People don't want to know what goes the other way for Draisaitl. He would be a number 1 center alright with no young core players around him and nobody knows how he performs without a competent to stacked top 6
Red Wings trade RFA Lucas Raymond, LHD Simon Edvinsson, G Trey Augustine, their 2025 1st round pick and their 1st round pick in 2026.
Oilers trade C Leon Draisaitl who signs an 8 year extension worth 112 million dollars, 14 million per year.
Red Wings waive G Ville Husso and RHD Justin Holl.( Saves 1.7 million).
Red Wings resign RHD Moritz Seider to a 8 year contract worth 64 million, 8 million per year.
Red Wings resign F Jonatan Berggren to a 2 year contract worth 2.25 million, 1.125 million per year.
Red Wings resign F Joe Veleno to a 1 year contract worth 1.75 million.
Red Wings sign F Dominik Kubalik to the league minimum.
J.T. Compher –
Leon Draisaitl –
Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – (C) Dylan Larkin –
Vladimir Tarasenko
Dominik Kubalik –
Joe Veleno –
Jonatan Berggren
Michael Rasmussen – (A) Andrew Copp –
Christian Fischer
*
Tyler Motte
*
Carter Mazur
Erik Gustavsson –
Mortiz Seider
(A) Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Ollie Maata –
Albert Johansson
* ???????
Cam Talbot
Alex Lyon
F Marco Kasper, F Nate Danielson, RHD ASP, RHD Antti Toumisto, F Dmitri Buchelnikov, F Carter Mazur, G Sebastain Cossa, F Michael Brandsegg-Nygard.
Idk, 8 top prospects still around and ready to crank the line up. With zero assumption of anyone else rising/developing. The ability to put a full roster together, with money coming off the following year, idk, seems like saying it'd gut the franchise or that no young players would around is an excuse to not try vs a reality and just not taking a chance. Yzerman would need to sign a defensemen/offensemen to round off the roster. I signed Kubalik just cause people know him and didn't bother with defensemen, because no matter who it is (this year) doesn't matter everyone will hate it. No way the roster is perfect after this trade, it's not even perfect now. That roster imo, could get a veteran to come sign on a 1 year deal cheap to help out this year.
It's safer to not make the move and wait to find out if that those picks don't matter, if Agustine was just good in college, and if Raymond ended up being like Debrincat and if Edvinsson is just a solid defender. That'll take 7 plus years to figure out.
The only real good answer people give is saying that they actually think Raymond is a 90 point player and Edvinsson is a top line defensemen and there under 25 so, ok, I can get behind keeping that but Draisaitl is a bird in hand vs two in the bush.