Three Trades the Detroit Red Wings Wish Were April Fools Jokes
By Tyler Kotila
In 2004, the Detroit Red Wings traded for Robert Lang from the Washington Capitals; they gave up Tomas Fleischmann, a 2004 1st round draft pick (Mike Green) and a 2006 4th round pick (Luke Lynes). This is the trade that brought the most pain to read through as a Red Wings fan.
Here comes personal bias raining in yet again, but Robert Lang had two years where he tallied 62 and then 52 points for the Red Wings. Lang also played in six games in 2006 where he notched a goal and 4 assists for 5 points. Lang’s numbers were not bad, but the big thing that just has to make the Red Wings kick themselves is the pick was used on Mike Green.
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It’s 2019, the Red Wings have had Mike Green for the last four seasons, but it sure would have been nice to have a 20-year old Mike Green in 2005-06 when he burst into the league. Think about it, Mike Green with Nicklas Lidstrom as the top defensive pairing? Would have been amazing, I cannot help but think that the front office and GM Ken Holland cannot be at least a little upset with how that turned out. Who knows, maybe Green would have been able to lead a struggling defense after Lidstrom retired.
Besides Green, Tomas Fleischmann was not a bad player at all. Fleischmann has managed a few seasons where he put up 51 points in 69 games played, 61 points in all 82 games another year, and multiple other years with 30 plus points. Fleischmann would have been a solid offensive piece for the Red Wings to keep around and it really seems like this trade definitely came back to bite the Red Wings.