill, experience, and grit than Cory Emmerton. I think they’d be a better team with another top-six sniper. I think they’d be better with turn-of-the-millenium Dominik Hasek in net standing behind Lidstrom, Chara, and Weber.
The rest of the contenders got better while Detroit stood pat. Does this mean that the Wings were passed up? Personally, I don’t think the Sharks are nearly as big of a threat as they were a year ago and I don’t see Winnik and Galiardi being the pieces that put them over the edge. Nashville improved their top six, bottom six, and their defense. Yes, and I still don’t think they’re as good as Detroit in any of those categories. Chicago finally added a defenseman in Johnny Oduya. Great, unless Oduya is going to strap on the blocker and do it in himself, are any of you afraid of Corey Crawford in the playoffs?
Vancouver on the other hand? Well there’s no point in worrying about crossing that bridge until we get there. I’m not looking forward to the possibility of having to try and score goals against a team that has Manny Malhotra, Sami Pahlsson, and Ryan Kesler. By then, the Nucks will have had a road every bit as difficult as ours. A potential WCF between these teams looms huge.
So, what do you think? How badly are the Red Wings screwed?
For information on all the moves made today, check out SBNation.com’s comprehensive deadline StoryStream.
