Detroit Red Wings Trade Deadline Chatter: Who is staying, who is going?

Niklas Kronwall-Staying

This is expected to be the final season in the career of Niklas Kronwall. He similar to Jimmy Howard has played his entire career with the Detroit Red Wings.  Kronwall expressed his desire earlier in the season what it would mean to him to complete his career playing exclusively for one franchise.

He hasn’t said in stone that this is for sure his final season but had hinted that way on more than one occasion.  Kronwall is being forced to play many more minutes than he should be seeing at this point in his career.  He’s averaging just two ticks shy of 20:00 TOI minutes a night.

It seems he’s enjoyed his role with the team this season.  He’s been the leader of the team since the day his good friend and countryman Henrik Zetterberg had been forced to retire with a chronic back injury.  Although he doesn’t have a captaincy “C” sewn onto his jersey, make no mistake he’s been the Detroit Red Wings “acting” captain to this point in the season and will be for the duration of his Red Wings career.

Kronwall’s CF% 49.1% isn’t where he’d like it to be, but part of that is the Wings being a bad team as a whole and the other part of it is Kronwall should be playing 16-17 minutes a night rather than 20.  Also, let’s face it he isn’t the player he once was now at the age of 38.  Although his knee has held up to this point in the season, you never know if that injury can creep up on him once again.  He played all of last season with a bad wheel.

I expect Ken Holland and the Detroit Red Wings to keep Kronwall for the continuation of the season and allow him to ride off into the sunset and retire as a member of the Wings.  Everyone is chasing a Stanley Cup, that is the ultimate goal for these players.  If Kronner hadn’t won one in 2008, he would likely be more eager to move and chase a title.

I initially thought there would be a small possibility Kronwall would consider a reunion with Mike Babcock and anchor the Toronto Maple Leafs third defensive pairing, but they’ve recently added Jake Muzzin.  They could still be possibly interested in adding a player or two but would be reluctant to move the picks Holland would want in return for Kronwall after they’ve already dumped their first-round selection.

Holland wouldn’t expect a first-round pick, but a 3rd would definitely need to be on the table for the organization to be interested in moving him.

Through 48 games this season Kronwall has achieved 2 goals, 12 assists totaling 14 points. He’s still an effective penalty killer even at 38 years old, and although his CF% is under 50, he’s a plus 3 on the season.

My potential landing spots: None