The Detroit Red Wings are likely to be a fringe playoff team in the 2024-25 NHL season. But, one trade pitch has the team adding to their forward group by trading for New York Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
The website PuckPedia has a new tool called PuckGM that lets users create their own trades and one user proposed a deal that would see the Red Wings acquire Pageau from the Islanders to help bolster their forward group.
Red Wings acquire:
- Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Islanders acquire:
- Jonatan Berggren
- Justin Holl ($600k retained)
The proposed deal is an intriguing one and one that does make sense on paper. Detroit gets a skilled forward, while the Islanders get a younger player in Berggren, who is an RFA but do have to take on Holl’s contract, but he still can be a serviceable defenseman.
Pageau has two years left on his six-year $30 million deal and can be a middle-six forward for Detroit. Last season, Pageau recorded 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points in 82 games. In his NHL career, he’s skated in 718 games recording 145 goals and 179 assists for 324 points.
Berggren is an RFA and does not have a contract for next season, but would be an easy replacement for Pageau in the Islanders lineup, and also would be much cheaper. Berggren was drafted in the second round of the 2018 NHL draft and last season skated in 12 games recording 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points.
Holl, meanwhile, is entering the second year of a three-year $10.2 million contract. However, he struggled in his first season with the Red Wings as he recorded 0 goals and 5 assists in 38 games.
Holl Considered a Buyout Candidate
Holl was signed in free agency of 2023 as he was supposed to help bolster Detroit’s defense. However, he struggled in his first season and was a healthy scratch at times.
Holl’s name was brought up as a potential buyout candidate, but the Red Wings decided to not buy him out. However, Holl is likely to be a candidate to be bought out in the 2025 NHL offseason if his play doesn’t improve, according to NHL insider Max Bultman of The Athletic.
“They likely didn’t want to be on the hook for four years of dead cap that would have come with a buyout. It wasn’t a massive number ($1.13 million each year), but four years is a long time to pay dead cap. The Red Wings’ management team likely believes Holl can play. Whether Lalonde uses him is another question, but I don’t get the sense from Yzerman that he thinks Holl is a lost cause,” Bultman wrote in his article.
“Your point about the cap hit sitting in the press box is good, but the Red Wings probably don’t expect to be quite as lucky injury-wise this season as they were in 2023-24 — and if that’s the case, Holl could play more this season. But if he doesn’t and he’s again a $3.4 million scratch for most of the season, I’d have to imagine they’ll explore a buyout next year, for just two years of dead cap at the same $1.13 million cost,” Bultman added.
Before Holl signed with the Red Wings he played six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Red Wings Have 2 Key RFA Players Unsigned
With NHL training camps set to begin in September, Detroit has still a pressing need to re-sign RFA’s Mortiz Seider and Lucas Raymond.
Seider and Raymond are two of the best players on the Red Wings, but both remain unsigned.
Last season, Seider skated in 82 games recording 9 goals and and 33 assists for 42 points. Raymond, meanwhile, skated in 82 games recording 31 goals and 41 assists for 72 points.
