Wings ready to deal for a forward, and next 48 hours are crucial

Detroit -- Rent now, buy later.

That's the Red Wings' plan, as it should be, with the NHL trade deadline looming Monday. General manager Ken Holland will spend the next 48 hours trying to figure out who's buying and who's selling as he mulls over possible deals to bolster his team's Stanley Cup chances this spring.

With more than enough room under the salary cap to swing a trade, the Red Wings certainly can make a move to get better up front. And I suspect they will, even if Holland says he's content to stand pat.

"If we do nothing between now and Monday, I'm OK with it," he said Thursday, the day his team's record-setting 23-game home winning streak finally was snapped by the Vancouver Canucks.

The Red Wings' GM reiterated that point Friday, along with a few others, citing his team's record — second in the NHL only to Vancouver's — with 20 games left in the regular season.

Yes, he's "probably" done shoring up his blue line after acquiring former Wings prospect Kyle Quincey in a three-way swap involving Steve Yzerman in Tampa Bay and the Colorado Avalanche. (Talk about strange bedfellows.) And yes, Holland says, "we're done in goal," with All-Star Jimmy Howard as the now-trusted No. 1 and Joey MacDonald proving himself a dependable backup ahead of Ty Conklin.

So it's in the forward corps that the moves are to be made now — "if something's there," Holland cautions — and it's in the forward-thinking plans involving the Wings' core they'll be made later.

And as I've been saying since last summer, it's the latter that should matter more to fans in Detroit as Holland & Co. try to make sure a good thing keeps getting better. Or at least make sure it doesn't get any worse, which is still about as good as it gets.

First things first, though: What to do at the deadline?

Los Angeles made the biggest move this week, acquiring Jeff Carter from Columbus — doing a fine impression of Matt Millen's Detroit Lions, the Blue Jackets are — for a package that included defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round pick. That trade may yet get trumped by another blockbuster, if Columbus decides to unload Rick Nash — to Philadelphia or Toronto or New York? — before Monday's 3 p.m. deadline, rather than waiting until June's entry draft. (At which point, other teams — including Detroit — might join in the bidding.)

Slim pickings

Beyond that possibility, don't expect big splashes — the pool of available players looks pretty shallow. With parity ruling the NHL these days, not to mention the expiring collective bargaining agreement, the buyers far outnumber the sellers.

Take the Florida Panthers, for instance. They're a point out of the Southeast Division lead and a No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, and yet they'll enter the weekend only a point clear of ninth place as well. Panthers GM Dale Tallon spent wildly in free agency last summer — mostly out of necessity — and he's desperate to make the postseason for the first time in a decade.

That would seem to eliminate the Panthers as a seller, which means our old friend Mikael Samuelsson — whom the Wings would be happy to bring back as a playoff rental for a middling draft pick — probably isn't for sale. Two other aging goal-scorers the Wings would love to acquire — Anaheim's Teemu Selanne and Edmonton's Ryan Smyth — have said they're staying put as well.

Penalty killer needed

Barring a change of heart there, the likeliest bet then is for the Wings to add a checking-line veteran such as winger Travis Moen (Montreal) or centers Paul Gaustad (Buffalo) and Sammy Pahlsson (Columbus) as a rental. The Wings might be the team to beat in the West, but they're not without their flaws — particularly on special teams — and any of those three surely would help on the penalty kill.

"You can always add to your team — always," Henrik Zetterberg acknowledged Friday. "I don't think there's any team that couldn't add something to get better."

The Wings aren't just any team, obviously. But that also factors into the master plan here. Holland smartly opted not to join the free-agent money grab last summer, limiting his spending to his own players while adding Ian White and Mike Commodore on the blueline and Ty Conklin in net. He wasn't idly saving his money for a rainy day, either. He was saving it for this summer.

Suter a top target

Using this year's cap number — and it may drop depending on a new labor deal — the Wings are nearly $22 million under the ceiling with 16 players signed for 2012-13. That includes five of the top six forwards, and plenty of room to add another — New Jersey's Zach Parise? — while re-signing homegrown role players like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm.

It also gives Holland room to maneuver depending on what happens with two of his top defensemen.

Will Nick Lidstrom be back? Only the Red Wings' captain knows for sure, but again, as long as he remains healthy and the team remains a Cup contender, there's no compelling reason for him to retire.

Brad Stuart, on the other hand, may opt to sign closer to his family back in California this summer.

Either way, it's no secret around the league the Wings are among the teams eyeing Nashville's Ryan Suter, who's due to be a free agent July 1, or possibly even restricted free agent-to-be Shea Weber, as a new cornerstone piece on defense.

That's a shopping list for another day, of course, and we'll see how all that plays out after this season does. In the meantime, Holland says, "If we've got to go with what we got, we like our team."

No reason he shouldn't — now, or in the future.

john.niyo@detnews.com

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