Red Wings: Top 3 Targets Coming in 2024-25 – Hockey Writers – Detroit Red Wings

With the 2024-25 NHL season in the books, all 32 teams have had a chance to hear about their weaknesses and strengths. With the Thanksgiving benchmark fast approaching, it’s only a matter of time before other teams start feeling the pressure to make a change.

The Detroit Red Wings have already made a trade this offseason. On October 30, they traded defenseman Olli Määttä to the Utah Hockey Club for a third-round pick in 2025. Although this small move is done to clear space and list space, it shows that the groups are always in contact with each other and are already organizing their lists.

With that in mind, here are a few players the Red Wings front office might consider looking at as they try to give their team a boost.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have tried to protect Father Time for a few years now, but it seems their efforts have been in vain. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are all at the back of their careers, and not surrounded by enough talent to make up for it. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas tried to extend the franchise’s window to compete, but now it seems pretty clear that the next step is to invest in the future.

The Penguins have a number of players who will be free agents at the end of this season. One of them is Marcus Pettersson, a 28-year-old defenseman who has been with the Penguins since December 2018.

Listed at 6-foot-5, 174 pounds, Pettersson is a tall, lanky defender with a long reach and the ability to keep the game moving. A former second-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks back in 2014, he appeared in 460 regular season games. He recorded a career-high total last season as he was (and still is) primarily paired with Erik Karlsson in the Penguins’ 1A/1B defense.

Pettersson’s numbers at 5-on-5 have been good since joining the Penguins. Pittsburgh tends to have the puck well when it’s on the ice, and that’s a trait the Red Wings could use a lot on their blue line. He can be an effective partner for Moritz Seider, which will allow Simon Edvinsson to step back and dominate the team’s second pairing. Although the second pairing could use an upgrade on the right side, Pettersson can provide enough improvement on the left side that it may not matter.

Related: Red Wings Notebook: 12 Thoughts on Seider & Edvinsson, Trade Market & More

Pettersson has a cap hit of $4.025 million and the Red Wings have about $2.5 million in cap space. The Penguins will likely be looking for a package of prospects, young players, and draft picks to acquire Pettersson’s services. Jonathan Berggren may be of interest to them as they look to inject their offense with youth.

(D) Dante Fabbro

If I told you that a 26-year-old, right-handed defenseman with over 300 games of NHL experience was available for cheap (and maybe even free), you’d at least want to hear more, right?

That’s the thinking of Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro. The top pick of the Nashville Predators in the 2016 draft, the British Columbia native appeared in seven parts of the season in Nashville before being waived late last week and claimed by the Blue Jackets.

In his best career season, the 2021-22 campaign, Fabbro averaged more than 19 minutes a night in ice time, and was plus-13 while producing 24 points in 66 games. Although he is not an offensive defenseman, he has flashed the ability to be a solid motion defenseman in the NHL throughout his career. To that point, he posted negative numbers in one of his seven seasons.

If you think the Predators were willing to risk losing Fabbro to waivers, there have to be some drawbacks, right? He used to make the most dangerous plays throughout his career – as are often the case with defenders trying to move the puck like he did. This often leads to change, and that change sometimes leads to goals against you. He’s the type of player who celebrates when he tries something and it works, but then lets out an all-too-familiar groan when he tries the same thing and it backfires.

The Red Wings should probably focus their efforts on finding a solid addition on the right side of their blue line, but they could do a lot worse than taking a chance on Fabbro. He’s still at an age where his game could take a step forward, and if the Blue Jackets decide he’s not a good fit on their blue line, he’s a great buy. With the Red Wings needing a spark, this is the kind of cheap move they should be investigating.

(C/RW) Trent Frederic

The Boston Bruins find themselves stuck in neutral in the first month of the season. Like the Red Wings, they may need to shake things up to get them back on track.

The Bruins player who has already been the subject of trade rumors is Trent Frederic, a power forward who started the season with an unusual roar. This player from St. Louis turns 27 in February and is in the final year of his contract. As unrestricted free agency approaches the offseason, the Bruins may view his slow start as a sign to move him rather than risk losing him in the offseason for free.

Frederic plays a physical type of hockey and can be effective in limited minutes. Last season, he scored a career high 18 goals and 40 points while averaging 13:45 of ice time. This should appeal to the Red Wings because their bottom six, especially their third line, could use a jolt. Their bottom six has not been bad on average, but the inefficiency has created an over-reliance on the team’s top six.

Frederic wouldn’t fix the bottom half on his own, but he would provide the Red Wings program with a different look. He scored 204 goals last season and already has 49 in 16 games this season. He could be a real presence the Red Wings program lacks right now.

Now it’s your turn! What are the Red Wings’ biggest needs and who can you get to fill them? Let us know in the comment section below!