Steve Yzerman may be forced to trade two of his top forwards as Trade Deadline nears
Earlier this week, NHL insider David Pagnotta broke the news that teams around the league are directing their interest towards the Detroit Red Wings forwards for potential trade deadline acquisitions. According to Pagnotta, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi are the top trade targets.
The Red Wings have been in a bit of an odd space lately. They're in the midst of a rebuild, but likely assumed they'd be ahead of where they are now after an extremely promising season last year. In the last few weeks, General Manager Yzerman made waves by waiving two young players with potential, Jakub Vrana and Alex Nedeljkovic.
It's a move that seemingly goes against traditional rebuild philosophy, being to retain as much young talent as possible. Obviously, trading Larkin and Bertuzzi would as well. If these reports are true, Yzerman must have some tricks up his sleeve, because at face value these moves simply don't make sense.
Larkin, only 26 years old, is having another productive offensive year, scoring 14 goals and 38 points through 40 games. Bertuzzi, at 27 years old, is having a down year offensively and has been riddled with injury - but last year scored 30 goals and 62 points in only 68 games. They're owed $6.1M and $4.75M respectively, and both are in the last year of their contracts.
Larkin in particular could command a king's ransom in a trade, and Bertuzzi would be another valuable piece as well. Both players likely command a first round draft pick and a young player, but with additional assets for Larkin. Yzerman has a reputation for being one of the most shrewd general managers in the league, so it will be interesting to watch if these young players are on the move from Detroit.
| POLL | ||
Who is more likely to be retained by the Red Wings? | ||
| Tyler Bertuzzi | 128 | 14.3 % |
| Dylan Larkin | 455 | 50.9 % |
| Both | 164 | 18.3 % |
| Neither | 147 | 16.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
