Detroit Red Wings News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Justin Faulk (Thomas Salus-Imagn Images)

Red Wings Send a Message With Deadline Acquisitions

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Devin Little | Last updated Mar 10, 2026 3:05 PM ET

By the time the NHL’s trade deadline passed at 3 PM on Mar. 6, the Detroit Red Wings had added two players and subtracted one from their roster. Out went Elmer Söderblom in a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and in came David Perron and Justin Faulk in separate deals with the Ottawa Senators and the St. Louis Blues.

The Red Wings playing the role of buyers at the deadline was already a statement. They sold or did little-to-nothing in every year of general manager (GM) Steve Yzerman’s tenure so far, so seeing Detroit trade away picks and a prospect to give his team an immediate boost was already a signal that management believes this team is ready to take the next step.

But if you look closer, their moves also suggest that the organization believes the fun is just getting started.

Perron & Faulk

The news of Perron’s acquisition was almost certainly met with universal surprise and near-instant acceptance among Red Wing fans. The 37-year-old played two seasons with the Red Wings from 2022 to 2024, scoring 41 goals and 103 points in 158 games, all while wearing an ‘A’ on his sweater as one of the team’s alternate captains.

Perron was acquired from the Ottawa Senators for a conditional fourth-round pick that only has to be paid if he plays a game for Detroit this season. The pick can also upgrade to a third-round selection depending on the Red Wings’ playoff success this season. He is a veteran of 110 playoff games and was a part of the Blues’ championship run in 2019. The player admitted to never quite finding a fit with the Senators, and now he returns to a team he knows and looks ready to put his playoff experience to good use.

Faulk was the more expensive addition, with the trade to acquire him being announced just minutes before the deadline. The Red Wings traded their first-round selection in this year’s draft, the third-round pick they picked up in the Söderblom deal, veteran defenseman Justin Holl and forward prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov to acquire Faulk, who turns 34 years of age on Mar. 20. The Red Wings are the third team he’s been a part of with over 1,000 games and 15 seasons to his credit, split between the Blues and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Faulk has 45 playoff games under his belt, including a 15-game run to the Eastern Conference Final with the Hurricanes in 2019. He is 10 points away from 500 in his career, and he has never averaged less than 20:34 of ice-time since he made his NHL debut back in 2011. For a team that has had to overload its top pairing at times, his ability to be a capable NHL defenseman for 20 minutes a night or more will be a welcome addition to Detroit’s blue line.

Both Perron and Faulk are solid additions to the Red Wings’ lineup that also fit in with the culture the organization has patiently tried to build. While he did have to part with his first-round pick and a good prospect and Buchelnikov, Yzerman was able to improve Detroit’s roster without significantly depleting his collection of picks and prospects.

In other words, there is still an eye on the future in Detroit.

Future Considerations

Leading up to the deadline, there was a lot of chatter about the Red Wings’ collection of future assets and how it positioned them to be an aggressive buyer. Their first-round pick was as good as gone as it was included in basically every mock trade involving Detroit, but their prospect pool was a topic of leaguewide discussion as insiders and fans rushed to speculate which prospects Yzerman could part with to secure a significant deal.

As we know now, the only departure from their prospect pool is Buchelnikov, a Russian winger who ranked fifth in our recent ranking of Detroit’s top-25 prospects. He was a second-round selection back in the 2022 draft who has yet to make his North American debut. Over his last three seasons in Russia’s top league, he has 41 goals and 106 points in 159 games.

Buchelnikov is a boom-or-bust prospect with the potential to be a top-tier playmaker at the NHL level. He’s a bit of a perimeter player, and his compete level can vary depending on the night, but his talent is unmistakable. For a trade involving an almost 34-year-old defender, the Blues received good value and a prospect that could pay dividends in the not-so-distant future.

The Red Wings’ prospect pool took a hit by subtracting Buchelnikov; there’s no doubt about it. However, the Faulk trade sends a clear message that the Red Wings are now willing to move on from some of their future picks and prospects to get better immediately. Some folks may have thought that Yzerman would have taken the leap last season, but the leap they took with this deal is undeniable.

Considering all the chatter surrounding Detroit and the possibility that they would send out even more significant prospects, it feels notable that they got out of the deadline with all their most recent first-round selections still in the organization. That’s a list that includes Sebastian Cossa, Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson, and others.

Faulk and Perron won’t block any of their young players from progressing. Whether they’re used in a future trade or they’re a part of the team’s long-term picture, Detroit was able to keep their options open and is still well within the plan of drafting and developing that Yzerman committed to the day he was named GM of the Red Wings.

Are the Red Wings Back?

It’s been a long time since the Red Wings were genuine buyers at the deadline, and yet it wasn’t that long ago that they were perennial buyers, always looking for a way to give themselves an edge in the playoff hunt. For newer fans, this year’s trade deadline had to come as a bit of a shock: “wait, you’re telling me they don’t have to keep all of their prospects?!”

The Red Wings have given themselves a chance to end their franchise-record playoff drought, and their moves at this year’s deadline show that the team and management believe that this could truly be the year playoff hockey makes its debut at Little Caesars Arena.

Given how raucous that arena has been in the past without having seen playoff hockey, this should be a scary proposition for any team that could be matched up with Detroit in the first round.