Detroit — Steve Yzerman hasn’t been shy about making trades since becoming the Red Wings’ general manager.
Yzerman has been active since his return to the organization in April 2019, acquiring young players (Robby Fabbri, Jakub Vrana), older players (Marc Staal, Sam Gagner) and shipping out ones who didn’t fit anymore (Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou) at a brisk pace.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Yzerman go back into the trade market this summer. But what type of player Yzerman might be looking for, and what the Wings would be willing to give up, narrow down the options.
And don’t expect Yzerman to jump rapidly into any trade discussion.
“My approach has been you look for opportunities, you wait for opportunities to come along,” Yzerman said during his end-of-season media call. “When I have tried to force something and chase something, it hasn’t really worked out. Along the way, I have never really tried to do something to make a splash. There has to be a reason for it, a good reason, thinking you’re going to be a better team. I don’t want it to just look good. It has to actually be good.”
Of course, making a trade involves finding another team who is willing to be part of it.
These days around the NHL, with the flat salary cap causing numerous issues among rosters close to the ceiling and many teams wanting to hold on to young, productive talent for a long time, making trades isn’t easy.
“Any particular trade that may come along, you have to find a partner first,” Yzerman said. “There are a lot of players around the league that I would like to add to the Red Wings. I just can’t convince another GM to give them to me.”
Yzerman appears to have a specific type of player he wants to add if it’s via trade, while not dismantling what the organization has built the last several years.
The Wings have plenty of draft picks and many intriguing young prospects, but Yzerman isn’t going to chip away from that stockpile for a quick, immediate and short-term improvement.
“If there is an opportunity to expedite our rebuilding process by making a trade that brings us a good player or good players, I am certainly open to doing that,” Yzerman said. “But I don’t want to trade what I think are valuable young assets for players that might only be here a year or two. That is not what I want to do.
“Would that make us better now? It might, (but) ultimately I don’t want to just make the playoffs. I want us to become a playoff team and a team that is trying to win a Stanley Cup somewhere down the road.”
Yzerman is interested in adding to the Wings’ young core that has been established.
“I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for us to be trading draft picks and prospects for players that might not be here in three, four, five years,” Yzerman said. “If we are able to do something with some of our future assets, I certainly would be willing to do that. But I would look to add younger players that are going to fit with the core group of guys, basically (Dylan) Larkin, Vrana, (Tyler) Bertuzzi, roughly in that 26-or-younger range. Get players that fit and grow with that group, I would certainly be interested in that.
“(But) you are limited what other teams are willing to do as well.”
Yzerman will have a bit broader outlook when it comes to the start of unrestricted free agency on July 28. On the free-agent market, Yzerman will be willing to add an older player on a short-term contract — as he has with Bobby Ryan, Thomas Greiss, Jon Merrill, Troy Stecher and Gagner — to solidify the lineup, without giving any assets away and maintaining roster and salary flexibility.
“You can look at free agency and the players that might be there today based on their contract status today, I don’t know that they’re going to be there once free agency opens up,” Yzerman said. “And, what are they going to cost and are we a fit for them?
“So we’ll certainly explore it. Free agency is a little bit different than trades. In trades, I’d really like to add younger players. Free agency, we’re more open to anything.”
Yzerman highlighted two areas where the Red Wings will be looking to upgrade, although, admittedly, there are many areas where the team can be better.
“We have to figure out a way to generate more goals. How do we do that? I am hopeful our younger players can generate a little bit more offense,” Yzerman said. “With the players that have been here for a while, I expect them to score more than they did this year.
“Then at the deadline, the left side of our defense, we traded two defensemen (Patrik Nemeth, Merrill). We have one player under contract, Danny DeKeyser, and (restricted free agent) Dennis Cholowski who I anticipate getting signed. So we have holes on the left side of our defense that we will need to address.
“We could upgrade every area, to be honest. Can we upgrade in every area? I am not so sure. But you are always looking to get better.”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan