Erik Cole-Marek Zidlicky.jpg

The Red Wings acquired Erik Cole (left) and Marek Zidlicky in a pair of trades before Monday's deadline.

(AP Photos)

DETROIT - Their young players have grown. Their best players continue to excel but are running out of time.

The Detroit Red Wings have overachieved this season. After completing a difficult two-month stretch in fine fashion, they are competing with the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

General manager Ken Holland had an opportunity to add a couple of pieces at the trade deadline to bring some different dimensions to the team. He did that, without sacrificing anyone off the current roster or much of the future.

And now this club is deeper and better-equipped for the playoffs, as well as the stretch run.

The Red Wings on Monday acquired Marek Zidlicky, the veteran right-handed shooting defenseman they've long been seeking, from New Jersey for a conditional draft pick or two. On Sunday, they filled their need for a big, physical, offensive winger by landing Erik Cole for a pair of mid-level prospects and a second-round pick.

"The growth or our team and the growth of our younger players sent a message to me that we've got a good team," Holland said. "We're right in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference and if we can add a piece or two leading up to the deadline to make us a little deeper, a little better prepared for a playoff series, at a price we could live with, we wanted to do it."

Cole, 36, and Zidlicky, 38, will make the Red Wings debut Wednesday against the New York Rangers at Joe Louis Arena (8 p.m., NBC Sports Network exclusive).

"Certainly in Erik Cole we have a big forward (6-2, 210). He's got 18 goals, he provides physicality. We think he can play in our top six forwards," Holland said. "And we've been talking about a right-shot defenseman for the last 10 months. (Zidlicky) is a guy who's been real competitive through his career. He's got skill. He can play on the power play.

"We want to go down swinging and make a couple moves to make our team a little bit deeper and a little bit better."

Holland expects Cole to play on a line with Henrik Zetterberg, who might return Wednesday after missing four games with a head injury. Zidlicky should boost a power play that's already leading the league at 25 percent. He'll likely be paired with Brendan Smith, replacing Alexey Marchenko, who's out a week or so with a strained oblique muscle and probably will be sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins when he's healthy.

"Cole has played on the top line for the last little while with the Stars," Holland said. "We're hopefully going to be able to put three lines together that can contribute some offense.

"We'd like to think it's a fairly deep defense and if we get an injury or two and we have to go to our seventh or eighth defenseman it won't be a big drop-off."

The Red Wings hoped to make a bigger splash by acquiring defenseman Dion Phaneuf from Toronto, but the Maple Leafs weren't willing to retain a chunk of his remaining salary (six more seasons at $7 million per year); the Red Wings wanted Toronto to pick up about $2 million per season.

In any event, Holland hopes he has a team that will snap a five-year streak of failing to advance past the second round.

"I'm confident we can go on a playoff run," Holland said. "But I also understand the competition is really stiff and that there's going to be eight teams that had really great regular seasons that will be out in the first round."

Team leaders are glad to see the front office is all in on wanting to win now.

"I think we're deep this year," Zetterberg said. "Last year we had a lot of injuries, a lot of guys who saw the postseason for the first time. It's a little different this year."

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall said of the moves: "I think it's looking good. I was excited, actually. Both of those guys have been around for a long time. So I thought it's interesting and an exciting day for us."

He's glad they didn't sacrifice anybody off the roster.

"I think that's huge," Kronwall said. "I think we've got a really good thing going. We've got really good chemistry in the room."

The Red Wings sent their 2016 third-round pick to New Jersey. If Detroit reaches the Eastern Conference finals this year, it also will ship its 2015 fifth-round pick to the Devils. If the Red Wings reach the Stanley Cup finals this year, they get that fifth-round pick back, and the 2016 third-rounder they sent to New Jersey becomes a second-round pick.

In the Cole deal, the Red Wings shipped center Mattias Janmark and defenseman Mattias Backstrom to the Stars, a pair of prospects playing in Sweden who wouldn't have made Detroit's roster anytime soon, if ever. Dallas also received the Red Wings' 2015 second-round pick in exchange for Dallas' third-round selection, which will be sent back to the Stars if Detroit reaches the conference finals.

In the end, the Red Wings are happy to have upgraded without relinquishing a first-round pick.

"Our goal is the same as anybody - we want to win the Stanley Cup, but also to have an eye toward the draft, an eye toward next year and an eye toward going forward," Holland said.

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