Red Wings and Coyotes have made a player for player trade.

The Detroit Red Wings and the Arizona Coyotes have just pulled off a trade deal. 

According to an official announcement from the Detroit Red Wings organization the team has acquired veteran goaltender Eric Comrie from the Coyotes in exchange for defenseman Vili Saarijarvi going back the other way. As of right now there appear to be no other moving parts in this deal so this one appears to be a straight up player for player type of trade. 

This trade appears to have been motivated by the injury to veteran goaltender Jimmy Howard who was placed on injured reserve by the Red Wings just yesterday, although that is only speculation on my part at this time. The timing certainly would appear to suggest as much but I suppose that is is possible that the Red Wings simply wanted to add more depth in net and had already begun working on this deal some time ago .

Comrie of course is a former member of the Winnipeg Jets organization, the team that drafted him in the second round (59th overall) of the 2013 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Comrie would only ever play 5 NHL games for the Jets however due to shaky performances at the highest level of the game but he has maintained a fairly stellar career as a goaltender in the American Hockey League. Comrie has only appeared in 4 games this season, all for the Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona's AHL affiliate team, and has a 2.75 goals against average and a .900 save percentage on the season.

Vili Saarijarvi on the other hand is a former Red Wings third round draft selection (73rd overall) and he was selected at the 2015 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The 22 year old Finnish defenseman has never played in the NHL since being drafted but has become a regular fixture on the blue line of the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins.Saarijarvi had appeared in 13 games for the Griffins thus far this season and had no goals and 1 assist for a total of 1 point and boasts a plus minus rating of -5.

Stay tuned for more details.