Holland: Player for Player Trades

[Polish-Hammer]

There are many managers who attempt to improve their teams via trades. Ken Holland is no except. However, the pattern in Detroit is players for prospects and picks going one way or the other. An exchange of roster players is quite rare indeed.

Just how rare you ask? During his nearly 20 year tenure as GM of the Detroit Red Wings, Holland only completed 4 trades exchanging roster players. The last trade occurring at the 2007 trade deadline over 9 years ago!

Source: http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Ken_Holland/138/3

Kyle Calder for Jason Williams
Matthieu Schnieder for Sean Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov, 2003 1st rounder, and 2004 2nd rounder
Avery was a becoming a distraction.
Dominik Hasek for Vyacheslav Kozlov, 2002 1st rounder, and 2003 conditional.
Chris Chelios for Anders Eriksson, 1999 1st rounder, and 2001 1st rounder

Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't. Which brings us to the recent hoopla of Detroit targeting Cam Fowler for trade. Fowler definitely checks off Holland's bias of Michigan players. Meaning, if Detroit were to trade for Fowler, its unlikely Holland would be willing to pull the trigger involving a roster player such as Nyquist or Tatar.

That would leave us with prospects or picks. Mantha was previously deemed untouchable and Svechnikov appears to be heading on the same boat.

The D-core hasn't been sufficiently bolstered since the retirement of Lidstrom in 2012. Combine that with Holland's record with trades... any trade seems unlikely.

Likeliest result being the status quo is maintained.

 

[tigersofjustice]

Fowler is so so bad. Would be such a mistake to value him at the level of a Nyquist or Tatar.

 

[biggunsbob]

So we don't want Holland making any deals:/ I do not want fowler either.

 

[Polish-Hammer]

I meant any player for player trade is unlikely.

As for Fowler, we know Holland has a massive hardon for anyone who ever played in Michigan or even accidentally visited Michigan. Fowler definitely has that box filled. He might not be the best D-man around, but he is a definite upgrade over Ericsson and cheaper to boot.

Regarding Goose, he is good but has a habit of disappearing in the playoffs.

 

[everyoneneedsasmil]

It does feel like the current roster + farm system is at something of a crossroads. And yes, I realize people have been saying that about the team for a few years now. But now it really seems more fitting, specifically with the retirement of Datsyuk. Much as I love Larkin and have huge expectations for him, he's just not on a Datsyuk/Zetterberg level yet. That leaves the potential for a sizeable downshift from the offense (something the team can't afford wile remaining in the playoff hunt).

Right now the farm system has a lot of depth, but the NHL roster has no spaces. The NHL roster has a lot of "good-enough" players, but is light on gamechangers. The team isn't good enough right now to really consider itself a contender, but nowhere near bad enough to think they could land a top pick. While I don't expect this to happen, I think it would really behoove Holland to go one way or the other. Clean out the excess forwards (prospects and at the NHL level) to a team with a disgruntled or expensive star (preferably on defense). Or, try to turn guys like Kronwall, Ericsson, and maybe even Zetterberg into future players.

It's not about bottoming out for picks, it's making moves towards the next Wings Stanley Cup. If Holland likes the roster enough right now (and I do still trust him to understand this stuff), then make a move to really improve now. If Holland sees a good but fading roster, then kick start the retooling now. Nobody is going to keep talking about a streak of playoff appearances if championships aren't following a decade later.