Top 3 Bold Predictions for the Red Wings Heading Into Free Agency

Tyler Bertuzzi Gets Traded to the Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres, for the first time in awhile, showed signs of actually becoming a true competitor. Tage Thompson really played well this past season, they have a ton of promising prospects, but what they are missing is a top line wing.

Dylan Cozens isn’t ready to play on the top line for the Sabres. I don’t feel that Okposso and Skinner are the veterans they need. They need a guy like Tyler Bertuzzi if they want to take the next step up.

I recently wrote about potential trades and this was the trade that came of it;

This trade would work well for both sides. The Sabres would be getting a proven player who would offer their team a true goal scorer along with Thompson and as Krebs, Quinn, Peterka, and Cozens continue to develop, their team would be in much better shape than they may have ever been.

For the Red Wings, they’d be getting a lot of prospects that have high ceilings.

Mittlestadt has shown a lot of promise as far as the player he can be. However, he has battled injuries and that has slowed down his career trajectory. Furthermore, the chance to really display his full potential is limited in Buffalo.

As far as Erik Portillo, It’d be nice to get the rights to a University of Michigan prospect and potentially have a top goalie tandem in Sebastian Cossa and Erik Portillo. That is if they both pan out like we think they will.

This trade here would work out well for both sides and I think that trading Bertuzzi is the right move at this point in time. His career will plateau for the next couple years and his so you might as well trade him at his peak and get some prospects in return for him.