Pilfering Pittsburgh? Would Rakell, Rust or Karlsson help fill Detroit’s roster holes?

Pilfering Pittsburgh? Would Rakell, Rust or Karlsson help fill Detroit’s roster holes?

Today on Lockdown Red Wings, should Detroit go pilfering in Pittsburgh? Raquel, Rust, and Carlson may be on the trade block and that might be the best of what’s left available for the Detroit Red Wings. You’re Locked on Red Wings, your daily podcast on the Detroit Red Wings, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome back to the Lockdown Red Wings podcast. Scotty, happy Monday. Happy Tuesday. Sorry, we are recording on Monday, but happy Tuesday for the listeners. Hope you had a fantastic start to your week. Uh, we were recording this prior to the Am I going to see Scubble on Friday, by the way? I’m going to see that game. I don’t know, man. I I mean, I I can find out, but like I off the top of my head, I I I have no clue. Man, you’ve really lost your Oracle powers over the last couple years. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Uh, yes. You They don’t play Thursday, though. Yeah, they do. I thought they were off this Thursday. You’re right. Bang. I’m the host of Lockdown Tigers now. Is that how that works? That’s how that works. Okay, awesome. Um, yeah, then. No, that’s disappointing. just as disappointing as the Red Wings free agent. No, I’m just kidding. It’s not that dramatic. Uh, but Scotty, there has been I I don’t even want to call it rumblings, but I think we’ve all seen the post from the quote unquote insider on social media talking about the potential of an Eric Carlson trade. I don’t want to like put it out there for the people like put the guy out there but I I think that it is a option for the Detroit Red Wings because of the fact that uh you know Kyle Dubis has been very open with the fact that he’s open for business and selling off assets. The Pittsburgh Penguins may be the only team in the NHL actively tanking at this moment. like is there any other team off the top of your head that you can think of that is openly tanking as of July 7th 2025? Um I guess not. So your options are very limited in the market right now especially the trade market. Free agency didn’t go the way they way to look at it. I I I don’t know, right? Because your your teams that are your bottom feeders right now are all trying to get better. Now, come trade deadline, there are going to be teams selling off assets, but we as Red Wings fans don’t want to wait until the trade deadline or December whenever teams realize that they’re out and they want to tank for McKenna. You don’t want to wait until then to add an impactful piece now. So your options after free agency and everybody kept their players and with the cap rising so teams aren’t capstrapped your options are very limited as to whom you could pursue in the free agent market or I’m sorry in the trade market. Kandre Miller’s gone. Bow and Byum I don’t know what the situation is going on there. Pittsburgh has three players at least that have been rumored to be out there for trade acquisition. that is Ricard Raquel, Brian Rust, and Eric Carlson. If you are the Pittsburgh Penguins, it makes sense this year to just go full tear down. You talk with Duke Sydney Crosby and just go, “Hey, you know, this just isn’t working and we need to start building towards the future. We’d love to have you on board if we can get McKenna in the door.” But to do that, we got to tear this thing down. Would you want any of Raquel, Rust, or Carlson, Scotty? Um, I mean, like, sure, uh, I I feel like there’s a lot of nuance with this conversation. Like, yeah, sure. But I I I’m not sending the farm. I I I’m I’m not right. I’m not like emptying the tank to get them, but like yeah, I mean, this is a team that we have highlighted a lot this summer that they they desperately need to find other ways to improve. And I think any of those guys would be improvements, whether it’s just like, hey, like everybody moves down a peg behind them, like you’re you’re improving depth, or whether it’s, you know, you’re banking on kind of a another great year maybe from from somebody like Carlson. I sure sure I for like I’m fine with it. I I just I don’t want that to get misconstrued as like this is the only answer and we need to hyperfocus on this and make sure that we give up, you know, three top prospects to get any of those guys because I I I don’t I don’t need it that badly, but like they’d be improvements. Sure. I think that’s a very good like TLDDW, too long didn’t watch for like this whole conversation we’re about to have. It’s like the answer is yes, but with a lot of mitigating factors for each of these individual players, right? And let’s start with Eric Carlson for instance. Like that’s the guy that people are talking about on social media right now because again, this quote unquote insider who I’m just not sold is legit as of yet, but it it’s enough to get the buzz going on social media to get people talking about it. Eric Carlson, and I lot I don’t know if a lot of people know this, and I found this out myself, already has been retained money once with San Jose. So, his cap hit is currently $10 million for the Pittsburgh Penguins, even though he is salary is 11 and a half. He’s got two more years left at that. He’s 35 years old. There are I’m not going to come on here and try and sell you that Eric Carlson is the answer. Eric Carlson is who Eric Carlson is and he has been his whole career. Even at 35, he is a 95 percentile on offense and a 3 percentile on defense this past year. According to Evolving Hockey Hockey Stat Cards had his offense at +4 and his defense at minus like 12 and a half for an overall of plus one and a half. So, as of last year, his his offense just barely outpaced his poor defense. If you were to acquire a guy like Eric Carlson, would he make you better? Yes. In one aspect, it also makes your life a little bit more difficult in others. While this team’s defense Go ahead. What it is is our I guess my point is like is our blue line really good enough to be like oh yeah like his poor defense is going to cost the wings we’re going to send Ben Sherrod out on the top pair on opening night dude like I don’t know I I I I agree with your sentiment. I’m not saying you’re wrong in your like analysis of the player. I just don’t think this Red Wings blue line is talented enough to be like, “Oh, well, you know, he’s gonna make the defense worse.” Really? He’s gonna make this blue line worse. Really? Cuz he will. And let me tell you why. Because if you have Eric Carlson, he is your second pair right side Dman, which means you’re sheltering your second pair now. The same way we were sheltering Shane sheltering Shane Gospar two seasons prior. And what that means is now more cider goes back. That top pair goes back to playing the type of minutes and deployment it got two years before that. You’re basically really depending on Simon Evson to hold up the heavy lifting on that second pair. But again, the offense does outweigh how poor porous his defense is. And this team’s five on five scoring did desperately hurt last season as well. So, yes, this team needs to get better defensively, but they also need to improve their five-on-ive scoring. And Eric Carlson brings that. He had 50 plus points this last season, which would have led your defense in points. He’s played 82 games for three consecutive seasons. So, his injury history is kind of moot at this point. He’s played every game the last three years. And he won the Norris Trophy, which I think was kind of crazy a couple seasons ago for 100 plus points in San Jose, but he was just freewheeling at that point. That team was awful. He was just doing what he wanted. He wasn’t necessarily playing in a structure. So, would I take Eric Carlson on the 2025 2026 Red Wings? Yes, with a heavy asterisk on what the return of that trade would have to look like and what the salary retention would have to look like as well because you’d be getting him for two more years. Well, one this year and the season after that. Yeah. Yeah. So, it’s just where do you begin with with what kind of trade you’d be willing to accept for an Eric Carlson? There’s just so many moving parts. Like I if if you are going to do the if you’re going to put him on the second pair then a and then shelter that pair then you should just put Edmonson at the top with Cider. Oh god. No. I disagree man. I you can’t put Sherro and Carlson together. And what? No way. If you’re going to shelter him and only play him in the offensive zone, then what’s even the point of having Edmonson and and Carlson period? That that’s just that’s useless. I just You’re completely pissing away Edmonson at that point. You’re Edmonson. Actually, I would argue it’s more like a trial by fire for Simon Edmonson to have to try and be the same. Don’t shelter them, right? I That’s fine. And this is where we’re running into the problem. You can’t shelter them. Yeah. This is where you’re running into a problem. the harness off and let Carlson be Carlson and let Edmonson be the defensive I I don’t know what the defensive anchor I guess of that pair like you you I I don’t know and then like if still on the third pair like he’s going to be the guy that is deployed like that like what’s I I I’m not sure this makes any sense is I I’m not arguing with you I’m arguing with like the the deploy of of how this would even work. I’m not really sure this this schematically makes any sense. I guess I I’m glad you brought up Gustoson because that’s exactly where my mind was going right when you said it in that it completely makes Gustoson redundant in that you brought Gustoson in to be one of your power play quarterbacks. You have Carlson, he’s your PP1 quarterback. Cider is your PP2 quarterback. Why do you have Gustiffson at that point? So, if you’re going to make this trade, in my eyes, Gustoson has to be one of the players going back the other way because his role has been completely nullified on this team. That or you make a super offensive pair in Gustiffson and Carlson and you just say, you know what, screw defense. Awesome. Five forwards on the ice. They just go, you know what, screw it. We’re just going to put all the offense out there. They’re uh that I don’t know that got to be electric to be honest. Obviously, that I don’t know if that’s a sustainable thing. I no god no we say that more in Jess but that that would be kind of sick like that’d be kind of fun to watch at least absolutely we got to head to a quick break when we come back I I I want to ask you a question about trade packages for Carlson if this for this to make sense so stay tuned to segment two of lockdown red wings summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re always following the action. Why not make it a little bit more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. New to FanDuel, new customers can get $5. Bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com today to get started. Segment two, lockdown roings podcast. All right, Scotty. So, trade packages for all three of these players. We haven’t touched on recall or rust yet, but all three of these players like a first round pick going back the other way, especially in this draft, would make me feel very queasy. And not to like sound hypocritical and go back on what I’m saying saying all summer like Eisman needs to make a swing and again I would take each of these players under the right circumstances but as one of my friends told me recently there is a difference between taking a swing and being stupid and I would feel really uncomfortable giving up a first round pick for any three of these players because none of these three players are part of this team’s long-term future. They are shorter term fixes, shorter to midterm fixes, right? Two years left on Carlson, three years on Raquel and Rust. If I were to give up a first round pick, there would have to be conditions attached because this is the McKenna draft. If the Red Wings bottom out or for whatever reason they’re fortunate enough to move up in the draft lottery, I would at minimum, if I’m going to attach a first round pick, which makes me queasy just on the baseline, but if I were to attach a first round pick, it would have to be top 10 projected. full stop. If the Red Wings end up drafting top 10, it becomes a 2027 first without just full stop. That that is the only way if a first is the starting line for one of these trades for rebuilding uh Pittsburgh Penguins team, that is the only way I get it done. I would be happy if we can get it done without a first, but I just have such a poor sense for what these guys could be going for. And I’m sure that’s where Pittsburgh’s starting line’s going to be. I need to have protections on that first round pick. Yeah, I mean I think in a similar breath I I I might even be more extreme in the sense that like I’m not sure I would give up a first round pick period. I mean ideally no guys I I I I don’t know. I again this is this is such a a weird conversation because there’s there’s so much nuance to it on both sides. I I I don’t know. I I would be really it would be a really tough sell for me to to bring in Carlson for you know a package that had a first round pick in it. That would be a really tough sell for me. Not that again I wouldn’t be like oh look like the five on five play will be better. the offense hopefully it’ll be a better it it improves the the overall talent of the blue line certainly all those things are true but um for for two years of a 35year-old that doesn’t play defense I’m not really sure I I want to fork over a first and is making $10 million um 11 the cap hit is going to be 10 mil right and so that’s another thing too a full stop is I need 50% retained which also just ups the value on the return that they’re going to be getting because I know we have the space. I know the Red Wings have the space for Carlson. I don’t want to eat up the entire cap hit on 35 Carlson. If it’s 50% retained, so you’re getting him at $5 million for the next two seasons. Yeah, okay. I can deal with that. I can live with that. But then you to to get that 50% retained for Pittsburgh. You then also have to up the package to them. And I mean in an ideal world I’d do like a second William Blinder and Jonathan Baragan or Eric Carlson or I’m not Eric Carlson, Eric Gustiffson because it nullifies his role in the team. Like that’s what I would do. Like a Btier prospect, a second round pick and a and a roster player you don’t need anymore. But that’s this is an EA NHL. I don’t think that I don’t think Pittsburgh would want that. So, I it’s just I I really struggle to see how a trade makes sense unless it’s just straight highway robbery on uh on Eman’s part unless Dubis realizes that because of that cap hit, the value of Carlson’s really tanked and he takes less for it. But if he does, it wouldn’t be until the trade deadline anyways. But that’s that’s all I got on the Carlson thing. We can move on to Raquel and Rust. I think the conversation with them I’m a little bit com more comfortable with. Um, Raquel and Rust are actually really funny because they’re almost identical in that they’re 33 and 32, respectively. They’re both on their third year of a six-year contract. Fourth year of a six-year contract. Apologies. Raquel makes $5 million. He plays rightwing, I think, mostly. Check me on that if I’m wrong. Uh, Brian Rust plays right wing or leftwing. He makes $5.1 million. and Brian Rust had 65 points in 71 games, while Raquel had 70 points in 81 games. This is kind of a similar situation, but to a less extreme degree than Eric Carlson. I I like both their cap hits, especially with the rising cap. I think they make like their cap hit is definitely affordable. It’s not terrible. They are short to midterm solutions, stop gap solutions for your top six winger problem. It’s just they’re not part of the long-term solution. So, I would be very hesitant on giving up too many future assets to attain either one. Yeah, it’s a rather similar conversation. I I would certainly, as we kind of talked about on was that yesterday’s show, we talked about raising the floor but not the ceiling. Like that’s kind of what all of these feel like in a sense to me is like I I I think that they improve the depth more that they would be fine additions and they could be plugged in the middle of your lineup card, you know, immediately. Um, but I I’m also not completely sold on the idea that any of them are like the top end big swing that we are asking for this off season either. Um, so yeah, like it’s it it’s just a a weird conversation. We’re like, yeah, I’ I’ I I’d be more than fine with any of them being inserted into the Wings lineup card. Absolutely. Um, but, you know, there’s still just more room to go. I feel like it’s funny, too, because they both they just profile so similarly in so many ways between their contracts, their age, their position, their production. Uh Brian Rust is an 84 percentile offense according to Evolving Hockey and he’s 1 percentile for defense. Like just abysmal, right? Like he he is a one-way forward. But he played 84 minutes of PK time with the Pittsburgh Penguins this last year playing on their second penalty kill sometimes sliding in on penalty kill one. I mean, I didn’t I I can’t claim that I watched it. to talk to Hunter from Locked on Penguins to get a better understanding of I of what that is even strength defense is abysmal but he played on the penalty kill. Meanwhile, Ricard Raquel who has a 86 percentile for defense did not play any penalty kill time. His but his even strength defense like he’s a much he profiles according to evolving hockey. Again, this is just looking at data points, not actually watching the player, but this gives me the impression that he’s a better two-way winger, but he didn’t play any PK. So, that whole thing just is is funny to me. But both of them, again, it’s like the same same deal where like I’d be much more comfortable acquiring either of these guys. And again, they’re wingers. They’re less impact than defense or centers, but they’re younger by quite a few by several years than Eric Carlson, so they have more productive years still in them. They’d be short-term solutions for your top six winger problem. I just it it’s just again the package. I don’t want to give up a first for either of these guys. Can you get get one of these guys without giving up a first? Then cool, do it. Or a a premier prospect, cool, do it. But I just feel like right now where we’re at in the uh off season, that Dubis is going to be asking for high, especially with limited off assets, and not really want to come down off of it until closer to the trade deadline. Yeah. I I think I I I just I’m so done with like whatever Pittsburgh is doing. Like I I don’t know, dude. If if they want to completely just tear it down now, then like there you go. And I guess to your point that they aren’t forced to. So they could just have a high price and kind of be like we’re not moving off of it. But I I then you’re kind of risking the performance of the players. you you kind of have to bank on the players to have good first halves leading up to the deadline in order to get the return you do want for them and it’s going to be you know less control because like again bunch of nuance there too like I don’t know I I feel like with especially the guy you know somebody like Carlson who’s 35 like you you might just want to offload them while you can and I’m especially for $10 million of a cap hit and I’m not really sure I I’m not really sure what Pittsburgh is is doing is really kind of my overall like thought on this. So, I don’t want to give up again the farm for any of these guys, but they they certainly would would help the wings in some capacity. Yeah, it’s almost as if as we continue to talk, we’re transitioning from yes with a heavy asterisk to no unless, which I think is probably more appropriate to where our mindset is. It’s like no unless these things go right. Um, so yeah, that’s where we’re at on those guys, those players. I’m trying to think. I don’t think I have anything else to say on any of those three. Scotty, uh, we have one more segment left. Red Wings hired a new goalie coach. We’ll talk about Michael Leighton and the interesting history behind him in segment three. So stay tuned to Lockown Red Wings. Segment three, locked down Red Wings podcast. All right, Scotty. Red Wings hired Michael Leighton as their new goalie coach on Monday, July 7th. He played 111 games in the NHL between Chicago, Philadelphia, Carolina, and is that it? Did I miss any? I believe that’s all four of them. Oh, Nashville, too, as well. He played a short, very short oneame stint in Nashville. He is an AHL Hall of Fame inductee as of this year and he was up until the moment of his hire the o OHL Windsor Spitfires of the OHL’s goalending coach as well. He comes into the Detroit locker room to try and maximize the potential of the Red Wings tandem that is Tal Talbot and Gibson. What are you hoping to see out of the goalending tandem with Michael Leighton at the helm? good goalending. Like I dude I I mean this is Yeah. like obviously uh uh something that they said they were going to change earlier in the summer. Uh and and I think that sometimes as sports fans in general uh too much blame or or almost like a it’s like a scapegoat situation sometimes with positional uh or or just like area specific coaches. Um, I if you want to go after the head coach, by all means, like that’s their job. They are in charge of everything. Everything goes back to them. I I think that, you know, strategy, etc. Like that makes a lot more sense. But when you’re talking about like was the Wings goalie situation bad last year because they had a bad goalie coach? No, dude. Like it’s because they didn’t have good goalies. I like that is that that is why it was it was all over the place. So, um, yeah, like obviously you get a new coach in the room, you get Gibson. Hopefully those things lead to a better year, but I I I’m not putting like the weight of the success between the pipes on his shoulders. Um, I I just hope that he’s a positive influence and that the goalies like working with him. That’s pretty much the the baseline for me at this point. Yeah, it’s so this is an interesting one because I never am sure how much things like goalie coaches really affect a goalie a goalie like just flat out. I I would like to see the area I would focus on the most is actually the penalty kill. I don’t know how Leighton can improve upon this, but Cam Talbbit last season was one of the worst goalies on the penalty kill. His save percentage last year was 14th worst in the entire NHL. And that’s not even accurate because that’s based on time on the ice equaling zero. So players who came in for like 5 seconds. But is that just because they had the worst penalty kill I’ve ever seen in my life? It it’s probably a mix of both. Yeah. So, if I if I switch this over now to a minimum of 100 minutes played on the penalty kill, Cam Talbot is the second worst save percentage. 788 save percentage. John Gibson, Scotty, as much as we’ve praised that move, fourth worst save percentage on the penalty kill at 800. Again, played for a very bad Anaheim Ducks team. It is both. We know this. We’re not naive. We know it’s not on the goalender. I I grew up playing defense. I know better than to blame the goalie. even when the goalie is at fault. I know better than to blame the goalie. Um it’s just bad. It’s bad business. So ridiculous. You just This is the area I’m focusing in on the most. And obviously you need the overall penalty kill to improve upon that. And I think the small changes that the Red Wings have made this offseason can help towards that. Plus, you have a full off seasonason, a full training camp of Todd Mlullen and his whole system to get in place. I don’t think the PK can I don’t think the PK can be as bad as it was last year. Although I say that in the monkey paws, but that is where I am definitely most certainly looking for the most improvement is for John Gibson and Cam Talbot to literally not be the worst goalies in the league on the penalty kill. I think better defensive structure in front of them will help, but you also need them to not just be bad in that situation at the same time. um their expected goals against were were far far fewer than their actual goals they allowed in those situations too. If that helps you, you know, realize too that they are were unfortunately part of the issue in that situation. Yeah. You want Michael Leighton trivia? Well, yeah, you can ask it. I we already talked about it, but yeah. Did I already spoil it on the air? I know I talked about it before. No, no. Off I’m saying to me personally off the air listeners. I’m saying it to you, but I’m really asking it to the listeners. You’re supposed to just play along. Scotty, I’m supposed to answer on behalf of other people, but not actually participating. All right, let’s start over. You play ignorant. Scotty, would you like to know a fun fact about Michael Leighton? I I would love to, Bri. Okay, awesome. Michael Leighton, the new Red Wings new goalending coach, was the goalender in net in the 2010 Stanley Cup final. The with the goal that Patrick Kane scored to win the 2010 2010 Stanley Cup, the puck that infamously went missing. So now we have reunited Michael Leighton and Patrick Kane 15 years later. No way. Isn’t that crazy, dude? I had never heard that before. No, it is cool though. I saw the uh the tweet. I don’t know how cool it is for Michael Leighton, though. Yeah. Well, true. The uh the tweet kind of making the rounds with uh with, you know, the the pictures and and the disappearing puck uh video and pictures and stuff again. So, yeah. Every single time Michael Leighton sees Patrick Kane, he just reles that moment in the 2010 Stanley Cup final. I would imagine not. Um because I would imagine if that was true, he wouldn’t have taken the job. But I mean, you know, I don’t know the guy maybe. But yeah, so Red Wings made a the last coaching uh void coaching job they had to fill. I believe that’s what it was. I think they asked Eiserman about it the other day and he was just like kind of LZ fair about it. Didn’t really answer the question, but knew it was going to get filled at some point. So yeah, that’s about it. Scotty, fin. We ball. We do ball. We’ll be back with a new episode tomorrow. Stay tuned for that. Same time, same place. It’s your team every day.

The trade market is beginning to thin out, and with options to improve the roster thinning out, should Detroit look towards Pittsburgh for their roster help? GM Klye Dubas has made it open he is open for business shopping Karlsson, Rakell and Rust. How much would any of these three help Detroit? #LGRW

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