Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon suggests that nine teams may want to trade their 1st round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft in order to improve their respective playoff-making steads, including the Red Wings:
Detroit Red Wings
There are a few teams in the Eastern Conference schemozzle for the wild card that have a ton of pressure to get back to the playoffs and you could argue the team with the biggest weight on their shoulders are the Detroit Red Wings.
The Wings aren’t rebuilding anymore and GM Steve Yzerman has to get them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Their first-round pick in 2025 is slated to be right smack in the middle of the round and while great players can and will be picked there, that’s a player that likely won’t help Detroit for a couple of years at least. Detroit needs to make the playoffs now and using that pick to get help is their best collateral.
If the Red Wings are going to get back to the playoffs, they have to fend off a load of other teams all vying for the opportunity and there’s zero need for them to draw a line at that pick in negotiations.
Continued; I’m gonna be honest here. Given the fact that the Red Wings are still in a rebuild, I would categorically rule out moving a 1st round pick for a rental. As GM Steve Yzerman has always suggested, the Red Wings should only move future assets if they’re necessary to add a player who’s going to be part of the Red Wings’ long-term future.
I keep on reading stupid trade proposals which suggest that the Wings should be trading prospects like Axel Sandin Pellikka or Trey Augustine for rental players, and I just shake my head. The Red Wings aren’t full of untouchable prospects, but if Detroit’s going to move ASP, Augustine, Sebastian Cossa, or that 1st round draft pick, it’s got to be for a player who can help Detroit both today and tomorrow. Period.
