NHL Trade: Red Wings & Lightning Swing 2-for-1 Trade (Yes, Really)

Yes, we know the NHL trade deadline passed last Friday at 3:00pm Eastern. But trades can still be made with the restriction that players acquired after the deadline are ineligible to play in any remaining regular-season games or the Stanley Cup Playoffs for their new team.

With that, the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning completed a trade of three AHL players.

TRADE: #LGRW acquire F Michael Milne and F Wocjiech Stachowiak from #GoBolts for D Ian Mitchell
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) March 12, 2026

The Red Wings acquired forwards Michael Milne and Wocjiech Stachowiak from Tampa in exchange for defenseman Ian Mitchell.

Mitchell, 27, heads to the Lightning. He was a second-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017, and spent some time in the NHL in each of the previous five seasons, playing a total of 110 games with the Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins. He's averaged 15:10 time on ice in those games. His AHL numbers in 201 games have been impressive, as he's recorded 113 points with a plus-51 rating and 10 game-winning goals.

Originally selected by the Minnesota Wild in the third round (89th overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft, Milne has registered 66 points in 191 AHL games with Iowa and Syracuse over the past three seasons. He played one game for the Wild last season. This is the second AHL trade that Milne has been involved in this season.

Stachowiak, 26, is from Poland, and played his college hockey at Michigan State. He played in Germany for six seasons from there, and made his AHL debut this season, with the Syracuse Crunch. He also recently played in two games for Germany at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan. He was a teammate there of Moritz Seider, who he might come across now in the Red Wings organization.