The NHL trade deadline has come and gone without much excitement.  All of the big names that were rumored to be on the block didn’t move and a few minor deals were made across the league.

For Detroit, the only move they made today was to trade Mike Commodore to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a conditional seventh-round draft pick.  I think this was a good move for both the Wings and Commodore himself, it opened up a roster spot for Brendan Smith and going to Tampa should give Commodore a chance to play more.

GM Ken Holland said that Smith will begin to play more and is scheduled to play in Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

With the trade for Kyle Quincey for a first-round pick, the Wings did not have a ton of ammo to use on the trade market.  During an interview with Valenti and Foster on 97.1 the Ticket, Holland talked about changing the mindset of just throwing early picks in trades:

We’ve made the playoffs for 20 straight years, sometimes you pick high in the first round, we’re trying to hang onto our draft picks since 2005, it’s time to make some good deals, but if the good deals aren’t there, don’t do anything.

(Full interview located here)

The big prize to be won at the trade deadline was Columbus forward Rick Nash, who gave his GM a list of teams he would like to be traded to.  According to Holland the Wings were not on that list, which doesn’t make any sense to me, I guess Nash has started to enjoy not making the playoffs.

I like that Holland didn’t make a deal just to make a deal.  This team is good enough to make a deep run in the playoffs and potentially win a Cup.  My wishes for this team remain the same, a top-six forward is needed.

Can we get Zack Parise’s agent on the phone please?