Two NHL teams, along with others, have recently won fewer hockey games than they’ve lost. These two teams are the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. Also, these two teams can consider themselves out of the race to make it to the postseason and continue playing hockey in late April and May.
The Penguins literally surrendered before the March 8 trade deadline when they chose to end their association with franchise icon Jake Guentzel, sending him to the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Red Wings figuratively surrendered by not making any trades before the deadline to strengthen a team that, just three weeks later, has shown all of its weaknesses and has proven not to be good enough for a postseason spot.
The future of one of those two franchises might get better soon if both organizations can agree to the deal proposed by analyst Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report in which Pittsburgh sends five-time All-Star and three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to Detroit.
“The Detroit Red Wings are in danger of missing the playoffs and potentially extending their streak of not making the postseason to eight straight seasons,” Gretz wrote. “Karlsson might not be a traditional shutdown defender, but the Red Wings need more good players on defense.”
According to Gretz, the Red Wings already “have the offense to win. But they don’t have the defense, both in terms of quality or quantity.”
Not only would Karlsson give Detroit an elite-level defender, but he would also have a positive impact on the Red Wings on the offensive transition and the final third of the rink while playing a lot of minutes.
“[The Red Wings] also need somebody who can play some big minutes and not put all of the pressure on (defender Moritz) Seider to carry the load,” Gretz wrote. “And more players who can make an impact.”
Karlsson has been as good as historically advertised this season while playing at 33. He’s appeared in all 71 games scoring 8 goals and providing 38 assists for 46 points. The Penguins have outscored opponents by 2 goals with him on the ice, and he also ranks fourth in Point Shares (7.0) among his teammates, per Hockey-Reference.
Erik Karlsson Will Have to Waive His No-Trade Clause
In the upcoming summer, the Red Wings are expected to have a little over $28 million in cap room to sign free agents starting on July 1. They only have 14 players under contract for next season removing the upcoming free agents currently on their roster. PuckPediaAlthough Detroit doesn’t have all of its own draft picks available, they have
at least one pick per round from 2024 through 2026, including two bonus seventh-round picks in the next two NHL Drafts. Having such a collection of assets will be important in putting together a package to trade for a player like Karlsson. Trading for Karlsson won’t be easy, and that also has to do with the No-Trade Clause (NTC) in his current contract with the Penguins. The NTC allows Karlsson to reject any trade he doesn’t like, potentially preventing Detroit from acquiring him even before the franchise can consider it.
That said, currently, it seems like Detroit offers Karlsson a better chance at making multiple postseason runs before retiring than Pittsburgh does, even if Sidney Crosby re-signs with the team next summer.
Sidney Crosby re-signs with the franchise next summer. Gretz wrote, “There could be a match. Detroit really needs Karlsson, and the salary-cap situation could work.”
Detroit Red Wings Must Revamp Roster Next Offseason
Then, there is GM
Steve Yzerman as documented by Heavy. Yzerman, , is going to be under heavy scrutiny and with his back against the wall after (most probably) missing the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season since he was hired by the Red Wings.Gretz noted, “There is going to be big pressure for general manager Steve Yzerman to put a playoff team on the ice, especially if they continue their recent slump and miss again this season.”
The Red Wings are
coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the fellow postseason-chasers Washington Capitals on Tuesday, March 26, which could very well mean the end of the road is here for Detroit. As of today, the Capitals (81 points) lead the race for the second wild-card berth by two points over the Red Wings (79) with a game in hand. With only 10 games left and the Capitals putting on a late-season run, it’s going to be really hard for Detroit to catch Washington in time to snatch the second WC berth from them. Perhaps they’d do better starting to plot the master plan to land Karlsson rather than wasting time in trying to compete for a place in the playoffs that will, most probably, not come this season.
With the Penguins about to enter a rebuilding process, could the Red Wings take advantage of a firesale and acquire Erik Karlsson from them?
