The Detroit Red Wings are expected to be a marginal playoff club in the 2024-25 NHL season. However, one trade proposal has the team adding to their forward group by trading for New York Islanders winger Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
PuckPedia’s new tool, PuckGM, allows users to design their own deals, and one user offered a transaction in which the Red Wings acquire Pageau from the Islanders to help reinforce their forward group.
Red Wings acquire:
- Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Islanders acquire:
- Jonatan Berggren
- Justin Holl ($600k retained)
The proposed merger is attractive and makes sense on paper. Detroit gains a quality forward, while the Islanders gain a younger player in Berggren, who is an RFA who must take on Holl’s contract but can still be a useful defenseman.
Pageau has two years left on his six-year $30 million contract and can play as a middle-six forward for Detroit. Pageau scored 11 goals and 22 assists in 82 games last season, totaling 33 points. He has played 718 NHL games, scoring 145 goals and 179 assists for 324 points.
Berggren is an RFA with no contract for next season, but he would be a simple substitute for Pageau in the Islanders’ lineup and would be far less expensive. Berggren was picked in the second round of the 2018 NHL draft and appeared in 12 games last season, scoring two goals and four assists for six points.
Holl, meanwhile, is in the second year of a three-year, $10.2 million deal. However, he struggled in his debut season with the Red Wings, recording no goals and five assists in 38 games.
Holl Considered a Buyout Candidate
Holl was signed in free agency in 2023 to help strengthen Detroit’s defense. He struggled in his first season, though, and was occasionally a healthy scratch.
Holl’s name was mentioned as a potential buyout candidate, but the Red Wings elected not to pursue him. According to NHL source Max Bultman of The Athletic, if Holl’s performance does not improve, he will be a contender for a buyout in the 2025 NHL offseason.
“They likely didn’t want to commit to four years of dead cap that a buyout would have incurred. While the amount wasn’t huge ($1.13 million per year), paying dead cap for four years is a significant commitment. The Red Wings’ management likely believes Holl can contribute. Whether Lalonde chooses to use him is another matter, but I don’t get the impression from Yzerman that he sees Holl as a lost cause,” Bultman wrote in his article.
“Your point about having that cap hit sitting in the press box is valid, but the Red Wings probably don’t expect to be as fortunate with injuries this season as they were in 2023-24 — and if that’s the case, Holl could see more playing time. However, if he remains a $3.4 million healthy scratch for most of the season, I’d expect them to consider a buyout next year, which would only result in two years of dead cap at the same $1.13 million cost,” Bultman added.
Before joining the Red Wings, Holl spent six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Red Wings Have 2 Key RFA Players Unsigned
With NHL training camps beginning in September, Detroit still has to re-sign RFAs Mortiz Seider and Lucas Raymond.
Seider and Raymond are two of the Red Wings’ greatest players, although both are unsigned.
Seider played 82 games last season, scoring 9 goals and 33 assists for a total of 42 points. Raymond, on the other hand, appeared in 82 games, scoring 31 goals and adding 41 assists for a total of 72 points.
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