The Edmonton Oilers have acquired defenseman Mike Green from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for forward Kyle Brodziak and a conditional draft pick in either 2020 or 2021.
How did each general manager do in this trade?
Oilers get: D Mike Green
Red Wings get: F Kyle Brodziak, fourth-round pick in 2020 or third-round pick in 2021
Edmonton Oilers: B+
It was only a matter of time before Oilers GM Ken Holland dipped his hand into the jar of cookies that he baked in Detroit. It's the NHL: Team executives go with what they know. Holland knows Green well, having signed him twice while general manager of the Red Wings. No doubt that history was a two-way street, as Green waived his modified no-trade clause to reunite with Holland in Edmonton.
Green, 34, has three goals and eight assists in 48 games for moribund Detroit, amassing a minus-32 on the season. He still skates more than 21 minutes per game (21:04 on average to be exact), which includes an average of 2:25 per game on the power play. He has only four power-play points on the season. A quick check of the Red Wings' roster reveals that they, in fact, do not have Connor McDavid on their power play. One assumes Green's numbers could perk up playing on one that does, should he earn the time.
While at one time a Norris Trophy contender -- and we contend he should have won it in 2009 -- the Oilers are getting the 2020 version of Mike Green. He's been a sub-replacement-level player for the last two seasons, as Evolving Hockey has him at minus-4.3 goals scored above average. He's been a defensive liability relative to his teammates, and the Red Wings earned just 47.44% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 with Green on the ice over the last two seasons.
But here's the thing: The Red Wings have been abjectly terrible, two seasons running. On another team that doesn't play on the heels of its skates for most of the game, perhaps Green's numbers look different -- or, perhaps, on a team that's fighting for a playoff seed instead of tabulating lottery odds. Green's last playoff appearance was in 2016 with Detroit.
He's a veteran defenseman, with a contract that expires this summer. He's a right-hand-shooting defenseman who can move the puck in transition, which is something the Oilers needed. He carries a $2,687,500 cap hit because Detroit is eating up half the cap hit. And he could end up costing a fourth-round pick and a retired player's contract. Plus he's an Alberta boy, so that's fun.
Not a bad gamble for the cost, especially if Green's offensive game gets rejuvenated.
But pour one out for the Washington Capitals fans who believed there was a chance for a Mike Green reunion once he was pulled from the Detroit lineup ...
Detroit Red Wings: C
Something is better than nothing. A fourth-round pick in 2020 is something. Sure, it's something less than the Red Wings received for Nick Jensen last season from Washington, but it's something.
That fourth-rounder becomes a third-rounder in 2021 if the Oilers make the Western Conference final and Green plays 50% of their games in the first two rounds. Given the relative state of the Pacific Division and Green's unfortunate injury history in the past three seasons, there might be a better chance of the former happening than the latter; although, obviously, one hopes for the best of health for Green in Edmonton.
Brodziak has a degenerative disc condition that's kept him on long-term injured reserve all season and had him admit last September that he "definitely can't play anymore." His contract comes off the books this summer.
This is Steve Yzerman's first deadline trade for the Red Wings. Taking on dead contract weight, gobbling up part of Green's salary and, oh yeah, trading a serviceable veteran with postseason experience who plays more than 21 minutes per game should add up to at least a third-rounder that becomes a second under the right conditions. Alas, the Oilers' third this season is tied up conditionally in the Milan Lucic trade with Calgary. Given that, and the trade protection that Green agreed to waive for Edmonton, this might have been the best deal available for Stevie Y at the deadline.