Red Wings acquire Grosse Pointe Woods native David Legwand in trade with Nashville

By Michael Caples and Stefan Kubus – 

Just when it appeared that the Red Wings had stood still on trade deadline day, it was announced that a hometown hero will be returning to Detroit.

Grosse Pointe Woods native David Legwand, the No. 2 pick in the 1998 NHL Draft by the Predators, was traded to the Red Wings today.

The Red Wings gave up Patrick Eaves, Calle Jarnkrok and a third-round pick for Legwand. Red Wings GM Ken Holland would not state which prospect was traded until he could make sure Jarnkrok found out from team representatives rather than the media.

Detroit is currently without centers Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk (out three weeks, Holland said) and Darren Helm, which played a part in the Wings’ interest in Legwand.

“That all factored into acquiring a center-ice man,” Holland said. “The center-ice man we’ve acquired pending trade call is a local boy. We think that if we want to keep the player beyond this year, it’s very reasonable that that’s a possibility to happen.

“He had a no-trade clause and a no-move, and he had to waive those to come here, so obviously he wanted to come home.”

Legwand, 33, has scored 40 points in 62 games for the Predators this season – his 14th full season in the NHL.

The Michigan native played for Compuware before moving on to the Plymouth Whalers, who had selected him with their first-round pick in 1997. Legwand was named by OHL MVP and rookie of the year in 1998.

In 956 career NHL games, Legwand has 210 goals and 566 points, along with 474 penalty minutes.

Legwand will become the fifth Michigan native on the Red Wings current roster, joining Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon), Luke Glendening (Grand Rapids), Drew Miller (Lansing) and Danny DeKeyser (Clay Township).

“It was a deal that we thought made sense for us and if we can win some games and play our way in as we go along here,” Holland said. “We’re hopeful that we’re going to get some people back.”

As far as Datsyuk’s health goes, Holland said its’ about No. 13 being able to play the way he is accustomed to.

“This thing with Pav has really come down in the last 24 hours. On Saturday, Mike and I met with Pav. Pav was very frustrated at his inability to play the game the way he knows he plays the game and the way he wants to play the game… When you can’t do something that you know you can do at a level, it just grinds on you and grinds on you.”