How the Red Wings Can Facilitate a Nikita Kucherov Trade

I, like most hockey fans, was surprised when Connor Hellebuyck publicly announced his trade request from the Winnipeg Jets. I was similarly shocked when Dylan Larkin’s trade request went public as well. However, I think we need a new word for how surprising it was when Nikita Kucherov announced that he will not be signing again and would prefer to be traded.

Kucherov is the reigning league MVP who has won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer three times. He is among the most valuable and talented players in the NHL, having scored over 100 points in each of his past four seasons. Kucherov is the all-time points leader in Tampa Bay history so it was a shock to hear that he wanted out, to say the least.

Now, the Lightning have made the public and the other 31 NHL teams aware that they have no intention of trading Kucherov, but they only have so much control (and cap space). Kucherov has a 10-team trade list, and while that list has not been made public as of yet, insider Emily Kaplan says that it is believed Kucherov wants to play with another superstar at this point in his career.

It’s safe to say that takes the Detroit Red Wings off his list, unless he’s a real advanced stat nerd who loves what he’s seeing from Michael Brandsegg-Nygård. So why is Detroit being talked about at all in Kucherov talks? Well, it’s because they offer NHL GMs the chance to exercise a skill they are typically hesitant to employ. 

Creativity. 

Three’s Company, Four’s a Crowd

With the Dylan Larkin trade situation coming to a head as he has been suspended without pay by the Red Wings, and the Simon Edvinsson RFA contract stalemate still bafflingly unsolved, Detroit has more ammunition for a Kucherov trade than most. 

If a trade becomes necessary, the Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t exactly going to be thrilled by the idea of trading for futures, but may be more interested in the current value of Larkin as well as the long-term potential of Edvinsson. 

The Red Wings are in a much more appropriate situation to accept a futures package than Tampa Bay or many of the teams who will be hunting for Kucherov (think Vegas, Edmonton, Montreal, or Minnesota). That means that Detroit could easily become a third team in a Kucherov deal, trading both Larkin and Edvinsson to Tampa Bay, with Kucherov going to the third team, and netting a massive futures package from said third team.

Larkin or Edvinsson on their own are unlikely to land Detroit the kind of future asset they covet, but this sort of deal would actually represent the kind of value necessary to land someone like Michael Misa or Caleb Desnoyers (plus extra futures in the deal). 

Coming Back From Neverland

Obviously these sorts of trades take a lot of fine tuning of value, but in a perfect world, Detroit’s massive amount of value sunk into players who want out could be the key to a massive, and creative, Nikita Kucherov trade. 

I know NHL GMs struggle to get trades done with expiring UFAs at the trade deadline all the time, so it’s definitely wishful thinking to see one of the league’s top offensive talents dealt in a huge deal between three or more teams. Also, Detroit is only giving Shawn Horcoff, their interim general manager, a whole lot of rope by not naming him permanent GM so it’s unlikely he would have the guts (or the approval from ownership) to pull off such a seismic deal.

Regardless, I think this would be fun and I firmly believe that NHL GMs should stop complaining that their jobs are hard and start getting creative, we need more than just one fun GM in the league, shout out to Eric Tulsky. 

No matter how this ends up, the past year or so, with the unresolved Quinn Hughes saga, the Hellebuyck trade, and now Kucherov’s trade request, has been some of the most exciting off-ice drama in recent memory. Let’s hope it continues.