Red Wings Add Pick for Facilitating Gourde, Bjorkstrand Trade from Seattle to Tampa

A busy day of transactions continued for the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday afternoon, when word broke that Detroit would be facilitating the deal that sent Seattle Kraken forwards Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The Red Wings retain 25% of Gourde's salary (which expires after this season) and in return will get the better of Tampa's two 2025 fourth round picks (one of them their own, the other from the Edmonton Oilers).  Detroit will also send Kyle Aucoin (presently a senior at Harvard, whom the Red Wings picked in the sixth round of the 2020 Draft) to the Lightning.  Here's the full scope of the deal, courtesy of Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman:

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The Red Wings' role in this deal fits with what was always likely to be their trade deadline approach: active around the margins but without major changes (either additive or reductive) to the NHL roster.  As coach Todd McLellan recently put it, "the calvary's not coming" in the form of deadline acquisitions-as-reinforcements.

Yes, Detroit did help an Atlantic Division rival bolster its roster in preparation for its postseason run, but, in truth, the Lightning don't have much to do with the Red Wings' aspirations.  Barring a precipitous collapse, Tampa will get one of the three automatic Atlantic playoff bids and won't be competing with Detroit for one of the Eastern Conference's two wild card bids.  The Lighting are also (relatively) unlikely to eclipse Florida or Toronto atop the division, and therefore, Detroit is unlikely to see the Bolts should it find its way to one of those wild card spots.

The Red Wings by no means acquired a king's ransom for their troubles, but they picked up an extra pick at the cost of cap space they were unlikely to otherwise use and a prospect who did not project to be any serious part of their future plans.

Meanwhile, the deal comes after a busy morning in which the Red Wings placed forward Christian Fischer on waivers and with the team believed to be on the brink of promoting Carter Mazur, as reported by The Athletic's Max Bultman.

Since Detroit's coaching change, it had become increasingly clear that Fischer did not fit McLellan's vision.  He's played just six games since the start of February, never accruing more than 12:39 of ice time in any of those games, after being a fourth line and penalty kill staple during Derek Lalonde's tenure.

Meanwhile, Mazur is a fesity, two-way forward who might help provide some of the energy McLellan named as lacking during Detroit's 2–1 Tuesday night loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.  It is not yet clear whether he will play in the Red Wings' Thursday night game against the Utah Hockey Club.

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