As the NHL percolates with trade rumors this afternoon, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has filed his afternoon notebook, discussing Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s take as to whether the return to an in-person draft will yield more draft-day trades:
“Most (teams) aren’t making trades just to make trades,” Yzerman said. “You can do that anywhere. You pick up a phone, texting, you walk across the room — half the time (at the draft) you’re texting the guy sitting at the table next to you.
“It’s not like we just wander around the room kind of looking for somebody, open up the raincoat and sell them a watch or something like that. There is a bit of a plan to it.”
The Wings are expected to be one of the teams that could be active, at the draft or afterward, given their salary cap space ($35.7 million with 15 of 23 players signed to contract) and Yzerman’s desire to see the Wings further improve.
“We watched the positive impact some of our younger guys had this year,” Yzerman said. “We’d like to add to that and continue to move forward.”
But Yzerman would be hesitant about subtracting from that ample cap space, simply by adding a player from another team looking to shed salary for a draft pick.
“We have cap space, but I try to use it wisely because it can disappear in a hurry,” Yzerman said. “We’re looking at teams that have to move players just to be cap compliant to start the season. In those situations, you look at the player and what impact they’re going to have on your team and what they cost. Or you look at other deals potentially where you’re maybe helping someone out, alleviate their cap issues, for various reasons. Maybe you’re getting an asset. Ultimately, I look at both situations, if it’s going to make our team better this season or in the future.”
Continued (paywall)