Will the Red Wings make more moves before Monday's trade deadline?
With prices set on the high side as the NHL's trade deadline approached, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland added a veteran power forward without subtracting from his Detroit roster. He was also meeting with his scouts Sunday evening to analyze other options.
Holland found an amicable trading partner in Dallas, where his former assistant, Jim Nill, runs the Stars. With Dallas doubtful to make the playoffs and building for the future, the Stars parted with gritty left wing Erik Cole and a third round pick for two Swedish prospects and a second-round pick.
Cole is in the final season of a four-year, $18 million contract and will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
At mid-afternoon Sunday, Holland was ambivalent about making a deal because teams were asking for too much in return.
"I've been on the phone, talking with a number of teams," Holland said. "We'd feel good about adding one more piece, but prices seem to be kind of set, and they're relatively steep in terms of futures."
By futures he means draft picks and young prospects -- the kind of players he sent to Dallas: defenseman Mattias Backman, Detroit's fifth-round pick (146th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft; and center Mattias Janmark, the Wings third-round pick (79th overall) in 2013.
Holland compared the final day before the trade deadline to July 1 -- the opening day of the NHL's free-agent season -- when unrestricted players are free to sign with any club of their choosing.
"There are a lot of players we'd like to add that would be good fits for our team," Holland said. "I'm gauging the price."
The price set by teams willing to give up players -- and shed salaries -- to acquire the rebuilding help they neeed includes first- or second-round picks and young players with NHL potential.
Holland has held fast to his position that he will not trade any first-round picks. But his NHL club is flourishing with young players, and its top minor-league affiliate in Grand Rapids is stacked.
After a wide-ranging discussion in which Holland analyzed his team, this much we know:
--- That oft-professed need for a right-shot defenseman isn't critical.
The guy they've been shopping for in the trade market was here all along, and he scored the tying goal at Nashville on Saturday.
Alexey Marchenko keeps improving every game, and though he's not the offensive threat the Wings would like, he's proven to be intelligent in his positional play, rarely beaten and almost always making the right pass to get the puck out of danger. And at 6-foot-3, he gives Detroit some much-needed size on the blue line.
That said, if the Wings could add another right-shot defenseman for a decent price, they won't hesitate. But the asking price for a guy like Edmonton's Jeff Petry was getting away from them on Sunday.
--- The Wings aren't necessarily looking to get bigger and more physical.
Just because they came home from their trip a little nicked up -- with captain Henrik Zetterberg, Darren Helm and Kyle Quincey nursing injuries -- doesn't mean the Wings are looking to counter the physical play they experienced at Nashville, Los Angeles and Dallas.
In fact, Holland was rather blunt when asked if he was worried about his team getting knocked around with the intensity rises in the playoffs.
"I'm not," he said. "I've heard about size for 15 years ... and if size is an issue with our team, it's not a one-move issue. It's a philosophy issue."
In other words, if the Wings were to transition from a team of skill and puck-possession with smaller to average-sized players to one that liked to play a more punishing, physical game, that would take years. And as long as Holland -- widely recognized as one of the best executives in sports -- is around, that's not going to happen.
"I'm hoping that the experience of the Boston series last year is going to benefit us," he said. "And we've added some bigger guys since then, too. Marchenko is bigger. Riley Sheahan (6-3, 220 pounds) is a man. And Luke Glendening (5-11, 200) isn't big, but he plays heavy.
"We've played in some pretty tough places recently -- Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Jose and Nashville -- and our skill players keep going through the process of getting to the hard areas where they need to be to succeed."
By all accounts, Cole, 36, should be a welcomed addition in Detroit. In 57 games for Dallas this season, he had 18 goals, 15 assists and 14 penalty minutes.
A native of Oswego, N.Y., Cole has the reputation of being a guy who plays with a take-no-prisoners attitude. Besides being gritty, he has good scoring instincts and leads by example, scouts say.
--- Backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson isn't going anywhere.
NHL scouts whose teams are looking for goaltending depth had to like what they saw of Gustavsson in a 1-0 loss at Los Angeles and Saturday's 37-save, 4-3 win at Nashville. So did Holland.
Gustavsson played Saturday because of the short turn-around from Thursday night's game at San Jose, which ended at about 1 a.m. Detroit time. The Wings had a postgame dinner, got a few hours rest and flew across the continent to Nashville, arriving at about 5 p.m. Friday.
Coach Mike Babcock actually told Gustavsson immediately after the win over the Sharks to be prepared to play in Nashville.
In other words, Gustavsson wasn't being showcased, and Holland has no interest in trading him -- even though Petr Mrazek is playing lights-out in Grand Rapids. Mrazek earned his third American Hockey League shutout in five games Saturday with a 5-0 victory at Chicago.
"At the age of 22, he's better served to play in the American League," Holland said. "I want Petr Mrazek to play lots of games and be in the net in the playoffs for Grand Rapids. If we need him, he's a two-hour drive away."
So Gustavsson started the season as the backup to Jimmy Howard, and that's how he'll end it.
"Gus is a real good goaltender," Holland said. "Our only concern is his ability to stay healthy. But he played well for us at the end of last seasib and in games four and five in the playoffs against Boston. He played really well for us in LA and Nashville, and we like that he's got lots of experience."
Bottom line: Whether or not they make another trade, the Wings are planning for every contingency regarding a deep run in the playoffs. And if Howard gets injured or falters in the postseason, Holland likes their chances a lot better with Gustavsson's experience.
"I like that we go three deep in goal," Holland said. "And I'd really like to see Petr Mrazek take Grand Rapids on another good playoff run."
Mrazek backstopped the Griffins to the Calder Trophy two years ago. And won a 10-0-2 run right now, they're playing like they're poised to challenge for another AHL title.
