GM makes three trades:
The Detroit Redwings had a busier trade deadline than they expected. They were able to get three deals done before the 4:00 PM deadline, one which was completed minutes prior to the deadline. The deals that occurred sent Jan Bulis to Buffalo for a 4th round draft pick, Eric Cairns went to Tampa Bay for $875,000 and finally, Detroit sent Joffrey Lupul and a 6th round draft pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for Lee Stempniak, a 2009 1st round draft pick and a 4th round draft pick. The trades broke down like this:
Firstly, Eric Cairns was Tampa Bay for $875,000 cash. This was fairly simple trade from Detroit’s point of view and GM Alex Hurst had this to say; “Cairns was brought in as a temporary guy to plug some rosters spots and help our defensive situation. But he was not going to be in the league next year, so it was a necessity to move him at the deadline. We felt that the return we received was appropriate and it is likely that some of the cash be used for signing bonuses on a few of our guys that need to be signed.”
The second deal Detroit got done sent Jan Bulis to Buffalo for a 4th round draft pick. Detroit’s general manager had this to say: “we were extremely pleased to move Bulis, he has been solid for us and I think that Buffalo will be happy with him. But he didn’t fit on our long term plans and we were happy with the return we received.”
The third and final deal that Detroit pulled the trigger on sent Joffrey Lupul and a 6th round draft pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for Lee Stempniak, a 2009 1st round draft pick and a 4th round draft pick. GM Alex Hurst told reporters at his press conference this: “We were very pleased to get this deal done and it really came down to the wire. It hurt a lot to give up Joffrey, but we felt that the return was too good to pass up. He was a major part of our offense and it will hurt to loose his scoring ability, but we felt that Stempniak should be able to step in and fill the void perfectly. He has similar ratings to Lupul and they play similar style of game, so things should be fine. In the deal we were also able to acquire a 2009 1st round draft pick; this was the major appeal to the deal. Our scouts have been saying that the 2009 draft is going to be the deepest draft in a very long time (that’s right! as deep as 2003) and having another first round pick is going to be huge, no matter where that pick ends up being. This trade doesn’t hurt our current situation that badly and it is a major step in the right direction for our rebuilding process”
We asked about Stempniak’s contractual status, Alex Hurst responded with this: “We took that into account when we pulled the trigger on the deal and we are currently addressing that situation. We have already offered him a contract that we feel is appropriate and we are still waiting to hear back from his agent.”
Lee Stempniak