After failing to land a top defenseman through free agency, the Detroit Red Wings are looking to bolster their back end via trade.

A team source confirmed the Red Wings are talking with the Calgary Flames about making a deal for veteran defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who has been the subject of trade rumors for more than a month.

The Red Wings are attempting to solidify their defensive corps with a trade because no top defensemen remain available through free agency.

Bouwmeester became expendable in Calgary when the Flames signed Dennis Wideman to a five-year, $26.25 million deal and the Red Wings need help on defense after captain Nicklas Lidstrom retired and Brad Stuart was traded to San Jose before he could sign with the Sharks as a free agent.

Wideman's contract hiked Calgary's payroll to $66.6 million, which is under the $70.2 million salary cap. But if the cap is reduced as expected when a new collective bargaining agreement is reached, that could force the Flames to dump salary and the possibility might reduce their asking price for Bouwmeester.

The drawback to acquiring Bouwmeester is his $6.68 million salary cap hit for each of the next two seasons. Only Pavel Datsyuk ($6.7 million) has a higher cap hit among the Red Wings.

The Red Wings have the money to pay Bouwmeester – they're $13 million under the salary cap – but while they're not thrilled at his price tag, they're also desperate to upgrade their defense.

Detroit has six defenseman under contract – Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Ian White, Kyle Quincey, Jakub Kindl and Brendan Smith – and need to add one more.

One road block to a potential deal with Calgary could be the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Red Wings are concerned Philadelphia will make a big pitch for Bouwmeester after Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn Achilles tendon that will sideline for the season.

That came on the heels of the Flyers signing restricted free agent Shea Weber last month only to have the Nashville Predators keep their rugged captain by matching Philadelphia's offer of $110 million over 14 years.

The Red Wings had previously explored the possibility of trading for Weber and were also one of the teams that lost out in the bidding for Ryan Suter, Weber's former defensive partner in Nashville.

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Bouwmeester, who turns 29 next month, was Florida's first-round pick (third overall) in the 2002 NHL entry draft and spent the first six seasons of his nine-year career with the Panthers before being traded to Calgary in June 2009.

He was regarded as an up-and-coming star after averaging 14 goals and 40 points in his final three seasons with Florida. But has never approached those numbers in Calgary, where he has averaged four goals and 27 points in three seasons.

Although he's the NHL's current iron man with 588 consecutive games played – Bouwmeester hasn't missed a game since 2003-04 – he has never appeared in a playoff game.

Email Brendan Savage at bsavage@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BrendanSavage and like MLive.com's Red Wings page on Facebook

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