Detroit — The NHL Draft and free agency are ways the Red Wings can help themselves this long offseason.
But at some point later in the summer or early fall, there will be opportunities to make some trades — deals that might not cost the Red Wings as much as you’d think.
The reason is the upper limit of the salary cap will stay at $81.5 million in the new collective bargaining agreement — and will stay at $81.5 million until revenues reach $4.8 billion, which will trigger a formula to increase the cap.
But until then the Wings, using their ample cap space, have a great opportunity add players that certain teams simply cannot afford.