Islanders Trade Nick Leddy to the Detroit Red Wings for Panik, Pick

The Detroit Red Wings have acquired defenceman Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders in exchange for forward Richard Panik and the 52nd pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. There were rumors Leddy might be on the move out of the Islanders organization and that the team had put a bit of a rush on making a deal ahead of the NHL Expansion Draft. Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello was among the many GMs looking at making moves.

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UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings acquired D Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders in exchange for F Richard Panik and the 52nd selection (originally EDM) in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. pic.twitter.com/SNWmaoV14q

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 17, 2021

The Red Wings are the beneficiary of the Islanders needing to move a couple pieces out, but they also didn’t get the player for nothing. Detroit retains 50 per cent of Panik’s salary and they give up a second-round pick in the process. Panik has two years left on his deal. Meanwhile, the Red Wings had questions on the left side of their blue line, so Leddy slots in to an obvious area of need.

For the Red Wings, it’s a bit of a price to pay, but there are reasons to like this move. The team potentially grabs a left-handed partner for Moritz Seider, he brings experience and playoff pedigree to the locker room and if things don’t work out, he is a tradable asset the team can move next season. Leddy averaged 23:06 TOI with the Islanders over 19 games in this year’s playoffs.

The potential downside for the Red Wings is that they are potentially grabbing a player who is on the decline in his NHL career. As per JFresh on Twitter, “Leddy has not been a strong play-driver at all in recent years despite strong offensive zone playmaking, pretty skating, and prolific zone entry numbers.” They add, “not sure at all why the Red Wings of all teams went out of their way to pay assets for this player.” They even suggest that the Islanders potentially won the trade as Panik is a pretty good bottom six forward.

Clearly, Leddy is the “better player” in the deal, which usually dictates who won the deal at the time it was made. We’ll see if that holds true over time and if the Islanders were right to move on, or if Detroit was smart to pick up a serviceable defenseman at a time the Islanders were potentially selling low.

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