The Detroit Red Wings are a borderline playoff team, but one trade pitch helps the team bolster their blue line.
The website PuckPedia‘s PuckGM tool lets users create their own trades, and one user proposed a deal that would see the Red Wings acquiring Neal Pionk from the Winnipeg Jets.
The trade pitch has the Red Wings bolster their blue line while Winnipeg gets two draft picks as the Jets seem likely to enter a rebuild soon.
Pionk is entering the final year of his four-year $23.5 million deal with the Jets. The 29-year-old could be the Red Wings second-pairing right-shot defenseman for Detroit. Last season with the Jets, Pionk skated in 82 games recording 5 goals and 28 assists for 33 points. In his NHL career, he’s skated in 467 games recording 34 goals and 183 assists for 217 points.
The Jets, meanwhile, would get two draft picks to help along with a potential rebuild, or they could ship those picks to acquire a different player. Winnipeg also has defense prospects Ville Heinola, and Elias Salomonsson pushing for NHL minutes, and by dealing Pionk it opens up a spot for a prospect to take the jump to the NHL.
Detroit hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season and Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman expects that to change this season.
The Red Wings went out and signed the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Motte, and Cam Talbot and re-signed forward Patrick Kane. The veteran players are brought in to help the young core, and Yzerman thinks Detroit can compete for a playoff spot next season.
“I think we’re in with that group of teams that has a chance to compete for the playoffs,” Yzerman said. “If we stay healthy, if our goaltending is good and players outplay your expectations, we might get in. Or you might just miss by a point on the last game of the season. That’s the fine line of it all. I look at the roster today and compare it to last year’s group; it’s a little bit different. It might be a little bit better fit as far as roles for players where they sit on the roster today.”
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