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The Detroit Red Wings needed to add some toughness and grit to their bottom six, and they found a player who has proven himself to be a valuable presence on a championship team they can now call theirs.
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Forward Keegan Kolesar, who won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023 and helped them reach the Cup Final this spring, was acquired by the Red Wings on Wednesday in return for a 2029 third-round draft pick and a 2027 seventh-round draft pick.
Kolesar is not only excited to join a group of players that he views as up and coming, but to add an element of physicality that had been missing.
“Really excited to join a group that I’ve played against for years now. They have a tremendous amount of skill and talent in their lineup,” he said on Thursday during an introductory Zoom call. “Just talking to guys now, they felt as though there was a missing piece and maybe identity of having that – not the fighting aspect, but more the toughness and being hard to play against, being a veteran presence on the front end, bringing guys into the fight.”
“That’s something I can provide,” he continued. “I think with the skill that they have, that part of the game is fine for them. I think they’re going in a great direction with a lot of young studs that I felt have been good for a number of years and are tough to play against.
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I just want to bring whatever I can to (be) more of an identity for the team.”
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Kolesar has spent the last several seasons with Vegas, a place where he established roots and gained several close friends over the years. Naturally, it wasn’t an easy thing to get the message that he was going to be leaving.
“Crim (GM Kelly McCrimmon) gave me a text and just said, ‘Hey Keegan, I have bad news, give me a call,'” Kolesar said of finding out he was being dealt. “You see that text and you know right away, I’m getting out of here.”
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“It’s a whirlwind – you play your entire career in one spot, it’s very rare,” he continued. “It’ll take some time to get over it because I’ve made so many great relationships in that city. It’ll take some time to turn the page but that’s just the human side of it.
“But there’s a lot of excitement too.”
While being traded often overlooks the human element, Kolesar knows that at the end of the day, playing in the NHL is a business.
“Idon’t know if I was expecting it, but it’s always in the back of your mind because it’s hockey, it’s how the game works, and people can be in and out,” Kolesar said. “I didn’t expect it, but you’re always prepared for it. It’s the business of it.”
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Kolesar has skated in 439 career NHL games, and has scored 44 goals to go with 76 assists.
His 270 hits last season were good for seventh most among all NHL players.
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