Is it just me or is the trade market heating up in here?! With the Rick Nash trade believed to be the first domino that had to fall for the market to really open up, the Wings roll into Masidon Square Garden tonight to play the Nash-less New York Rangers. With both teams in the midst of a rebuild, the rosters are fluid right now. The Rangers are still working hard to move Ryan McDonagh and the Wings have only moved Petr Mrazek so far, despite interest in Mike Green, Luke Glendening, and Tomas Tatar.

Since announcing their intention to rebuild, the Rangers have gone 2-6-0 as they drop to the bottom of the standings. Currently, the Wings are one point ahead of them in the Wild Card race, though it’s safe to say that after Monday, neither of these two teams will be racing for that second Wild Card Spot. Detroit is coming off a shaky victory over the Carolina Hurricanes last night and could jump into a tie with the Panthers with a win tonight.

I don’t expect any changes to the Red Wings forward group, assuming they are all Red Wings by the time puck drops. Both Luke Glendening and Tomas Tatar have been the subjects of trade rumours recently and with the deadline looming, anything can happen at any time.

Andreas Athanasiou has been enjoying a bit of a points jump the last week as him and Dylan Larkin continue to build chemistry with each other. Martin Frk will be a game-time decision, but if he’s deemed ready, he’ll slot in on the fourth line and David Booth will likely be a healthy scratch.

On the blueline, Mike Green is still considered day-to-day and traveled with the team to New York. The Wings would really like for him to get into a game before tomorrow’s deadline to show teams that his injury is not serious and he’ll be ready for a playoff run. If he’s good to go, Xavier Ouellet will likely come out of the lineup as Ken Holland continues to search for a suitor for that young defenseman.

Both Trevor Daley and Danny DeKeyser scored goals last night against the Hurricanes and Jonathan Ericsson had one against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. I’m not sure where this offense has come from on Detroit’s blue line, but I like it and I would like to see more please.

In the past week, the Rangers have traded away two of their top-6 scorers in Nash and Michael Grabner. They still have scoring threats in Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, and Mike Zibanejad, who find themselves spread out through the top-6. Pavel Buchnevich joins Zibanejad on the top line, while Kevin Hayes will center Zuccarello and Jimmy Vesey. Some of these depth guys, like Vesey and Jesper Fast, will get to play up in the lineup now that the big names are being moved out. It’s great exposure for them to develop their game against tougher competition.

UPDATE: Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault just said that he expects Ryan Spooner to make his debut for the Rangers tonight. Expect him to slot into the top-6.

On the back end, Kevin Shattenkirk is still injured and McDonagh is being held out day-to-day while the trades are worked out. That leaves Brady Skjei and Marc Staal to lead this team defensively, each of them anchoring one of the top two lines. John Gilmour and Anthony DeAngelo will quarterback the first and second powerplay unit, respectively.

Honestly, this doesn’t seem like a terribly dangerous squad, but the Wings have been soured by worse-looking teams.

Jimmy Howard (unconfirmed) vs. Henrik Lundqvist (unconfirmed)

Both of these are still unconfirmed, but I love me a good Howie vs. Lundqvist match-up so I really hope it happens!

Because Howard played last night, there’s a good chance that Jared Coreau draws in tonight, but Howie’s record is too good against the Rangers. His career record against the Rangers is 6-3-3 with a .950 save percentage. If you narrow that down to road games only, he’s 2-3-2 at Madison Square Garden with a .950 save percentage and a 1.58 goals against average. For whatever reason, Howie always plays his best hockey in MSG.

Lundqvist has had a rough go lately. In his last five games, he’s 1-4-0 with a .882 save percentage and 19 goals against. It’s not a great time for the Rangers’ franchise-goalie who recently committed to sticking with the team through their rebuild.

There are three options for watching the game tonight as it will be broadcast on NHLN-US and MSG. You can also join Kenny, Mickey and the gang on Fox Sports Detroit to see all the fun Jimmy Howard at MSG stats they talk about. Puck drop is 7:30 P.M. ET.

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