Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide

to Pittsburgh
DET 1st 2020 - #12 overall
D Erik Gudbranson (76)
R/L Vasili Podkolzin (82)

to Detroit
PIT 1st 2020 - #3 overall
MTL 1st 2020 - #26 overall

Moving down from #3 was never part of the plan, and I'm still a little bit sad about it, but unfortunately, this draft has a lot of small skill guys at the top and #3 isn't a great spot to be picking from to add some physicality up front. As a result, this deal goes hand-in-hand with the trade with Chicago for us - Gudbranson makes us OK with trading Carlo and Jensen gives us the combination of skill and physicality up front that we weren't going to be able to get from #3. Was not really interested in going much further down than 12-14, but I think there will be still be some guys I like left at 12.

Podkolzin is a consistent all-around forward that makes our middle-six look better than it looked without him.

Confirmed.

When I initially proposed this, it was half-joking. When Pittsburgh (who initially said no, then thought about it and agreed) ultimately asked if I was in, I said: Sure, why the hell not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Detroit's cupboard is bare and I'm working on a long-term plan to rebuild. I'm still, some 3 weeks after we agreed to this deal, not sure which team "wins" the trade. But I'm happy to have the chance to draft twice in the first round and to shape the team the way I want to. Obviously the pieces I'm giving up are big, but I am happy with it.