Ken Holland discusses NHL trade deadline acquisitions Cole, Zidlicky
By @SKubus –
DETROIT – Ken Holland said if he had a chance to make his current team better at the right price, he would do it.
That’s exactly what the Detroit Red Wings general manager did Sunday night and on Monday afternoon prior to the 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline.
Holland first acquired veteran winger Erik Cole from the Dallas Stars and then picked up that highly-coveted right-handed shot on the blue line in Marek Zidlicky from the New Jersey Devils.
“I’m happy that, in the last 24 hours, we were able to add a couple players that we think add dimensions to our team that maybe we didn’t have before they got here,” Holland said Monday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.
What went the other way were draft picks, none of which were first-rounders, and a pair of prospects–Mattias Backman and Mattias Janmark–that were ultimately deemed expendable given Detroit’s depth.
“We just felt that both of them were down the line in our list of prospects, and if they were going to play in Detroit, it was going to be quite a ways down the line.”
Zidlicky, 38, will immediately improve the Red Wings’ puck-moving game from the back end, provide valuable experience and is capable of contributing here and there, powerplay included.
“He’s a guy that has been real competitive through his career, he’s got skill, he can play on the powerplay,” Holland said of Zidlicky.
Cole, 36, has been to the Stanley Cup Finals twice in his career, winning once with Carolina in 2006. He had potted 18 goals and 33 points this season with Dallas. Holland said he thinks Cole can play in the Red Wings top-six forwards.
“Certainly in Erik Cole we’ve got a big forward that, he’s got size, he’s got 18 goals, provides physicality,” Holland said.
Both players are pending unrestricted free agents. How they play in the next two months, and potentially beyond, is what Holland said will determine their future in a Detroit Red Wings sweater.
“I think at the end of the year, we’ll assess how they played, how we played, what they’re thinking. Right now, I think they’re rentals, but looking toward the ’15-16 season with regards to those two players, let’s let the season wear out, so we can assess and they can assess.”
Holland said the process of negotiating these deals truly picked up when Detroit was on its recent west-coast road trip. But combining the fact that his team has played itself to near the top of the Eastern Conference with how rapidly the young players like Tomas Tatar, Riley Sheahan and Gustav Nyquist have emerged, it showed him that a big splash wasn’t necessary.
“What’s happened here over the last 48 hours is, coming off that road trip and really looking back at the last two months where we had to play five home games and 17 on the road and play a lot of the top teams in the National Hockey League, the growth of our team and the growth of our younger players sent the message to me, at least, we’ve got a good team, we’re right in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference and if we could add a piece or two leading up to the deadline to make us a little deeper, a little better prepared for a playoff series at a price we could live with, we wanted to do it.”
Notes: Holland also said forward Darren Helm and rookie defenseman Alexey Marchenko are both considered day-to-day, out for about a week, each with oblique strains.