This team still has 4 guys who can play LD in the NHL in a pinch... Hicketts has played a few games already... (He's the 4th)

Hicketts is a 5'8, being generous there too, 4 year AHL player. He's not an NHL quality defense man. They know that. come on.

This teams blue line is made of glass. You could see this happening a mile away.
Ericsson, and Daley are just dying to be on IR too.
The question is at what point in the season before Feb 23rd do they make a trade.

I think Krug is Detroit’s top FA target this offseason

I wouldn't expect Ericsson to get a whole lot of minutes when healthy same with Daley. They have a bunch of prospects they want to see play in the NHL so they can get an idea of where they are at. Plus Detroit was expected to be worse than last year so there Jack Johnson would still be a camp dump nothing more and since the Wings have 10 players under contract for next season so they have a lot of players to sign in the offseason it would take a lot to dump Jack Johnson in Detroit. At least more than Pittsburgh would want to spend.

I agree but honestly if Boston gets to the finals or maybe the conference finals and loses I could see Krug resign with Boston for a 1yr contract. Now if Boston wins the cup he leaves for more money which could be Detroit.

I don't think Krug is it.
They don't need a high price defense man. They want Cholowski,, Nemeth, and Dekeyser to play. But they always have injury issues on that blue line. So I don't see them going after a high price UFA for a LHD, not with those 3 on there. It's the RHD they will hunt in the offseason.

But more to the point they need a stop gap guy. Cheaper.
I also think with Detroit needing forward help, the "price" of them aquiring a JJ player to be a stop gap could be met by the penguins in the form of forward help. Bjugstad or Kahun.
Detroit does have players to sign this offseason. But lets be honest, This is a team that is 3 and 7. How many do you think are coming back next year and with a raise?

I agree for what krug is going to make he just isn't worth it. his offensive is elite but the closer he gets to his net the worse he is. he doesn't have great defensive instincts.

You forgot Hronek and by the end of the season he will probably be Detroit's best defenseman. Now one of the reasons Detroit is going to be worse than last year is moving out older players and moving in younger players that is why Nemeth was brought in. Green, Ericsson and Daley are most likely going to retire. Detroit traded for Biega and his contract is up at the end of the season. I don't know if he will want to resign in Detroit would want to resign him, but he is 31 and his cap hit is $825,000 this season. So if Detroit needs a stop gap I think he is a better choice maybe not skill wise but he could sign for around $1M for a year or two. Compared to JJ who is 32 and has 4yrs left @ $3.25M.

JJ has 3 years left, and I just did a ACGM on how I would do this. It would actually be 2.25M a year.

So if Detroit trades for a defenseman who cares, they and everyone else knew they were gonna be bad this season so any D they acquire will probably come pretty cheap like a mid to late round pick and will be a UFA, they'd only be acquiring someone to insulate the kids/prospects not some long term solution.

I mean there's guys in the AHL(Morrow,Pouliot) that have some NHL experience that'd be plenty good enough for a bad team and they could probably be had for a 6th round pick but in all likelihood they'll just recall Ericsson, I really don't see what the big deal is.