The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau chose a set of six teams with significant salary cap space remaining, and he suggests that each of these teams should “make a splash” to maximize their salary cap space’s punch. He includes the Red Wings in his list:
Detroit Red Wings
Cap Space: $12.0 million
The Red Wings acquired John Gibson to be their starter in net and signed role players Mason Appleton, James van Riemsdyk and Jacob Bernard-Docker in free agency. Gibson can be a difference-maker, but those other three players aren’t needle-movers in any sense.
Thus, in a highly competitive Atlantic Division, we still don’t see Detroit as a playoff team right now. But Wings GM Steve Yzerman still has cap space to use in trades. His team lacks sufficient high-end talent to compete with Atlantic front-runners, such as the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
So far during his time as Detroit GM, Yzerman’s biggest trade acquisition was arguably Alex DeBrincat. He missed out on finding another Grade-A skater in free agency, so unless he pulls off a blockbuster, we’re skeptical he’ll be able to acquire the talent he needs to put his group into legitimate playoff contention. Gibson will be the X-factor if the roster stays as it is.
Continued; I would prefer to see Yzerman make a trade of some sort, but I have a bad feeling that we are where we are in terms of the Red Wings’ roster.
I feel the same way and at this point I’m OK with it as long as we bring up some of our top prospects soon. Maybe Winnipeg falls apart and are forced to move Kyle Connor at the trade deadline. We’ll see… https://sports.yahoo.com/article/michigans-own-kyle-connor-dream-003106115.html