Dylan Larkin-Tyler Bertuzzi.jpg

The Red Wings don't want to part with youngsters like Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi in a trade.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

DETROIT - It's unlikely anyone wants to upgrade the Detroit Red Wings defensive corps more than general manager Ken Holland.

Holland has been trying to do just that since before the NHL draft in June.

But Holland says upgrading the defense isn't a just matter of changing pieces. He says the Red Wings already have six experienced NHL defensemen.

Upgrading is about adding a player who would be a legitimate top-four defenseman.

"I don't think we need defensemen," Holland told MLive. "I think we need legitimate top four defenseman. I've got defensemen. My answer to that question (whether a trade is possible) would be not many are available.

"I've talked to a number of teams leading up to the draft. I have talked a little bit over the last couple of weeks. I'll continue to talk. But it's not like there's a surplus of top four defensemen on the market.

"A top four defenseman has to become available."

And when they do hit the market, teams probably aren't unlikely to move them for secondary NHL players and/or marginal prospects. Instead, teams are looking to fill one of their specific needs when making a deal for a top player.

When P.K. Subban and Shea Weber hit the market this summer, Montreal and Nashville both wanted a top player in return. That's why they were traded for each other.

The Red Wings don't have any defensemen the caliber of Subban and Weber.

"The team that might be looking to move a top four defensemen, we have to have what he's looking for," Holland said. "He's got to want what we've got to offer and then obviously the other factor that is in the game for both clubs is what does your guy make? What does my guy make?

"If a top four defenseman is available, if we have what they're looking for, then when you're in a cap world ..."

The money has to be right to fit under the salary cap.

The Red Wings built the core of their championship teams through the draft with players like Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Tomas Holmstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

They added to it with trades for the likes of Brendan Shanahan, Chris Chelios, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Igor Larionov while further beefing up the lineup with free agents such as Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Bryan Rafalski.

But the free-spending days are over and stockpiling that kind of talent in the salary cap era is virtually impossible.

Which is why the Red Wings are going back to basics and trying to rebuild through the draft while keeping their 25-season playoff streak alive.

They gave up draft picks and prospects at the trade deadline in 2014 and 2015 but David Legwand, Erik Cole and Marek Zidlicky didn't pan out for various reasons. That's one of the reasons the Red Wings hung on to their picks and prospects at the trade deadline this year.

Holland wants to give young players like Dylan Larkin, Danny DeKeyser, Petr Mrazek, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Mantha and prospects Tyler Bertuzzi, Evgeny Svechnikov and Tomas Nosek time to develop and mature.

That was the route the team took en route to four Stanley Cups in 11 seasons.

The Red Wings are also focusing more on drafting defensemen after taking Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek, Alfons Malmstrom and Jordan Sambrook with four of their top five picks this year.

"When it comes to players, you gotta draft them and develop them," Holland said. "What we tried to do over the last number of years is, when we looked at our team over the last four or five years, with the age of Zetterberg, with the age of Datsyuk, with the age of (Johan) Franzen, we drafted lots of forwards.

"Now we've got lots of forwards with Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin, Riley Sheahan, Anthony Mantha, Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist. Now, as we've spent four and five and six years drafting lots of forwards, (Niklas) Kronwall is starting to get older. (Jonathan) Ericsson is (32).

"So if you looked at what we did this year in the entry draft, other than maybe with Givani Smith in the second round, lots of defensemen, lots of defensemen, lots of defensemen."

If the youngsters develop into solid NHL players, the Red Wings are hoping that could once again make Detroit an attractive destination for free agents.

The Red Wings have tried to land some top free agents in recent years without any luck. They made monster offers to Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in 2012 only to see both sign with the Minnesota Wild for $90 million apiece.

The Red Wings, in fact, offered Parise $90 million. But he's from Minnesota and wanted to play closer to home.

They also wanted to get in on the bidding for Steven Stamkos this year but the Tampa Bay sniper reportedly met with just two teams - Toronto and Montreal - before re-signing with the Lightning.

"We're all looking for - every NHL team is looking for - is difference makers," Holland said. "A difference maker in goal, a difference maker on defense, a difference maker up front. I believe we have lots of NHL defensemen. We don't have a Lidstorm. We don't have a Rafalski. We don't have a Chelios.

"Am I having conversations about difference makers? They're hard to find. But the difference makers that might be available, do we have the asset or assets? Because those teams that are trading those players, they're in charge of the trade.

"Twenty out of the 30 teams are looking for a top-four defensemen. If they start shopping those defensemen, there's going to be lots of suitors. They're not looking to get overpaid. They're looking for a specific need or want. They're not going to do it so they can load up on a bunch of assets."

That said, Holland said he will continue to pursue a top-four defenseman.

But he didn't want put a timetable on whether he could do anything before training camp, early in the season or before next year's trade deadline.

"First, I don't know if those guys are going to be available and then if they are available, do we have what that team is looking for?" he asked. "I'm looking, I'm talking. We're looking to upgrade our defense. We're always looking to upgrade ourselves.

"I'm not looking for a defenseman. I'm looking for a legitimate top-four defenseman that might be available by trade but sometimes they ain't available by trade."