Trade Grades: Red Wings Acquire Goalie Ville Husso from Blues

The Detroit Red Wings acquired goaltender Ville Husso from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft on Friday.

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1545405674607222787

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit made a similar deal last summer adding goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a third-round selection in last year’s draft.

Now, the Red Wings might just have one of the better goaltending tandems in the league. 

Husso will obviously have to repeat his 2021-22 success, which included an impressive 15.0 goals saved above average through just 40 games and a fourth-ranked .867 save percentage on high-danger scoring chances among goalies with at least 1,000 minutes.

He’s locked in for the next three years, too.

https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/1545412712888508416

Back to Nedeljkovic, while his first season in Detroit underwhelmed, he was incredible for the Hurricanes the year before. His .932 save percentage, 1.90 GAA and 2.07 adjusted GAA were best in the league, after all.

The Red Wings still have the cap space to further upgrade their roster, and there are a number of young talents already in the stable.

If we fast forward a few months, general manager Steve Yzerman winning this offseason isn’t a far fetch, either.

Trade Grade: A-

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St. Louis Blues

There’s a case the Blues might have been able to garner a larger return for Husso, but he’s an unrestricted free agent, and the team has Stanley Cup winner Jordan Binnington under contract through the 2026-27 season at a $6 million cap hit.

The St. Louis brass did well to grab a draft pick without Husso hitting the open market and moving onward with no return. 

Still, Husso took over No. 1 duties for a large portion of the 2021-22 season, and the Blues don’t currently have an established tag-team partner for Binnington.

Binnington is also coming off the worst season of his career with a .901 save percentage, 3.13 GAA and a miserable -6.4 goals saved above average.

He’s almost certainly going to play better next year, but St. Louis adding a complementary tender through free agency or another deal is a must.

Until we know who is going to patrol the St. Louis crease alongside Binnington it’s tough to evaluate this trade for the Blues, but receiving something for potentially nothing is always a win, right?

Trade Grade: B+

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