Red Wings 2018 Offseason Review Part 1

At the outset of the summer, GM Evans and the Detroit Red Wings promised a lot of roster turnover. True to his word, GM Evans proceeded to ship out nearly half the roster and sign over 15 UFA's. This 2 part series will attempt to break down the Red Wings' busy summer.

After a pair of major moves in May (the acquisition of Chris Kreider and a 3 for 3 swap with the Devils) the Red Wings started the MRFHL offseason with an extremely busy June. In total 16 trades were made.  

First up Erik Gustafsson was aquired from the Avs for a pair of draft picks and AHLer Kyle Platzer. Gustafsson is expected to serve as the Wings 7th defenseman this season but GM Evans feels he has the skills to be a 4 or 5D one day. Next, Cam Fowler was acquired from the Sharks along with a 4th for Craig Smith, Matt Grzelcyk and a 2nd. GM Evans: "We paid a solid price here but that's what it takes to add a high end player like Cam. Craig had proved he was worthy of a scoring line role but he was blocked in Detroit. Keep an eye on Grzelcyk too, that kid fits the modern NHL like a glove."

A few days after Fowler, the Wings went out and swapped veteran C/LW Henrik Zetterberg plus a 2nd round pick and prospect Drake Batherson for Evander Kane (2.1 retained) and a 5th. GM Evans: "Evander is an underrated two way winger that brings some grit to a pretty small Wings team. He can play on any of our top 3 lines and both special teams; I hope to see him click with McDavid." In the following days a few minor deals were struck that saw the Wings add Christian Wolanin, Greg Pateryn, Matt Peca, Viktor Olofsson, and a 4th and ship out Patrick Maroon, Erik Cernak (again), AHLer Mason Geertsen, and a few later picks. Somehow Erik Cernak has been traded by the Wings 3 times in his young career, and I'm sure he is fully prepared to be re-acquired and moved again in the future.

Next up, the Wings managed to land their biggest fish yet. After a disappointing end to the season it was pretty clear Ryan Getzlaf wasn't going to be a fit in Detroit long term and GM Evans had only 1 target in mind to replace him: Sean Couturier. After weeks of intensive negotiations with the Sharks, the Wings were feeling pretty pessimistic about getting a deal struck but decided to make one final Godfather offer. In the end Sean Couturier was acquired along with top prospect Ryan Donato, Jaromir Jagr's contract as a dump, and a 4th in exchange for Ryan Getzlaf, Josh Bailey, Tyler Pitlick and recently acquired Christian Wolanin. Jagr was immediately shipped off to Anaheim along with AHLer Alex Broadhurst for a 5th. GM Evans "I really feel Sean is the perfect compliment to Connor and the rest of our forward group. He's a Selke finalist just entering his prime on a fantastic contract. Obviously the price paid here was pretty high but that's the cost of playing poker. The Wings are sick of missing playoffs."

With the draft approaching, the Wings decided hulking defensive prospect Nic Hague was worth more than a pair of picks, and pulled the trigger on a deal. By the time the dust settled on draft day, the Wings had added 13 prospects and shipped out the majority of their 4th line/7D/AHL depth in the process. The 2nd half of the Wings summer would be focused on rebuilding that lost depth and building the Grand Rapids Griffins into a respectable squad, as well as rounding out the rest of the NHL roster.

During the July UFA re-signing period the Wings made a pair of quiet deals. First up, the Wings exploited the loophole exposed by the shifty Toronto Maple Leafs GM (idea planted by the even shiftier GM of the Oilers) and managed to acquire an extra UFA presign from Pittsburgh to use on starter Mike Smith. This shenanigans cost the Wings a pair of solid depth players in PE Bellemare and Kyle Quincey, but ensured that the Wings would be able to negotiate freely with Smith without the spectre of losing him to UFA. Smith was signed for 5M for 2 years.

In the 2nd deal of re-signing period the Wings acquired ping pong guru and Chewbacca doppleganger Patrick Eaves from the Oilers in exchange for prospect Zack MacEwen, and then re-signed Eaves for 2M for 2 years.


May-to-July Summary
In: Kreider, Gustafsson, Fowler, 2018 5th, E Kane (2.1 retained), V Olofsson, 2018 4th, Pateryn, Peca, Couturier, Donato, 2018 4th, 2018 5th, Hague, 2018 5th, Eaves, 2018 2nd, 2018 3rd, 2018 3rd, 2018 3rd, 2018 5th, 2018 5th

Out: Armia, Jo Benn, Hanzal, J Anderson, Asplund, 2020 4th, Platzer, 2019 5th, C Smith, Grzelcyk, 2019 2nd, Zetterberg, 2019 2nd, Cernak, 2019 5th, Geertsen, 2018 3rd, Getzlaf, Bailey, Broadhurst, Chimera, 2018 2nd, 2018 3rd, R Murphy, Bellermar, Quincey, MacEwen, 2018 2nd, 2019 3rd, 2018 4th