Detroit Red Wings Trade Deadline Chatter: Who is staying, who is going?
By Bob Heyrman
Martin Frk-Staying
This one is a bit of a mystery to be completely honest. I’ve always liked Martin Frk, but he’s struggled to find his niche with the Detroit Red Wings especially this season. We’ve put the “staying” tag on him not because he’s coveted by the Wings, but rather there isn’t much of a market for his services.
Frk has never been a favorite of head coach Jeff Blashill and finds himself in his head coach’s dog house more often than any other player on the roster. Frk is a “one trick pony” type player. He has a massive slap shot that explodes off his stick when he has the time to unleash it. The problem is half the time he has no idea where the shot is going.
He’s found himself scratched on a regular basis in favor of much less offensive gifted players such as Wade Megan and Christoffer Ehn. Although the offense this season hasn’t translated his effort on the ice has been acceptable. While skating on the fourth line, he doesn’t shy away from getting in on the forecheck and banging the body, something he never showed on a regular basis in years past.
Frk’s days are all but numbered with the Detroit Red Wings. He was a restricted free agent at the end of last season, and the organization decided not to qualify him. They ended up agreeing upon a one-year deal for this season for a hair over 1 million dollars. He made the final roster after Filip Zadina proved he wasn’t quite ready for the NHL and Evgeny Svechnikov needed knee surgery.
His lack of production this season leaves the franchise somewhat limited. He’s played in 24 games this season only recording 1 goal and 3 assists. Last season Frk notched 11 goals and 25 points in 66 games.
For Frk to have any interest, a team would need to be willing to take a flier on him and looking past this season’s struggles. The right team would need to be interested in adding a fourth line depth winger who has some previous scoring ability and can play in the shooting dot on the power-play.
I don’t expect Frk to be in the future plans for the Detroit Red Wings. It wouldn’t take much for a team to acquire him; I think the Wings would be willing to part with him for even a 6th or 7th round draft pick.
My potential landing spots: New York Islanders (Top team in the Metropolitan with the 23rd ranked PP).