Wings GM Ken Holland said on Thursday after trading for defenseman Kyle Quincey that he would be fine with his team if another deal was not made before today's 3PM deadline. Well another transaction has been made! Detroit has dealt defenseman Mike Commodore to the Lightning for a conditional 7th round draft pick. Commodore played in just 17 games with Detroit registering 2 points and was never really able to make a positive impact on the coaching staff to get consistent playing time.

Now most people think this deal is minor and it really is, however it has the ability to become major.

Detroit, more than any team in the NHL has the ability to draft a guy deep, develop him and 3 years later have themselves a border line star that makes an impact every night. I don't think I need to remind you that Detroit drafted Jonathan Ericsson with the last pick of the draft in 2002. It was in the 9th round with the 291st pick overall to be specific, and now Detroit has a top 5 d-man that is a plus 17 for the season.

Of course Ericsson is not the only late round success story.
Henrik Zetterberg was taken in the 7th round, the 210th overall selection in the 1999 draft. Since then, Z has become one of the best two way players in the game.

Pavel Datsyuk was taken in the 6th round, the 171st selection in 1998. Datsyuk is now not only the best forward on the Wings, but maybe in the entire league as well.

And then there is my personal favorite, the story of Tomas Holmstrom. Homer was taken in the 1994 draft with the 257th overall pick in the 10th round. Holmstrom had trouble skating and keeping up with play when he first came to the Wings. Now the Pieta, Sweden native is one of 6 Detroit players to play in over 1000 games wearing the winged wheel and is quite possibly the best "in front of the net agitator" in the game.

So to repeat, Mike Commodore has been dealt to the Lighting for a 7th round pick, a pick that very easily could be turned into one of the games next stars!

This could also be the precursor to a big deal that the Red Wings could make.