It did not take long for the rumors to become a reality Friday night. The Red Wings have made a major move by acquiring the highest rated defenseman in the OTHL, Chris Pronger from the Atlanta Thrashers. Also coming to Hockeytown as part of the deal are center, Steven Reinprecht and defenseman Jason Marshall. These players did not come without a price as General Manager, Ryan Caster sent top-line center, Robert Lang and defensemen Dan McGillis and Scott Lachance to Atlanta.
This deal gives Detroit two top five defensemen as Rob Blake was acquired earlier in the season. What has happened to Hockeytown? The Wings of old were known for their skating, passing, shooting and high skilled offenses. Caster has started a new era of Wings hockey. An era that focuses on defense and goaltending. The change started with the acquisition of star netminder Nikolai Khabibulin and may have been solidified with this most recent transaction.
We managed to catch up with the Wings GM earlier this evening. He had this to say, "We are very excited to welcome Chris, Steven and Jason to Detroit. We think they will enjoy playing here and being a part of Wings history. We are sad to see Robert, Dan and Scott go, but we felt this was a deal that helps our club. Dats has been our best player after "The Wall" and we feel he is ready for top line duty. We are going to continue to play sound defense and win games by winning the battle in our end of the ice. The guys have a couple of days off to get some practice in and should be ready to go when we take the ice against Phoenix."
After the trade, Detroit's lines look like this:
Stillman-Datsyuk-Sullivan
Whitney-Reinprecht-Carter
Rucinsky-Draper-Maltby
Holmstrom-Cammalleri-Thomas
Pronger-Fischer
Blake-Modry
Robidas-Marshall
Khabibulin
In other news, the Wings got back to their winning ways tonight with a 5-3 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. Robert Lang posted three assists in his final game for the Wings as they managed three powerplay goals on ten chances. The Wings record is now at 15-9-2 which has them in first place in the Western Conference with 32 points. The Wings will now have four days off before playing the Phoenix Coyotes. This will give center, Pavel Datsyuk some rest after he was injured late in tonight's game. He will be listed as day to day as the injury has been deemed not serious.