Steve Yzerman’s direct approach to Detroit Red Wings’ trade deadline went ‘as expected’

Steve Yzerman sounded pleased overall with what he was able to do with the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline.

He added a 2023 second-round pick, a 2024 fourth-round pick, and a 2022 seventh-round pick to the rebuild. Yzerman also added a right-shot forward and left-shot defenseman to the current squad, while subtracting defensemen Nick Leddy and Troy Stecher and forward Vladislav Namestnikov.

“We moved three of our pending unrestricted free agents,” Yzerman said. “It was kind of what we expected. As you lead up to the deadline, you kind of get a good gauge of what interest there is in your players and which teams have interest. You get a good idea of what the return is going to be on those players. So it pretty much went for the most part as expected.”

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Unlike previous years, when Yzerman has moved younger players under contract (Anthony Mantha in 2021, Andreas Athanasiou in 2020), there were no serious talks this time. Yzerman described any talks related to his younger players as “superficial.”

“You have conversations going up to the deadline, you have conversations prior to the draft and periodically through the season,” he said. “You talk about your teams, back and forth. Really got nothing beyond that. There’s nothing regarding any of our signed players, restricted free agents, that was ever even close, that you would consider an idea.”

TRADE WINDS:

Wings trade Vladislav Namestnikov to Dallas Stars for 4th-round pick

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Steve Yzerman unloads D Troy Stecher for seventh round pick

Yzerman also said there were no tempting offers to use salary cap space as a conduit in a three-team trade.

He did have talks with Leddy about an extension, but when it became clear that wasn’t going anywhere, Yzerman sent Leddy to St. Louis for a second-round pick, forward Oskar Sundqvist and defenseman Jake Walman. Leddy was acquired last summer in a trade with the New York Islanders.

“We acquired Nick for a second-round pick before last season,” Yzerman said. “Got to use him for the season. He did help us a lot, he helped our defense, helped Filip and Moritz and Gus Lindstrom. He played with all those guys a little bit. We discussed a contract extension, weren’t really able to agree on anything, so Nick was going to become an unrestricted free agent. At least we tried, and it was good and we were able to regroup the second-round pick we gave up. So all in all it worked out OK.”

Sundqvist projects to come into the lineup and fill the role vacated by Namestnikov: A versatile forward who can played center or wing and kill penalties. Sundqvist, 27, is 6-foot-3, 208 pounds, and brings character in the same vein as Marc Staal. Walman adds a left-shot defenseman to the group, and the hope is he or recent waiver-wire pickup Olli Juolevi — or both — earn a job on next season’s team.

[ How Jake Walman fits into Wings’ plans this season and beyond ]

Yzerman’s dealings at this deadline pale in comparison to last season, when he sent shockwaves through the league with his just-under-the-wire trade of Mantha. But Mantha hadn’t achieved to expectations, and trading him yielded a first- and second-round picks and Jakub Vrana. There were rumors this season that Tyler Bertuzzi was in play, but Yzerman put that down to pure speculation.

“We were focused on the trades we made today,” he said. “I don’t really say a lot and I think a lot of times, it’s very misconstrued that I’m up to something. I’m really not. I prefer to keep things quiet to myself. I’m not trying to do the unexpected, I’m not trying to outsmart people or trick people. I just don’t believe that a lot of things need to be shared.”

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.