Kulfan’s deadline chat with Holland

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Red Wings GM Ken Holland ahead of the trade deadline:

General manager Ken Holland is looking for the best possible return on several assets – and those returns could be bigger for the Red Wings when all 30 teams are motivated to make moves, rather than just the playoff contenders now.

“It’s not like I feel that I’ve got to do a deal because I’ve got these unrestricted free agents,” Holland said. “It appears right now more of a buyers’ market. There’s more teams that are selling. The standings are so close, teams aren’t sure what they’re going to do. There’s not enough teams that are really guaranteed a playoff spot.”

And if Holland doesn’t get the type of deal he wants Monday, or in June – he’s willing to wait for that right package at the trade deadline next season.

“If it’s not this time period, and it’s not at the draft, then the reality is, it’s probably a year from now,” Holland said. “My mindset isn’t so much about 2017-18 and ’18-’19. It’s about ’19-’20 and trying to acquire assets that I’m hoping can impact this team down the road. If nothing’s there that makes sense, and all I’m doing is helping somebody else out, and we’re not getting what I don’t think is fair value for our players, we’ll go back to the summer and we’ll start all over again. There will be more teams in the mix.”

Continued