The Detroit Red Wings’ move on Monday evening could make the countdown to the NHL’s March 7 trade deadline more interesting.
Detroit traded 30-year-old goaltender Ville Husso to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations on Monday.
Af first glance, the Husso trade looked like Anaheim was bringing in a stop-gap backup goaltender for Lukas Dostal, which would allow them to trade netminder John Gibson. However, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli doesn’t think there’s a connection, as Ducksâ AHL affiliate in San Diego is dealing with an injury to Calle Clang during its playoff push. Husso and veteran Oscar Dansk becomes the new tandem.
But from the Red Wingsâ perspective, moving Husso definitely could be setting up Detroit to be active by the trade deadline while they hold the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Since Husso’s cap hit is $3.6 million while in the minors, the Red Wings now have about $11 million in current cap space. That can become about $13.57 million by the trade deadline, according to PuckPedia.
The Red Wings also announced veteran center Andrew Copp had a season-ending surgery to repair a pectoral muscle injury. The Red Wings don’t need to put him on long-term injured reserve unless they blow through their current space, but if they want to be victorious in the wild-card race, they should try to add to their team as much as they can.
With #LGRW having $3M of projected cap space & $14M of deadline space, Copp going to LTIR is not an option to gain more cap space unless they first added $14M of annual cap hit.
LTIR allows a team to exceed the cap, since they are well below the cap, Copp to LTIR would not⌠https://t.co/DYxWbqGeUK
â PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) February 25, 2025
The Red Wings have all three of their first-round picks, their three second-rounders and four third-rounders to use in any potential deal for a difference-maker.
Despite Copp’s injury, Detroitâs need right now should be a minute-munching blueliner to ease the responsibilities for Moritz Seider. Getting someone, such as Chicagoâs Seth Jones and his $9.5-million cap hit, would make a lot of sense for the Wings if they can fit him in for the long term.
The Red Wings are tied for the 10th-most goals against per game, with 3.14. That’s the worst goals-against average for any team in a playoff spot right now. And although the Red Wings have the third-most points since Jan. 1, their 2.95 goals against per game is only 18th in the league.
Not many NHL teams could afford to absorb Jonesâ full salary without Chicago having to retain salary, either.
It was rumored last year and over the summer that Yzerman had interest in acquiring Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers. This happened, of course, before the Rangers dealt Trouba to Anaheim. But moving on a Jones trade is exactly the type of big swing Yzerman has been looking to make for some time. If he can find an asset match for the Blackhawks, making a Jones trade happen might not be as tough a task as it seems to be on the surface.
Detroit also could be interested in one or two experienced forwards with that cap space after losing Copp, who has 10 goals and 23 points in 56 games. A new second-line center to play between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane could work, as J.T. Compher only has three points in 15 games since Jan. 1 and 22 points in 51 games overall.
In any case, the Wings do look primed to be a buyer at the deadline. Yzerman is under massive pressure to get his team into the playoffs for the first time since 2015-16. Changing coaches to Todd McLellan has been a big success so far, and Yzerman should capitalize on that momentum.
Yzerman had Husso in the AHL with Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon in the NHL, so moving him wasn’t a huge risk. But with all the cap space they have, Red Wings fans should be jazzed at the possibilities of Yzerman making Detroit a significantly stronger team and a bona fide playoff threat.
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