Red Wings draft review

            The Red Wings entered this year’s draft with a good amount of draft picks including (3) 1^st rounder’s which they tried to move prior to the draft starting and during round 1 in order to find a top 4 defender. Few trade conversations opened up with a few GM’s but GM Valle wasn’t sure if he should pay the steep price or just make the most of his high picks so he kept them and decided to take a shot at picking wisely.

#9 Lias Anderson – At last year’s U18 he posted 5 goals and 9 points in 7 games and was a major reason why Sweden was able to walk away with a Silver Medal. He’s a strong skater with good acceleration and top end speed. Also has a knack to get into the dirt areas of the rink. Has a very good wrist shot with a quick release to go along with decent vision and passing skills. He is relentless as a back checker and pursing the puck. He projects to be anywhere from a solid 2^nd line Center or Winger since he can play both to a top line guy.

#14 Erik Brannstrom – The Wings knew that with 1 of their top 3 picks they wanted to take at least 1 defender, and when Brannstrom was still on the board at 14 it was a no brainer. A very offensively minded defensemen, He has the ability to move the puck up quickly and has great vision to go along with some incredible skating. He has some highly developed skating abilities with and without the puck.

#22 Kristian Vesalainen – Heading into the new season, he was ranked the 6^th best prospect in October but after the teenager struggled in a league of men his stock dropped a little. Standing at 6’4 and 209 lbs he already has an NHL frame, but he does have a lot of tools that NHL scouts loved. He showed them off at the U18 World Juniors scoring 13 points in 7 games. Not only does he have a huge frame but he has excellent skating and stickhandling ability, he will just have to inprove on his consistency.

#52 Maxim Comtois – Another player who’s stock dropped after having a great rookie season posting 60 points in 62 games , he followed up with 51 points in 62 games, its not a huge drop but he should have gone upwards point wise. With all the prospects the Wings have they have the ability to take gambles on guys like Comtois and Vesalainen. Comtois plays a great 2 way game and is one the more defensively responsible wingers in the draft. He has elite skating and and high end skill but does take too many penalties.

#84 Matt Benning (DITR) – Benning got a chance to play for Edmonton this season due to some early injuires to some of their defenders. Benning was thrown in the deep end and floated. He finished the season playing a total of 62 games and posting 15 points and a +8 to go along 3 helpers in 12 playoff games and playing some top minutes to go along with it. Benning will for sure make the Wings top 6 next season and possibly top 4 depending what they do in FA.

Other notable picks

#129 Ian Scott

#142 Ronas Rondbjerg

#145 Sasha Chmelevski

#171 Maxim Sushko

The Wings also pulled off a big trade for the future :

To Tampa : Tatar 3^rd rounder, 6^th and 7^th

To Detroit : Alex Nylander

Nylander was the 8^th overall pick the previous year. The Wings were able to take a gamble as they have a solid top 3 lines going into next season and with 2 wingers ready to step up sooner than later in Boeser and Puljujarvi the Wings were able to take a big chance that he can pan out to be a solid top 9 type of player.

Tatar would have become a RFA the following  year as well as Tarasenko and Kucherov so the Wings felt sheading some salary now would go along way. 

Towards the end of the draft Detroit also twas able to trade (3) 7th round picks for NYR 2018 2nd round pick.