The Red Wings are looking for help on defense and that may come through Buffalo’s Tyler Myers. The Detroit Free Press reports that the club has been looking at Myers in an effort to solidify a defensive group which desperately needs some help. It was believed that the Red Wings were going to make a play for Dan Boyle, but he ended up signing with the New York Rangers.
In her report, Helene St. James believes that the asking price for Myers is decently high.
“The downside of having to trade instead of signing a free agent is the internal cost. Myers is Buffalo’s top defenseman and the asking price is going to start with one of Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar or Tomas Jurco. Buffalo might well ask for Anthony Mantha, but the Wings aren’t relinquishing him. One player alone wouldn’t do it, though — there would likely be a high draft pick involved, too, maybe even a second player, someone in his mid-20s.”
That’s a steep price, but the Red Wings will need to upgrade their defense if they hope to compete against the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Myers carries a decent cap hit ($5.5 million a year through 2018-19), but that’s the cost the Red Wings may have to pay since they currently haven’t found an answer through free agency.
Would Buffalo be willing to deal Myers? Definitely. That very topic was discussed numerous times in 2013-14 and there’s no reason to expect things have changed since then.
Stay tuned. Detroit may be reluctant to shell out prospects and talented youngsters for a defenseman, but it’s going to be a very long season if they ignore a glaring weakness at defense.
