With the NHL’s February 25th trade deadline right around the corner, the rumour mill is heating up with all of the juicy moves that could be made. Being in the midst of a rebuild, the Detroit Red Wings are supposed to be in eye of the storm, trading off expiring contracts for future assets.

It’s been reported, though, that this may not end up happening. Today, Ansar Khan from MLive wrote that the Wings have set such a high asking price for Gustav Nyquist and Jimmy Howard that even they don’t expect teams to bite. So they’re going to try and extend them. They are also in talks to extend their other pending unrestricted free agent, Nick Jensen.

Those are their three most moveable pieces this year and they may all stay put. That’s okay, though. The Wings don’t have to sell at this year’s trade deadline because the roster spots they need to free up will happen naturally.

At the end of the year, the Wings have roughly $20-million coming off the cap for them to play with. The likely departures of Niklas Kronwall, Thomas Vanek, Luke Witkowski, and Martin Frk will open roster spots for Filip Hronek, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Christoffer Ehn. Re-signing Nyquist at $6-million, Howard at $5-million, and Jensen at $1.5-million, all rough estimates by me, to short-term deals won’t hurt them in the long run.

And it makes sense for each of them. Nyquist is a top-6 playmaker who adds the veteran leadership that management values so much. Jensen is a consistent defenseman who can add stability on the blue line. Howard bridges the goalie situation until one of the prospects in the farm system is ready to take the reins.

Sure, trading any of these players would add assets to help with the rebuild, but they are not crucial moves that need to be made. The Wings have built some depth in their defense and forward prospect pools in Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno, and Jared McIsaac. And they are going to get another top-10 (possibly top-5) pick regardless of if trades happen at the trade deadline or not.

It’s not unreasonable for management to think that, with Kronwall and Vanek out the door, they’ll need the veteran leadership that Nyquist and Howard bring to the room.

The painful part about not making any moves at the deadline is that the young guys who have made great strides this year and deserve more NHL playing time, such as Filip Hronek, aren’t really going to get it until next season.

Hronek has spent most of his season in Grand Rapids, but looked very good in his most recent NHL call-up. He probably deserves to stay, but with the state of the Wings season, is it better for him to play minimal minutes on a losing team or big important minutes on a team gearing up for a playoff run? An argument could be made for both, but I don’t see an issue with him finishing out his season in Grand Rapids. The real travesty would be having no roster spot open for him next year.

In addition to Hronek, the only other prospect left without a roster spot on next year’s team is Filip Zadina, who should be ready for an NHL role by October. The Wings have never been a team who leaves roster spots unfilled to hand them over to prospects, though. They expect their prospects to earn the spot by out-playing someone who’s already in that role. This will be no different for Zadina, who is one poor training camp away from starting next season in Grand Rapids. That would be painful.

But even if Zadina will earn himself a spot in October, moves at this year’s trade deadline aren’t going to affect that. If anything, this is the lowest risk trade deadline the Wings have had in a few years. Already with eleven picks in the draft, the Wings already have four more picks than there are rounds. And one of those will be top-10.

The key for this management team isn’t to be huge sellers at this trade deadline, it will be to restrain themselves during free agency. But that’s a whole other topic for a whole other day.