PHX - DET

[Parker]

Detroit receives:
D Jonas Ahnelöv (60)
R/C Jared Staal (66)
G Joel Gistedt (76)

Phoenix receives:
D Ricard Blidstrand (74)

Ahnelöv has defensive upside but his development window is slowly closing. He's not going to develop any further on the farm, but we don't want to use him in a part-time role on the big team; he deserves better. Given regular icetime he will mature into a very solid shutdown defenceman, but with the depth on the blueline in Phoenix, we don't have room to develop him properly. In Detroit he will already be a better (and more cost-effective) option than Mitchell, McKee, or Murray, and he will continue to improve. Staal is on his way to becoming a solid checking line winger but again, the glut of depth players in the Phoenix system will prevent him from getting the opportunity he needs. Gistedt is a very consistent and reliable AHL goalie but with Thomas Greiss and Scott Darling splitting time in San Antonio/Portland, Gistedt was relegated to a 3rd string role. He'll get more opportunity to play in Detroit's system with McCollum being called up to the big team and will help take some of the pressure off young Harri Sateri.

We've had our eye on Blidstrand for a while, and in him we get an eventually solid depth defenceman who doesn't need a roster spot yet, so we can bring along slowly to eventually replace aging veterans on the blueline.

Phoenix accepts this deal. Thanks James, always a pleasure.

[jamesredwings]

Det accepts.

Adds more depth to my team. These 3 guys are at worst top AHL players (at least on my AHL teams). Definitely improves farm club and potential call ups due to injuries. We will see during training camp if any of these plyers can play in the bigs. Hopefully I can start waiving some of the older players to make room for them.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Approved.