Detroit, MI

In an effort to keep his job, the Red Wings GM Basterd has made two separate deals that will be executed once the cap has been increased just before the deadline.  But while it would seem he was just “keeping up with the Joneses”, these moves don’t exactly read that way.  The Wings have needed an upgrade on defense all season long and these deals should address that.

The first deal had been discussed for a while and had actually been much larger in size with 1 player that the Wings had coveted who will remain nameless.  But Ottawa will be sending 2 big blue liners in Tyler Myers and Mark Borowiecki to the Wings to bolster the depth of a weak 2nd and 3rd pairings.  Myers will slot in well on the 2nd pairing next to either McAvoy or Klingberg for the playoff run.  And Borowiecki’s physicality and experience will immediately improve the bottom pairing with Weegar.

Officially the deal will be that Detroit will send Carl Gunnarsson, $500,000, a 5th round pick in the upcoming draft (Detroit’s own selection), and a conditional pick in the 2021 draft in exchange for Myers and Borowiecki.  That 2021 conditional pick is interesting to note though as it appears the intention of Basterd is to attempt to retain Myers who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.  Currently the 2021 pick is the NY Rangers 4th round pick but will be upgraded to the Vancouver 3rd if the Wings re-sign Myers.  With limited guys hitting free agency this offseason, it would appear that plan is in place to re-sign the tall blue liner.

And the next pending deal had to be made due to the cap constraints of Detroit.  While a solid backend guy who could play on either the 2nd or 3rd pairing, Travis Hamonic could not be retained without exceeding the salary cap.  So Hamonic will be heading to Los Angeles in exchange for a 4th round pick in the upcoming draft.  Hamonic will also be an unrestricted free agent after this season but it was not expected that the Wings were looking to retain him.