Three weeks away from the NHL trade deadline, there’s much to be determined for the Detroit Red Wings.

How many teams will be sellers leading up to the Feb. 25 deadline, and how many will be buyers? What interest among the buyers is there in pending unrestricted free agents Jimmy Howard and Gustav Nyquist? Are the Wings better off keeping both and re-signing them?

Those are issues general manager Ken Holland needs to work through as he balances rebuilding the team with putting a competitive product on the ice in the near future

Holland spoke to the Free Press on Monday about his thoughts as the Wings near the trade deadline. With a 21-25-7 record (49 points), they are 10 points out of the playoff picture with two months left in the season.

Gauging the market

Holland said he has “talked to a number of teams."

“I call this tire-kicking season," Holland said. "I’ve been a buyer, where you call all the teams and see who’s available and get a feel for the price. Now I’m a seller and if there’s a deal, we’ll do it. At the same time, we have to look at the players we have towards 2019, because we need to be more competitive.”

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Interest in Nyquist, who has 12 goals and 33 assists, will be weighed against what happens elsewhere. Does Ottawa trade Matt Duchene and Mark Stone? What does Columbus do with Artemi Panarin? Those three, along with forwards Wayne Simmonds (Philadelphia) and Micheal Ferland (Carolina) would all top Nyquist in interest. If offers don’t involve either a first-round pick or a second-round pick and a good prospect, there’s little chance they will be moved.

“If it’s a soft market for our players because there are too many sellers or not enough buyers; that will impact the decision I make,” Holland said. “Look at how many teams today are one point, one point away from the playoffs.”

Last year, the Wings flipped Tomas Tatar to Vegas for a 2018 first-round pick, 2019 second-round pick and 2021 third-round pick, but Vegas had a wealth of picks from the expansion draft. There also was motivation to move Tatar because the Wings deemed Tyler Bertuzzi ready to make their team. Presently, there isn’t a similar situation in Grand Rapids.

The case for re-signing

The Wings don’t have an NHL-ready goaltender in the system, so if Howard is traded, they’d need to acquire somebody to work in tandem with Jonathan Bernier. The Wings want to re-sign Howard, either via extension or, if he is traded, in July. He gives them a chance to win most nights, they know what they have in him and he wants to stay. Howard will be 35 in March, so the Wings could sign him to a one-year deal and lower his salary cap number ($5.3 million) via bonuses. If it’s more than a one-year deal, at maximum his salary cap number would stay the same.

Holland said he will talk to the agents for the Wings’ undrafted free agents to get an idea of what they’re thinking in terms of contracts and see if there is mutual ground. Nyquist, 29, is 10 points shy of besting his career high of 54 points. He has a no-trade clause and would have to approve a move. If he is traded, the Wings would still consider re-signing him for close to the same $4.75 million cap number he now carries.

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“One of our goals it to build a team that will be competitive next season,” Holland said. “We want to get back to the playoffs. Unless something dramatic happens, it looks like we will miss the playoffs for a third straight year. If I trade away a number of players that can help us next season, unless I get prospect back who is ready to play in the NHL, those assets won’t help us for three, four, years.”

Balancing present and future

The Wings have been hit hard by injuries this season, especially on defense. Mike Green has missed 22 games, and Danny DeKeyser has missed 27. When the Wings have had both in the lineup, they’ve gone 12-7-2 for 26 points in 21 games, which extrapolates to 101 points in 82 games.

“As I make decisions over the next three weeks, what will have the most impact to me is, I want us to be better next season,” Holland said. “I like the development of our kids. It looks like we are developing an identity of speed and competitiveness. But we have to be better. We’ve been moving kids onto our team and we expect another kid or two will push onto the team next season, either at the start or during the season, but you can’t have a team full of young players and think you’ll be competitive.”

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Even if the Wings re-sign Howard, Nyquist and defenseman Nick Jensen, they should have around $10 million in salary-cap space between an expected increase in this season’s $79.5 million upper-limit salary cap and the contracts of Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen (around $10 million combined) being on Long-Term Injured Reserve.

Nyquist would fill a top-six winger spot, with the others occupied by Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Bertuzzi. Evgeny Svechnikov, who has been sidelined this season by knee surgery, will have to be on next season’s roster because he’ll no longer be waiver exempt, but he wouldn’t slot that high. Maybe Filip Zadina makes a push to be on the roster next season, but it’s doubtful he’d grab a top-six spot right away.

The Wings have used the past two deadlines to stoke the rebuilding process, gaining such assets as Joe Veleno (via Tatar trade) and Jonatan Berggren (via Brendan Smith trade). Neither Tatar nor Smith figured into the Wings’ future. Howard does, and Nyquist might. That, along with what is offered in exchange, will weigh heavily on what the Wings do at this deadline.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.