With the trade deadline only a couple of days away, it is likely that the Detroit Red Wings will be making some trade decisions as the word on the street is that everyone aside from Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider is available. Of the two Detroit goaltenders, one has raised hopes and speculations for a trade throughout the 2021-22 season so far and that would be Thomas Greiss. Although there has not been a clear indicator of a goalie trade for Detroit, why is there still a push to trade Greiss?
Having played for San Jose, Arizona, Pittsburgh, New York (Islanders), and now Detroit- Thomas Greiss has had a lengthy NHL career starting in the 2007-08 season. Greiss was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2004 NHL Draft and has since played 340 games throughout a span of 13 seasons. With 153 career wins and an average save percentage of .912, Greiss is a decently average NHL goaltender on paper.
In his two seasons with Detroit, Greiss has yet to have a season with more wins than losses. The 2020-21 season left him with eight wins and 15 losses with a total of 79 goals against on 894 shots against (.912 SV%). However, this season has looked worse for Greiss as he has eight wins and 10 losses out of 24 games played so far. Having faced 628 shots, he has allowed 71 goals- dropping his season save percentage to a .887 which is his lowest since his first NHL season (2007-08).
This 2021-22 season has been his worst career season statistically out of his 13 seasons played. From his 2nd season until now, Greiss has maintained a goals-against per game of under 3.00 while in his three-game rookie season he had a 3.26 GA/G and has a whopping 3.77 GA/G so far this year. There have been some great games for him this year such as his game vs. the Rangers on February 17th but his bad games seem to outweigh the good ones by a large margin.
So, if the Red Wings decide to move on from Thomas Greiss in search of a stronger backup goaltender for Alex Nedeljkovic as Sebastian Cossa is still developing in the CHL, who could they look at?