Red Wings Trade Rumors: Glendening, Ryan, Staal

The Detroit Red Wings will absolutely be sellers at the trade deadline. It’s just a matter of who general manager Steve Yzerman will ship out. Here’s what Yzerman said courtesy of WXYZ’s Brad Galli regarding scouting for the trade deadline:

Though Yzerman jokes at the end that he’s not as young as he once was, he’s at least going to have the same sharp eye that brought him valuable assets in Tampa via trade and also the one that netted a couple second round picks for Andreas Athanasiou.

On the heels of his interview yesterday, TSN published a blurb in their Insider Trading piece that said this about potential Red Wings trade targets via Frank Seravelli:

"I think teams are beginning to look at three potential targets from the Detroit Red Wings. All veteran presences, including Bobby Ryan, Luke Glendening and, on the backend, Marc Staal. Glendening leads the league in faceoff percentage. Bobby Ryan is scoring on a contract that every team could fit and Staal would certainly provide that experience on the backend that teams crave come playoff time. Just another way of saying that all three of those guys you can expect to see on the Trade Bait board when it debuts next week."

A few weeks ago with an early look at trade targets, I listed Staal, and Ryan both as targets along with Jonathan Bernier. Two of the three are apparently generating interest while I still think Bernier will yield a few inquiries if he continues to perform at the high level he has been playing at. Even in the Red Wings 2-0 loss last night, it was Bernier who shone in what was an otherwise forgetful game.

So what about Luke Glendening?

His astronomical faceoff win percentage (67.2%) makes him a valuable commodity for any team that needs that depth player who can win crucial faceoffs in tense playoff moments. Making Glendening even more appealing is his low contract hit ($1.8M AAV) which would be hardly anything for a contending team to take on. Though Glendening will not chip in much offensively, he can disrupt other team’s better offensive players when given the opportunity. (Yzerman knows this better than anyone from the 2015 first round series where he neutralized Tyler Johnson until suffering an injury. It ultimately flipped the momentum of the series).

Glendening can be a valuable commodity for the right team, and along with Ryan, has one of the more cap friendly contracts.

There’s no question he’s a prime candidate to be moved.