It’s almost becoming customary for the Wings to make a very minor move or no moves at all come the NHL trade deadline.
They simply almost always have a team that doesn’t need improvement or are in a situation where making a move would be more detrimental then helpful.
Well today was no different for the Wings who chose instead to re-sign their current starting goaltender Jimmy Howard to a 2 year contract extension then bring someone else on board.
According to Ansar Khan of Mlive.com, Wings General Manager Ken Holland thought he already had a pretty deep team and felt no urgency to make a move…
“That was the plan in the summer, try to spend as much cap space and hopefully our team played at a high level and we’d reassess at the deadline,” Holland said. “We’re first or second in win percentage on the road, third overall in points. We lost a lot of people (to injuries), we’re getting some back.”
And again, Holland pretty much reiterates that he isn’t going to make a move that could hurt the team rather than help it. Simply due to the fact that the Wings have practically no room under the cap meaning they would have to trade a roster player in order to acquire someone else. Something he wasn’t prepared to do.
“We got 14 NHL forwards. We like our defense,” Holland said. “What price do you pay if it’s only a slight upgrade?
“I’m hoping we can find our best game down the stretch.”
Source: Mlive.com