As Friday’s NHL trade deadline approaches, we are beginning to see a lot of activity around the league. The Detroit Red Wings made a minor move on Wednesday afternoon, serving as an Uber driver, so to speak, as the third wheel in a deal between their division rival Tampa Bay Lightning and the Seattle Kraken, who, oddly enough, will face off with the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday evening.

The deal was quite complex, but the Red Wings ultimately secured a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. They briefly acquired forward Yanni Gourde from the Seattle Kraken, with 50 percent of his salary retained, in exchange for defenseman Kyle Aucoin. Detroit then traded Gourde to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Gourde is in the final year of his current deal, and Detroit will eat roughly $1.3 million to help facilitate the deal. The Red Wings currently sit with about $12 million in deadline space.

The Red Wings will receive the earlier selection between Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft or the Edmonton Oilers’ fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft as compensation.

The entire deal is pretty insane. Check out the complete deal and focus on the return Seattle received. And you guys thought my returns from Detroit in my latest trade article were out to lunch or a significant overpay? The market suggests my hypothetical returns were far too low. This also suggests that Yzerman’s deadline will disappoint many of you. Yzerman isn’t going to pay these prices for a rental.

As you know, in my latest article, everyone aside from Pius Suter that hypothetically would be coming Detroit’s way has term remaining on their current deal. I strongly believe that Yzerman values term, and if a deal of any substance is made before Friday’s 3 PM EST deadline, it will need to be for a player with term or someone Yzerman believes he can extend. It will need to be a player Yzerman feels profiles as someone who fits Detroit’s current window, or someone with term who he feels will be valuable in the locker room or serves as an immediate upgrade.

The other side of the coin is that Yzerman may be looking to offload a couple of contracts before Friday. It is an addition-by-subtraction type of transaction. Perhaps Yzerman is trying to fetch a late-round pick for someone like Christian Fischer, who they placed on waivers Wednesday to clear a roster spot to call up prospect Carter Mazur, who will make his NHL debut on Thursday night. Maybe Detroit will try to flip Vladimir Tarasenko to a contender, even if he needs to retain some salary. Yzerman must swallow his pride and admit that things didn’t work out. As a general manager, you win some and lose some; the best win more than they lose.