DFO Rundown: The Red Wings are seeking players vulnerable to the Expansion Draft, such as Travis Dermott
By Cam Lewis
2 years agoBy this point, everybody is aware of Kyle Dubas’ conundrum with the upcoming Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft.
He can use the normal 7-3-1 protection scheme and expose both Justin Holl and Travis Dermott, or he could use the eight-skater scheme and prospect one of those two defenders, but at the cost of leaving Alex Kerfoot exposed.
We don’t yet know what Dubas is going to do but we can safely assume that general managers around the league will be calling about these players before they get exposed to Seattle.
One of those general managers appears to be Steve Yzerman. Kevin Allen, a beat writer for Detroit Hockey Now, appeared on the DFO Rundown on Monday and spoke about the Red Wings’ off-season plans. The Red Wings have a wealth of cap room and a whole bunch of draft picks to work with this summer and, as Allen says, Steve Yzerman is in a prime position to pick up a player who is vulnerable to being selected in by Seattle…
I think [Yzerman] is looking at trade, but he’s looking younger. I know you’re going to say Jack Eichel is in the rebuild age bracket, but Eichel would cost him too much if we are to believe that [the Sabres] are looking for four assets with first-round equivalency. He’s not going to give that up. I think he would view that as setting back the rebuild.I do think he’s poking around guys like Dermott in Toronto. Younger players, who, for whatever reason, teams need to get rid of. Either it’s for Expansion Draft reasons or cap reasons.
We already saw a similar deal made earlier this off-season. David Poile didn’t think he could fit Viktor Arvidsson into his prospected list and ultimately moved him to the L.A. Kings, a rebuilding team, in exchange for a couple of draft picks. Doing something similar with Dermott would be better than losing him for nothing.
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