The Daily: Trocheck Should Be on Red Wings Radar; McLellan Believes in Kasper
The post The Daily: Trocheck Should Be on Red Wings Radar; McLellan Believes in Kasper appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now .
This summer’s lean unrestricted free agent list may mean that the key to the Detroit Red Wings’ offseason may be GM Steve Yzerman’s ability to be an old school horse trader.
The Detroit icon may have an opportunity to revisit trade talks he had before the March 6 trade deadline. One of those may be New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck . Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman predicted in his 32 Thoughts column that interest in Trocheck will continue to grow as teams are eliminated from the playoffs.
Multiple teams, including the Red Wings, were interested in Trocheck at the deadline, but the Rangers ask was more than contending teams were willing to pay.
Yzerman doesn’t reveal his trade strategy but made it clear at his yearly press conference he is open for business. He gave up a first-round pick and a quality prospect to land Justin Faulk in March. He’s open to similar deals this summer
“We’re absolutely open to do that,” Yzerman said.
Where Trocheck Would Fit
But this is what he said about trying upgrade team scoring:
“We need more production from all four of our centers, and we need them to be better defensively, ” Yzerman said.
Without being asked, he added: “We continue to have high hopes and expectations for Marco Kasper . We’ve got Nate Danielson , who we saw a little bit with us this year, but that’s a position we need more out of from whoever you designate as your 1, 2, 3 or 4. We need better play overall offensively.”
Though Yzerman never mentioned Trocheck, the Rangers two-way center could be a perfect fit for Detroit’s second line with Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane . Trochek plays an edgy two-way game, winning key faceoffs and logging important minutes against elite opponents. He posted 53 points in 67 games.
Asked about his chances land scoring help, Yzerman said: “(I’m) Neither optimistic or pessimistic. I literally have talked to, from non-playoff teams, two managers. Just a brief conversation. Everybody’s kind of going through their end of season meetings, with their players, with their coaches. Then theystart to get to work on off season plans. I don’t know at this point. “
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Red Wings Extra
Here is what coach Todd McLellan said about Marco Kasper: “As far as Marco goes, I have, we, the staff, the organization, have a very high belief in this young man. Not easy when you come back and you have high expectations, not only internally from himself and his teammates and the staff, but externally and it doesn’t quite go right for you. So he’s dealing with a lot as a young man, 22 years old, but he’s got a skill set, he’s got a drive and a demeanor that I believe will allow him to work his way through all of this. Some of the responsibility does lie on us too, how we use him, we bounce him around quite a bit. He’s a wing, he’s a center, ironically, that’s because we believe in him. We move him around to different spots because we think he can do the job. But maybe we have to find him a consistent home.”
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The post The Daily: Trocheck Should Be on Red Wings Radar; McLellan Believes in Kasper appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now .
