The Detroit Red Wings are desperate for a young franchise defenseman and general manager Ken Holland has a player set in mind: Jacob Trouba.
[link_box id=”22277″ site_id=”17″ layout=”link-box-third” alignment=”alignright”]Darren Dreger of TSN.ca brought up the Wings supposed interest in the talented defenseman who recently demanded a trade from the Jets. He said last week on TSN 1200 the Jets wanted two “higher-level forwards” and Holland balked. It would be tough for Holland to deal two of his best forwards, presumably Dylan Larkin and perhaps Tomas Tartar (that’s my own speculation).
Appearing on TSN 1040 on Tuesday, Holland is still seriously pursuing Trouba. The Detroit GM is so keen in acquiring Trouba, Dreger reports he’s willing to deal just about anyone other than Larkin.
“I mentioned Detroit a couple of weeks ago publicly as being one of the primary suitors for Jacob Trouba,” said Dreger. “I can tell you that Kenny Holland has worked incredibly hard over the past couple few years at trying to add a defenseman. I know that he’s had conversations with Cheveldayoff, and I believe that Holland is willing to make a deal for just about anyone outside of Dylan Larkin. But there’s no one really in the Detroit Red Wings organization that seems to be a fit for Cheveldayoff, which tells me that Winnipeg, again, is committed to being patient.”
The Jets are bleeding young talented forwards with Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Mark Dano, plus a loaded farm system. Unless Detroit offers them a Larkin or a Tartar + there’s little incentive for them to rush the deal. Trouba will get an impressive haul in a trade so underselling him doesn’t make much sense for Kevin Cheveldayoff.
The bottom line is that you can’t acquire top talent without dealing something deemed worthy in return. The Red Wings, outside of Larkin, don’t have much to offer. The Jets don’t have many reasons to make a deal unless Holland offers the organization a deal that can’t be refused.
