By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
June 25, 2016

It’s not hard to recall the story behind all of Ken Holland‘s superior transactions during this century because they have been so few and far between.

And there is one common theme for all three of the Wings’ General Manager’s unanimously lauded 2000-era moves — they all fell in his lap. Yesterday’s trade with the Arizona Coyotes was no different, and it only POTENTIALLY remedied an awful situation Holland himself created.

Start with the last blockbuster trade Holland made back in 2001 when he acquired Dominik Hasek in exchange for Slava Kozlov. That move occurred when Hasek told his agent Rich Winter that he wanted to play in Detroit and Winter facilitated the deal between Holland and the Sabres.

Fast forward to the summer of 2008 and Holland pumping gas at a local Mobil station a couple weeks after the Wings won their 11th Stanley Cup as an organization and getting another call from his guardian angel, Rich Winter. This time the agent called to tell Holland that his client Marian Hossa wanted to come to Detroit on a one-year deal.

Last night’s trade of Pavel Datsyuk’s dead cap space number of 7.5 million to the desert in exchange for moving four spots back in Friday’s first round, acquiring Joe Vitale and an additional second round selection ended up a formula similar to those previous deals. 

Holland had gone on record as stating he didn’t believe that he would be able to trade Datsyuk’s albatross of a contract this weekend because the asking price was way too high. The Hockey News reported that teams were demanding Andreas Athanasiou or the team’s 2016 first round pick.

But here is where Holland completely lucked out on Friday evening. The Arizona Coyotes have one of the best farm systems in the NHL, but it is extremely front-loaded with forward talent.

With the seventh pick overall, the Coyotes wanted to select a defenseman but their 26-year-old sabermetric guru GM John Chayka couldn’t pass on taking center Clayton Keller.

Chayka desperately wanted to grab Sarnia Sting defenseman Jakob Chychrun as they had him rated as a top ten selection in the draft at a huge position of need. 

Chayka started working the phones looking to acquire the 12th, 13th, 14th or 15th pick in the draft so he could lock up Chychrun but had no luck in doing so.

And then miraculously for everyone involved, Chychrun — who at one point last winter was considered the second best prospect in the draft behind only Auston Matthews — fell to the Wings at 16.

That is when Chayka contacted Holland and the Datsyuk deal was completed. Now, idiot Red Wings fans who still believe Holland is some sort of wizard and not a complete abortion of a GM in the salary cap era started puffing their chests out on social media. Many stated that Holland had ripped off the millennial manager.

This is absolutely hysterical on several levels. Keep in mind that the Ottawa Senators traded up ONE spot (from 12th to 11th) last night and had to give up a 3rd round pick to the New Jersey Devils.

To move up FOUR spots and select the last “elite” talent in the draft, the 53rd selection was commensurate value.

And what about acquiring the Datsyuk dead cap space? Well, as I stated on the DSR Podcast on Tuesday, this was only an anchor for the Red Wings. Some team would view the $7.5 million cap commitment as a boon in order to reach the cap floor.

And that team turned out to be the Coyotes. Consider this: even after acquiring Datsyuk — which now pushes their dead cap space number to $12.5 million — the Coyotes are still SEVEN POINT SEVEN million dollars under the SALARY CAP FLOOR.

I mean, Chayka could acquire one more Datsyuk contract and still not be at the cap floor!!!!!

And let’s dispel the myth that this didn’t cost the Wings anything. Instead of drafting Chychrun — a prospect at a tremendous position of need and a kid who most likely will be in the NHL in a year — they fell back four selections and selected a project defenseman.

When discussing eventual first round pick Dennis Cholowski last night with the Detroit eunuchs media, Holland said the Wings like Cholowski because they can hide him in college for THREE OR FOUR YEARS.

Basically everything that Holland accomplished last night can only be viewed as a net positive IF he can sign Steven Stamkos to a free-agent deal on July 1st.

Moving Datsyuk’s one-year burden will only be beneficial if the Wings can land the one difference maker UFA on the market.

If the Wings passed on taking Chychrun and the only benefit from the Datsyuk relief is Milan Lucic, Andrew Ladd, David Backes or some other 33-year-old forward on the downside of his career, well, sorry if I don’t throw a party for that.

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING depends on Stamkos’ arrival in Detroit. Because we all have seen what occurs when Holland has to hastily resort to a Plan B.

Fuck, I’d feel a lot better about all of this if the two-time winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy were represented by Rich Winter and not Newport Sports.