Trade Pitch Has Red Wings Acquiring $20 Million Defenseman

Getty Trade pitch has Red Wings acquiring Marcus Pettersson.

The Detroit Red Wings are off to a disappointing season and they could look to try and bolster its roster to end its playoff drought.

The website PuckPedia‘s PuckGM tool lets users create their own trades. One user proposed a deal that would see the Red Wings acquiring Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Red Wings acquire:

• Marcus Pettersson
• 2025 fifth-round pick (Rangers)
• 2025 fifth-round pick

Penguins acquire:

• Andrew Copp
• William Wallinder
• 2025 second-round pick
• 2026 second-round pick

The proposed deal would see Detroit bolster its blue line, while Pittsburgh gets an NHL player in Copp and a prospect and two draft picks to help a potential rebuild.

Pettersson is in the fifth year of his five-year $20.13 million deal. The veteran defenseman would bolster Detroit’s blue line which has been an issue for the Red Wings this season. This season, Pettersson has skated in 21 games recording 1 goal and 8 assists for 9 points.

The big part of the return for Detroit would be the draft picks and Wallinder. The defenseman was selected in the second round of the 2020 NHL draft but he has yet to make his NHL debut but could with Pittsburgh.

Copp, meanwhile, is a veteran forward who’s in the third year of his five-year $28.13 million deal. The forward has recorded 5 goals and 2 assists for 7 points in 18 games.

Insider Believes Red Wings Coach Could Be Fired

Detroit entered the season with hopes of making the playoffs but the Red Wings have struggled this season.

The Red Wings are 7-9-2 and NHL insider Darren Dreger revealed coach Derek Lalonde could be fired.

“Speculatively speaking, I would say yes,” Dreger said on Early Trading. I’m looking right at the Detroit Red Wings, and that’s not new information, but it’s definitely heating up there… But, if this homestand does not produce results, then I think you potentially could see a head coaching change. Maybe that goes hand-in-hand, with as you said, teams hitting the 20-game mark, the quarter mark of the regular season, U.S. Thanksgiving.

“Historically, that’s when we start seeing these sorts of decisions being made,” Dreger added. “On top of all that, is the reality of a real good head coach now on the unemployment line in Jim Montgomery. Whether it’s Detroit, it’s Nashville, it’s other teams around the NHL that are intrigued by the possibility of Jim Montgomery. That’s where we’re at, mostly because of the struggles of some of the teams like the Red Wings.”

Lalonde has been the Red Wings coach since 2022 and has yet to lead Detroit to the playoffs.

Penguins GM Won’t Entire Full Rebuild

The Penguins have struggled this season and already traded Lars Eller.

Pittsburgh has been rumored to be involved in other trade talks, but Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas says he won’t enter a full rebuild.

“I’m a firm believer that if you throw everything overboard, you really have to be careful what you wish for, because you could go a long time before you’re back to being a competitive and contending team,” Dubas said. “So, our focus is on trying to, as I always say, as urgently as possible bring in (what we can) using whatever means we have.”

Pittsburgh is 7-10-4 to start the year.