Predators, In Town Tuesday Night, Reportedly Eyeing Trade For Tatar
(97.1 The Ticket) The Red Wings dealt Petr Mrazek to the Flyers on Monday night and have a few more chips to play ahead of the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
One of them, Mike Green, is almost certain to be moved, with early reports connecting him to the Lightning. Others, such as Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Glendening, aren't such sure bets.
If the trade market for that trio isn't to the Red Wings' liking in the next few days, they can revisit it this summer or at next season's deadline. But in the case of Tatar, something could happen soon.
The Predators are reportedly interested in the scoring winger, and they're in town to play the Red Wings Tuesday night. The 27-year-old Tatar, who carries a $5.3 million cap hit through the 2020-21 season, has 15 goals in 58 games this year.
Nashville has also been linked to Nyquist, who has 16 goals in 58 games. He's signed through next season at a yearly cost of $4.75 million.
Red Wings GM Ken Holland made clear on Tuesday his desire to stockpile as many picks as possible before this year's draft. But he doesn't need to pull off a flurry of trades in the next few days. Green represents Detroit's only pending unrestricted free agent of note.
"Certainly this week is a big week for me in terms of working the phone lines, but if nothing's there that makes real sense and all I'm doing is helping somebody else out and we're getting what we don't think is fair value for our players, we'll go back to the summertime and we'll start all over again," Holland said. "There's going to be more teams in the mix."
Holland said it's more of a buyer's market at the moment, so the Wings might be better off waiting until the draft to trade the assets they control beyond this season.
"Instead of having eight or 10 teams in the mode to do business, you're probably back to where there's 30 teams in the mode to do business because everyone in June is looking to October. You bring teams into play in June that might not be in play today. We'll see what goes on between now and Monday," Holland said.
The Predators, currently in first place in the Central Division, have all of their picks in the 2018 draft besides their second-rounder. That could complicate a potential trade for Tatar, who's surely worth more than a third-rounder but might not be worth a first.
