If you are a Red Wings fan who wished to see a more active summer out of Steve Yzerman, the following entry from the THN Archive should be just the thing you’re after.  Here’s the story of a quiet Red Wing summer feeding a frenzied early fall.

“Wings’ Last-Minute Deals Follow Summer’s Patience” by Vartan Kupelian, Sep 1, 1981 / Vol. 34, Issue 37

DETROIT—The Red Wings, idle through the early weeks of the offseason, began to make their move as the Sept. 14 opening of training camp neared.

The biggest transaction was a trade with Minnesota which brought veterans Don Murdoch and Greg Smith, along with the North Stars’ top draft choice in 1982, to Detroit for the Wings’ top pick in the same draft.

“Murdoch is a proven NHL’er…always a top goal scorer,” said Jimmy Skinner, the Wings’ director of hockey operations. “Greg Smith will fill our hole on left defense.

“This trade will definitely help our hockey club this season.

“It was something I have worked for long and hard. I know we have been criticized for not making a lot of trades this summer but it now proves my philosophy that, through” negotiations and patience, we finally get what we set out for. We are not going to panic and make trades just for the sake of making a trade.”

With the deal, the Wings now have traded away their own top pick in each of the last three drafts, the previous pair going to Los Angeles.

Murdoch, 25, split last season with Edmonton and its minor league farm club. He regained his scoring touch in the Central Hockey League, notching 32 goals in 40 games.

In the days leading up to the deal, the Wings made several other moves.

The Wings re-signed free agent goaltender Gilles Gilbert and promptly hailed him as their No. 1 man for at least the next two seasons.

His back-up could be a newcomer—Corrado Micalef, the Wings’ second pick (third round) in this year’s draft.

Then there was a trade—minor league goaltender Al Jensen to Washington for minor league right wing Mark Lofthouse, a 48-goal man last season.

At one point Jensen was heralded as the Wings’ goalie of the future but the current regime obviously didn’t accept that view. Lofthouse, a talented offensive player with significant shortcomings in other areas, could bolster the Wings at a position they need immediate help.

Another move added Walter McKechnie, a 34-year-old center, to the roster as a free agent from the Colorado Rockies. It’ll be McKechnie’s second tour of duty with the Red Wings.

McKechnie was banished by the Red Wings—then under the control of Ted Lindsay—in the summer of 1977. He bounced around—from Washington to Cleveland to Toronto and finally the Rockies, where he had 15 goals and 38 points in 53 games last season.

McKechnie played with the Wings for 2½ seasons from 1974 to 1977 and was the club’s leading scorer in his two complete campaigns with the club. However, he fell into disfavor with Lindsay and was sent to Washington in the deal for free agent goaltender Ron Low.

“We needed experience now at center ice to play with our young wingers and Walt has proven he’s an NHLer,” said Skinner. “We have young centers in our farm system but they need more time in Adirondack before we bring them up, and Walt will give us that time.”

Coach Wayne Maxner agreed and added that, unlike another veteran center who was dispatched to the minors last year. Peter Mahovlich, McKechnie hasn’t lost his skating legs. Incidentally, the Wings assigned Mahovlich, 34, to their Adirondack farm club in the American Hockey League on a fulltime basis. He will not attend the Wings’ major league training camp which opens Sept. 14 in Detroit.

Gilbert, the Wings’ No. 1 goalie through last season despite being limited to 48 games by injuries, posted a 4.59 goals-against average. His back-up for most of last season was rookie Larry Lozinski. But Micalef, 20, can pry that job away from Lozinski.

“I’m excited by Micalef,” Maxner said. “If he’s as good as he showed last year in junior, he can help us.”

Clearly, the Wings are keeping a spot on the roster open for the young man from Quebec who joined the Cornwall Royals for the Memorial Cup last season and made them a winner with outstanding performances in the finals in neighboring Windsor, Ont. Wing officials got a good, hard look at Micalef in the Memorial Cup and jumped on the opportunity to draft him after taking Claude Loiselle as their top choice (in the second round).

Early in the off-season, Skinner said he wouldn’t be parting with any of his talented youngsters in a bombshell trade that had been anticipated after the disastrous 1980-81 season and that just about ended all speculation and turned the summer into a tranquil waiting period for 1981-82.

The only controversy was a blast by Hall of Famer Sid Abel, a former Red Wing executive and currently a color commentator for the club both on television and radio, who criticized the organization, Skinner, Lincoln Cavalieri and even got down to the players. Abel questioned the performances of Skinner and the behind-the-scene’s role of Cavalieri and said center Dale McCourt “has a skating problem.”

That stirred a hornet’s nest which remains unresolved but Abel said he’d like to stay on as a broadcaster. In reality, Abel’s comments weren’t anything new. The same words, perhaps in different ways, have been echoed by the likes of Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe, also former employees.

MOTOR CITY SHORTS—Maxner said that “realistically” Loiselle can be expected to return to junior hockey in Windsor for more seasoning. “I wonder if we don’t rush young kids too fast these days,” Maxner said…. Mark Kirton, John Ogrodnick, Gary McAdam and Larry Lozinski are entering their option year. ■