The 2025 trade deadline has come and gone, and the Red Wings did...nothing.
Well, almost nothing; they did make one trade. The Red Wings traded Joe Veleno to the Chicago Blackhawks for Craig Smith and former Red Wings Goaltender Petr Mrazek.
I've been a proponent of doing something with Veleno for a while now, but I've got to admit, this was not the trade I had in mind for him. Regardless, the move happened, and it's done. The question now is with how hot the market was for sellers this season. Should the Red Wings have used this chance to move some underperforming guys out for future assets, or should they have looked to bring more players in?
A look at both sides of the Trade Deadline coin
There were plenty of moves that the Red Wings could've made and were expected to make at this deadline. They needed a second-line center to replace Andrew Copp and at least one more defenseman to help shore up the current travesty that is the Red Wings' defense right now.
Unfortunately for the Red Wings and fans alike. This season's trade deadline was the ultimate sellers' market. We're talking top prospects and first-round picks for the likes of Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo. There was pretty much no possibility or reason for Yzerman to pay those prices this season. It would've been nice to make a move that would boost the team, but not at the expense of Danielson, Kasper, or Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and the team's first-round picks.
However, there is always a second side to every coin. With the massive amounts of first-round picks and top-ranked prospects being thrown around this deadline for middle-to-bottom six players, the question has to be asked, "What could they have gotten for the likes of Tarasenko or Gustafsson?"
It's a legitimate question and one we'll likely never know the answer to. But one thing's for sure: if Yzerman was going to try and move off a bad contract like Justin Holl or an underperformer like Vladimir Tarasenko, this was the year to do it. With the assets and players being thrown around, you probably could've gotten at least a second-round pick for Tarasenko alone. Heck, you may have even gotten a decent return for Holl in this season's market.
The problem the team has right now is that with where they currently are in the rebuild, you're not in the market for a pure rental, but you also don't have enough established prospects on the team to justify trading the prospects that hold the most value for a longer-term option. It's a tough and murky spot the Red Wings are in right now, and it relies on whether or not Yzerman is willing to break from his original rebuild plan to accelerate the rebuild or stay on track with his prospects and keep them as the primary future of the team. And if his post-trade deadline presser is anything to go off of, He doesn't have many plans to divert from his original plan.