Take note of these remarks made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, as made to MLive’s Ansar Khan:
“I would say we’ll be relatively conservative,” Yzerman said during a recent media Zoom call. “There’s a lot of uncertainty as to what the economic landscape in the NHL looks like in the next couple years. We’re not opposed to anything, but it’s got to make sense. But I think it’s a fair assumption that we’ll be relatively conservative.”
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“To build through free agency is impossible, it just doesn’t work,” Yzerman said. “And to do it through trades is extremely difficult because they want your good assets, and our assets are our young players and draft picks and that’s what we’re trying to build with.”
The Red Wings acquired a second-round pick in 2021 and 33-year-old defenseman Marc Staal from the New York Rangers on Sept. 26 for the price of assuming the final year of his contract ($5.7 million). Yzerman said he is willing to absorb another contract for a draft pick from a team that is tight on cap space.
“I have had some discussions with general managers looking to create cap space, but it really depends on their level of urgency or what else they’re trying to do for it to make sense,” Yzerman said. “We try to justify what is a second-round pick worth, what is a first-round pick worth if we’re in effect buying that. Some of these contracts have term on them, and how much do we want that player, how much can they help us? Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not. We’re open to it. This could happen over the course of the offseason.”
