The Detroit Red Wings held a press conference today to announce the successful completion of two more trades. In the first move announced, the Wings sent veteran defenseman Derian Hatcher (scheduled to make $6 million next season) to Boston for defensemen Dan McGillis and the 17th overall selection in this year's draft. This deal helps the Wings to cut more salary and pick up their 2nd first rounder after having none before trading began.
In the other deal, the Red Wings sent defensive prospect, Niklas Kronwall to St. Louis in exchange for 2003 Hobey Baeker Award winner, Peter Sejna. The deal appears to be a good one for the Wings as they are very deep on the blueline, but needed depth on the left side which Sejna should provide.
General Manager had this to say at the conference, "Again, we are very happy with the progress we have made. We struggled out of the gate and had some deals rejected, but these two deals are solid moves for our hockey department. Sejna fills a need of youth on the left side and Dan is a solid veteran who still has some good years of hockey left in him. Now that we have two first rounders, we may look at moving one of the picks, but nothing is definite right now."
After these transactions, the Wings payroll sits right around $58 million. So for those of you keeping score at home, the Wings have cut roughly $23 million and still have about $8 million to go to get under the cap number. It is no secret that Caster has been trying to move Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and maybe even Chris Chelios. Look for more moves to come as the season is approaching fast.