Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman added a future asset to the rebuild by trading forward Vladislav Namestnikov.
The trade was still being finalized Monday afternoon, one among many in the queue with Central Registry, which was backlogged after the 3 p.m. deadline, according to Namestnikov’s agent. The Stars, who are run by Yzerman’s former teammate, Jim Nill, are sending a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Wings.
Namestnikov follows the trade-deadline departures of defensemen Nick Leddy and Troy Stecher. Leddy on Monday yielded a 2023 second-round pick and players Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Walman from the St. Louis Blues, and the Los Angeles Kings gave up a seventh-round pick for Stecher on Sunday.
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Namestnikov, 29, has 13 goals and 12 assists in 60 games, and is in the last year of a contract with a $2 million salary cap hit. A fourth-round pick doesn’t seem much for an offensively skilled center/winger who can play on any line and has a reasonable cap hit, but he didn’t fit into the Wings’ future and at least this way, Yzerman got something while he could.
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Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.