DETROIT – Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was prepared to part with some prospects and made what he felt were competitive offers on a few players, but it wasn't good enough to get a deal done.

So, the Red Wings stood pat Wednesday as the NHL trade deadline passed.

“Over the last few days we looked and tried to do a bigger deal and couldn’t get it done,'' Holland said.

The Red Wings wanted to add a top-four defenseman and a top-six forward but were not willing to part with their first-round pick, which could be fairly high if they miss the playoffs. Holland said they offered some prospects, but "at the end of the day, someone didn't like them as much as we do or they like someone else's players better.''

The Red Wings made what they felt was a good offer for future Hall-of-Fame forward Jaromir Jagr, but Dallas traded him to Boston on Tuesday. They liked right wing Jason Pominville, but Minnesota offered Buffalo better prospects. They considered Phoenix's Raffi Torres, even though they weren't seeking depth players, but passed. He went to San Jose.



Detroit made a pitch for defenseman Jay Bouwmeester before Calgary traded him to St. Louis on Monday. They also tried to acquire Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, but their offer wasn't good enough. He didn't move.

The Red Wings were not interested in adding struggling right wing Marian Gaborik and his $7.5 million salary-cap hit for next season. The New York Rangers dealt Gaborik to Columbus on Wednesday.

Now, the Red Wings will make do with that they have for the final 12 games and, they hope, the playoffs. They hope to get deeper up front with the return, at some point, of forwards Darren Helm, Todd Bertuzzi and Mikael Samuelsson, which amounts to a third line that's been out virtually the entire season.

“We played (Monday) and there wasn’t (Henrik) Zetterberg, Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Helm, (Kyle) Quincey,'' Holland said. “If we can get those five guys in the lineup (within) two weeks, I couldn’t do any better moves than (that). And if they don’t come back, it probably doesn’t matter what moves you make.''

He said he's not concerned about what competing clubs did to improve themselves.

“We’re trying to compete, we’re trying to rebuild, reload,'' Holland said. “You look at the moment in time. I can’t look at the moment in time. I have to look at what we’ve got and where I think we can go over the next few years, the age of the roster, who’s going to be here for a while.''

They are pleased with the progress of their young roster players and some of their prospects.

“You need your players,'' Holland said. “We’re happy with Jakub Kindl, we’re happy with Brian Lashoff, we’re happy with Brendan Smith. We’re happy with the way the kids have played. We don’t want to trade them away.''

Young players have improved the organization's depth.

“If we need forwards, Riley Sheahan deserves a chance, Landon Ferraro, we’ve got Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, Joakim Andersson, Damien Brunner, certainly on defense with the signing of Danny DeKeyser and the play of Lashoff and Kindl we think the young kids could be real good depth players for us.''

Chicago and Anaheim have separated from the pack in the Western Conference. The Red Wings, currently seventh with 41 points, are just three points behind No. 3 Minnesota. But, they're also just four points up on 11th place Columbus.

“We’re trying to compete. We’re on the bubble,'' Holland said. “Would I have liked to do a deal? Yeah, I would have liked to do a deal.''