PROMPT 2: Steve Dangle Content

Let's talk about a trade tree that's still ongoing, to examine what it takes to be even a minorly successful (i.e. the fanbase isn't calling for your head) NHL GM... In 2013, The Red Wings wanted to select Valeri Nichushkin but the Stars took him first. With no obvious pick remaining at 18OA, they swapped it with San Jose for 20OA and 58OA. San Jose just really wanted future NHL superstar Mirco Mueller. With their two picks, the Wings grabbed Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi.

We got some good seasons out of those two guys, especially Bertuzzi. But they weren't getting us to the playoffs so it was time to move them off for assets. Mantha was the centerpiece of the blockbuster 2021 trade that brought Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik to Detroit along with picks in 2021 and 2022. First, what did we do with those picks? The 2021 got grouped with some other picks to move us up in the order so we could grab Sebastian Cossa, potentially the goalie of the future in Detroit. The 2022 pick was used on Dmitri Buchelnikov, a very promising youngster in Russia.

Panik ultimately went to the Islanders in exchange for Nick Leddy, who has since been moved to St Louis in exchange for Jake Walman (currently a top-pair defensemen), and Oskar Sundqvist who was later moved to Minnesota for a 2023 pick. Bertuzzi went to Boston for picks in 2024 and 2025 while Vrana went to St Louis for a 2027 pick. So it's a trade tree that includes a lot of players who didn't work, a few players who might be key pieces in the future, and a lot of ongoing potential. Every trade spawns a similar trade tree and it takes a savvy GM to keep rolling things forward so that even a trade that doesn't initially break in their favor can be turned into a future one that does.