The Detroit Red Wings have brought former draft pick Kyle Quincey back to the organization, trading their first round pick and minor leaguer Sebastien Piche to Tampa Bay after the Lightning acquired the defenseman from Colorado for winger Steve Downie.
There have been some questions about the trade, namely, why trade a first round pick to re-acquire a player the Wings waived a few years ago in favor of Derek Meech and a greatly diminished Chris Chelios? The short answer is, Ken Holland acknowledged that the team made a mistake in letting Quincey go in the first place, and this is what it took to rectify that mistake.
The longer answer is more complicated.
Meech had just come off a solid, although far from spectacular, rookie season during which he showed he had NHL talent, as well the ability to play on the Wing if they needed him to do that. Chelios, on the other hand, was at the end of a Hall of Fame career, spending as much time in Detroit as he did in Montreal, where he got his start, or Chicago where he became a star. The Red Wings have proven time and again that they're loyal, almost to a fault, and wanted to let Chelios retire on his own terms. Also the team had young defensemen Meech, Brett Lebda, and Jonathan Ericsson in the organization that they wanted Chelios to mentor, as well as an off-ice job waiting for him when he did hang up the skates. The team opened up the competition to Meech, Chelios, and Quincey in the preseason, and Quincey was the worst of the three.
So Quincey went to the LA Kings, a team coming off a 71 point performance and five straight years missing the playoffs. Quincey was able to quickly establish himself as a legitimate NHL player, racking up a solid point total of 38 points his rookie season and playing on the Kings' top defense pair by the end of the season. He was traded to Colorado the following offseason, where he continued to be one of the best defensemen on the team. Injuries derailed him in his second season in Colorado but he was leading the Avalanche defense in ice time, goals, and points when they traded him. Would he have been able to develop into a solit top four defenseman had he played in Detroit, where he would have had to fight to stay in the lineup? Probably not.
Now he's back, and the team has a 26 year old defenseman with good size and is a restricted free agent after this season who they know can be trusted logging 20+ minutes a night and who they don't have to wonder about any character concerns, and it cost them a late first round draft pick, which in terms of trade avlue is about the same as a second rounder from a bad team, and a defenseman who was probably never going to make the NHL in Detroit anyway. Given the fact that the Flyers recently gave up second and fourth round picks plus a forward prospect to get the veteran (read: old) Pavel Kubina, who is also an unrestricted free agent this offseason, from Tampa Bay, the price they paid for Quincey is a steal. If the Wings had used that pick on a defenseman in this year's draft, he MIGHT be as good as Quincey in five or six years, instead of being someone who can help them now and next season.
The other thing Quincey's acquistion does is give the Red Wings some insurance if Brad Stuart does leave for California and Nick Lidstrom retires. As of now, assuming nobody is willing to outbid Detroit and surrender first and third round draft picks to get Quincey and that prospect Brendan Smith is going to be NHL ready, they will have 6 NHL defensemen. Going into free agency looks a lot less scary with Kronwall, White, Quincey, Ericsson, Kindl, and Smith there than without Quincey and knowing they NEED a defenseman just to fill the roster.
Comments