Detroit Red Wings mailbag: Could Henrik Zetterberg be traded?

Time for a Detroit Red Wings mailbag. Thanks as always for the many great questions.

HSJ: When general manager Ken Holland spoke on the day of the locker clean out (April 10), he made note of how the Wings can’t afford to let players “over ripe” in the minors any longer. They don’t have the luxury, because they don’t have the talent in Detroit. Last summer, the expectation was that based on their standout seasons with Grand Rapids, both Tyler Bertuzzi and Evgeny Svechnikov would push for jobs in Detroit, especially Bertuzzi (he was the AHL playoff MVP). Both suffered injuries during exhibition season, derailing that plan.

Going into 2018-19, the thinking is that Michael Rasmussen had such a dominant year in juniors (33 points in 14 playoff games, and 59 points in the regular season, which saw him limited to 47 games because of a wrist injury/surgery) that he can make the Wings. Bertuzzi already is slotted onto the squad.

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From everything Holland and coach Jeff Blashill say however, there is no inclination to have barriers for young players to make the Wings. The emphasis is on adding young players who demonstrate they can make the team better.

There is a learning curve to suffer with young players. An example: Bertuzzi learned a lesson about retaliating this past February when he whacked the Islanders’ Cal Clutterbuck in response to Clutterbuck’s crosscheck. It should only have been a two-minute penalty (not five as officials decreed) but regardless, it left the Wings shorthanded. Bertuzzi said afterwards he regretted his action, so, he emerged smarter from the experience.

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HSJ: Green was the Wings’ top source of offense from the back end among the regulars, and it’s meager after him. Green had a .50 points-per-game average this past season, with Niklas Kronwall coming in second at .34. Trevor Daley was third at .21. If Green is not on the team, who is going to help with the points? Prospect Filip Hronek had a very good first year of pro hockey with 39 points in 67 games with Grand Rapids, entrusted with running one of the power play units. He played well at the World Championship. Dennis Cholowski (drafted 20th overall in 2016) is a smooth skater with good offensive instincts who is headed into his first year of pro hockey. Maybe one of them can make the team out of camp.

Green had neck surgery in April, so I know there’s a wariness there about his health. I’d expect the sides to talk sometime in June, see if there’s a fit.

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HSJ: Had he not won a Stanley Cup in 2008, maybe it’d be different. But Henrik Zetterberg wants to finish his career with the Wings. And the team’s hockey operations personnel wants him around, too, because he’s a daily example for the young players on the team on how to do things right, on and off the ice.

HSJ: Yes. Danny DeKeyser’s issue is that it’s a daily challenge for him to consume enough calorie-dense foods to maintain his weight. Lisa McDowell, the Wings’ nutrionist, has had DeKeyser on as much as a 10,000-calorie a day diet. DeKeyser has more leeway than any of his teammates when it comes to having foods such as pizza and ice cream. In his own words, “I just try to pretty much eat whenever I can. I can pretty much eat whatever I want.”

DeKeyser can eat cheese every day, and thus is the envy of the media corps.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.