Red Wings acquire defenseman Nick Leddy from Islanders
Leddy #Leddy
The Detroit Red Wings acquired defenseman Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders on Friday in exchange for right wing Richard Panik and a second-round pick in this year’s draft.
Leddy, 30, appeared in 56 regular season games this past season, picking up two goals and 29 assists, leading Islanders defensemen in scoring. He had no goals and six assists in 19 playoff games.
The left-shooting Leddy (6-0, 207) is a good skater with offensive ability who can play the point on the power play and log a lot of minutes (he averaged 21:35 last season). He led the Islanders with 11 power-play points (goal, 10 assists).
He has one year remaining on his contract at $5.5 million. If the Red Wings don’t re-sign him, they will try to recoup the second-round pick they relinquished by moving him at the trade deadline.
The Red Wings were seeking a veteran left-shooting defenseman, someone to pair with top prospect Moritz Seider, who will make his NHL debut next season. They had inquired about Ryan Graves before Colorado traded him to New Jersey on Thursday for Mikhail Maltsev and a second-round pick.
Unless the Red Wings make another move by Saturday, when teams must submit their protection list for Wednesday’s Seattle expansion draft, they surely will protect Leddy. That would force them to expose either Dennis Cholowski or Gustav Lindstrom, in addition to Troy Stecher and Danny DeKeyser, since Filip Hronek is a lock to be protected.
The Red Wings sent the 52nd overall pick to the Islanders. They acquired the selection from Edmonton in the 2019 Andreas Athanasiou trade. The Red Wings still have two second-rounders, their own (No. 38) and the New York Rangers’ pick (No. 48) that they acquired last year for taking Marc Staal.
The Red Wings were interested in re-signing Staal, but acquiring Leddy might change that plan.
Leddy was selected 16th overall in 2009 by Minnesota but never played for the Wild, getting dealt to Chicago a year later. He has played in 776 NHL games over 11 seasons, the past seven with the Islanders. He has 65 goals and 271 assists.
Panik, 30, appeared in 12 games for Detroit (goal, three assists) after being acquired from Washington in the deal that sent Anthony Mantha to the Capitals for Jakub Vrana and first- and second-round picks. Panik has two years remaining on his contract at $2.75 million and the Red Wings retained 50 percent of his salary, so $1.375 million remains on their cap for each of the next two seasons.
More: What to make of Tyler Bertuzzi trade rumors