{"id":564394,"date":"2026-05-01T18:30:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/564394\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T18:30:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:30:35","slug":"the-daily-detroits-priority-should-be-a-center-griffins-start-playoff-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/564394\/","title":{"rendered":"The Daily: Detroit\u2019s Priority Should be a Center; Griffins Start Playoff Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post The Daily: Detroit\u2019s Priority Should be a Center; Griffins Start Playoff Saturday<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NHL:<\/p>\n

Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesJerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no rule preventing eliminated teams from making trades while the NHL playoffs are ongoing, but those deals don\u2019t happen often.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

In 2024, the New Jersey Devils<\/a> acquired goalie Jacob Markstrom<\/a> from the Calgary Flames<\/a> for a first round pick and defenseman Kevin Bahl<\/a> between Games 5 and 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers<\/a> and Edmonton Oilers<\/a>,<\/p>\n

But GMs prefer to wait until the playoffs are over to move players because they have more bidders. More bidders usually result in a better return. That\u2019s why the Red Wings<\/a> probably won\u2019t do much until we are closer to the June 26-27 draft in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s July 1 free agent marketplace is short of high impact performers, although the Red Wings are interested in a few players with some scoring on their resumes. But based on what GM Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings could be aggressive in the trade market, perhaps making a deal or two similar to the Justin Faulk<\/a> deal.<\/p>\n

In other words, the Red Wings are willing to give draft pick or picks and a prospect for a veteran performance to fill a need.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Here are the priorities:<\/p>\n

1. Second Line Center<\/p>\n

No one is giving up on Marco Kasper<\/a>. But if they can land a proven No. 2, then Kasper can move to No. 3 center. That could enhance his development.<\/p>\n

2. Buying More Goals<\/p>\n

That means bring in a winger to play in the top six or bring in forwards who offer goals playing in the bottom two lines. That might mean signing a free agent like Viktor Arvidsson<\/a> or trading for a third liner who can score 15 goals.<\/p>\n

3. Size and Belligerence<\/p>\n

It feels like GM Steve Yzerman will add at least two forwards who are miserable to play against. Michael McCarron<\/a>, A.J. Greer<\/a>, maybe Mason Marchment<\/a> are on Detroit\u2019s target list. Those players are on the free agent list.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Red Wings In Case You Missed It<\/p>\n

Did Red Wings brass make a mistake<\/a> by trying to improve the Red Wings too quickly?<\/p>\n

Center Marco Kasper <\/a>is dealing with a knee injury this offseason.<\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s 2025 draft class <\/a>are mostly playing for winning teams in the postseason<\/p>\n

Red Wings Extra<\/p>\n

The Grand Rapids Griffins will begin their playoff journey Saturday with a 3 p.m. road game against the Manitoba Moose. The Griffins were\u00a06-1-1-0 against Manitoba. That includes a 3-1 mark in Manitoba.<\/p>\n

Hockey Now Digest<\/p>\n

Boston<\/a>: Viktor Arvidsson (undisclosed injury) unlikely to play in Game 6 against Buffalo. Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

New Jersey<\/a>: Is Nico Hischier<\/a>\u2019s next deal going to be worth $11 million per season. New Jersey Devils. <\/a><\/p>\n

Pittsburgh<\/a>: Dan Kingerski looks at whether the Penguins will re-sign Evgeni Malkin<\/a>. It might not happen. Could the Red Wings persuade him to play in Detroit for a season? Pittsburgh Penguins.<\/a><\/p>\n

The post The Daily: Detroit\u2019s Priority Should be a Center; Griffins Start Playoff Saturday<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post The Daily: Detroit\u2019s Priority Should be a Center; Griffins Start Playoff Saturday appeared first on Detroit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,464],"tags":[261,154,95,26,5713,599,146,1495,57,1546,5063,5,512,1821,2338,3846,862,1708,576,151,4,60,1602,1469,100,3358,14,104,718,135,1745],"class_list":["post-564394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl-playoffs","category-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-a-j-greer","tag-boston","tag-boston-bruins","tag-calgary-flames","tag-center","tag-detroit","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-evgeni-malkin","tag-florida-panthers","tag-grand-rapids-griffins","tag-griffins","tag-hockey","tag-jacob-markstrom","tag-justin-faulk","tag-kevin-bahl","tag-marco-kasper","tag-mason-marchment","tag-michael-mccarron","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-playoffs","tag-nico-hischier","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-red-wings","tag-stanley-cup","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs-nhl","tag-steve-yzerman","tag-viktor-arvidsson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}