Ansar Khan | akhan1@mlive.com

Value for value trade only viable way for improvement

The Detroit Red Wings’ season-ending roster featured only four players who have played for another NHL team (Frans Nielsen, Mike Green, Drew Miller and Ben Street).

It’s a roster dominated by homegrown players. That might be part of the problem.

It has been a long time since the Red Wings made a significant player-for-player trade.

The free-agent market is thin. They can except little help next season from prospects with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Other than relying solely on internal improvement, the Red Wings need to make a notable deal this off-season.

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Ansar Khan | akhan1@mlive.com

Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist among team's trading chips

Q: Which of Tomas Tatar or Gustav Nyquist is most likely to be dealt if the Wings are to get that top-pair defenseman? – Jesse

A: Tatar has more trade value, I believe, because he's a better finisher (team-leading 25 goals this season while dealing with shoulder issues) and the team acquiring him could lock him up to a long-term deal (he's a restricted free agent). Whereas Nyquist (29 goals the past two seasons combined) has become more of a distributor and will be unrestricted after two seasons.

I think the Red Wings would prefer to retain Tatar. They have struggled for offense the past two seasons and that’s a lot of goals to lose.

But, I’m sure they would take that trade-off if Tatar (and another asset) could land them a young, top-pairing defenseman like Jacob Trouba of Winnipeg.

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Which goalie to protect in the expansion draft?

Q: Would exposing both (Jimmy) Howard and (Petr) Mrazek to the expansion draft increase the possibility of the Wings gaining cap relief? – CJ

A: I doubt they would expose Mrazek. He’s young (25) and despite inconsistent play the past year-and-a-half, he has shown potential. He has one year remaining on his contract ($4 million) and will be a restricted free agent in 2018. Why risk losing him for nothing?

If they decide Mrazek is not their goalie of the future they’ll look to trade him before the June 21 expansion draft. If they’re unable to deal him then it’s best to hang onto him with the hopes that he’ll return to form next season. If he doesn’t, he remains a trading chip, albeit with declining value.

I think they’ll expose Howard, unless they’re able to deal him. I don’t think Vegas will select him due to his age (33), contract (two years remaining at a $5.3 million cap hit) and the likely availability of younger, cheaper options with higher upside.

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Mary Altaffer

On usage of Brendan Smith, Steve Ott

Q: Why did Steve Ott and Brendan Smith get consistent playing time in the playoffs when they could not regularly crack the Wings regular season lineup? – CJ

A: Both were regulars in Detroit. Smith was a healthy scratch for two games (Nov. 18-20) and missed 25 games due to two separate knee injuries. He's averaging 20:28 in the playoffs (including two overtime games) for the Rangers (no power play time), after averaging 18:44 (1:21 on the power play) with the Red Wings.

After sitting three of the first four games of the season, Ott was scratched just twice before being traded to the Canadiens, where he averaged 12:22 in the playoff series vs. the Rangers, after averaging 10:27 for Detroit.

I’m not seeing any massive change in their usage after departing, other than the Red Wings had Smith on the power play at times and the Rangers don’t.

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Brendan Savage | bsavage@mlive.com

Should No. 4 be hanging from the rafters?

Q: I believe if (Sergei) Fedorov's No. 91 is considered for retirement, so should No. 4 for Red Kelly. Arguably, both left not on the best of terms, but Sergei had more control over that than did Red. Kelly is a class act and did as much, if not more for the Red Wings than the Leafs. May they do it before time runs out for Kelly. -- Reed

A: They discussed the possibility of retiring Fedorov's number after he was selected for the Hall of Fame in 2016. Nothing has come of it yet.

I haven’t heard of any discussion of retiring Kelly’s number. It’s been a long time (he left the Red Wings in 1960), so I doubt it would happen now.

But, I agree he deserves to have his number raised. In 13 seasons as a Red Wing, Kelly won one Norris Trophy, three Lady Byng Trophies, was an NHL All-Star eight times (including six times first team) and inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969. He was part of four Stanley Cup championship teams in Detroit, named one of the NHL’s “100 Greatest Players,” and, by most accounts, is the second-best defenseman in franchise history.

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MLive/Mike Mulholland

Any Johan Franzen sightings?

Q: As we all know, Johan Franzen's career is essentially over. What is he doing these days to stay involved with the team? I see he's pretty comical on his (Instagram) account, but I was wondering if there were any other updates. – Tyler

A: Franzen played the first two games of the 2015-16 season before once again experiencing concussion symptoms. He's around the team occasionally but not working in any official capacity other than tracking some stats for the coaches a few times from the press box.