Detroit Red Wings Draft Recap

The draft has come and passed, and the Red Wings made some interesting moves throughout the day. One of these moves was a trade which sent the 18^th overall pick to San Jose for the 20^th pick and the 58^th pick. I think it was a great move because the team only moved down two draft positions, while picking up a 2^nd round pick in the process. Then, they picked the player at 20^th overall that they would’ve picked at 18^th overall.

Despite the nice trade the Red Wings made, the whole day during the draft one work kept coming to my mind: underwhelming. Then I let it sit for a while, and realized that this draft was better than I initially thought. Here is a list of who we picked, and a little bit about each one.

1^st round (20^th overall) Anthony Mantha 6’4” 190 lbs LW – Big winger who can score. He is the only draft eligible player in the Canadian Junior leagues that scored 50 goals this past season. He can control the puck well, is a good skater, has a great shot, and works well down low. There are some knocks on him though. Even though he is 6’4”, he doesn’t use his size to his advantage enough. He doesn’t play physical or go into the corners hard. He also struggled with some inconsistencies in production. Overall, he sounds exactly like a Johan Franzen 2.0 at this point. He has more potential than Franzen though, so as it is with 99% of all hockey prospects fresh out of the draft a wait and see approach is what we need to take here. If he lives up to his potential, he could be a dominant top line player for the Red Wings within 5-6 years.  

My reaction: I didn’t like it at first, but I’m coming around to the idea of having Mantha here. I really wanted them to take Hunter Shinkaruk, but then again the Red Wings already have a glut of undersized offensively talented prospects. The thought of Mantha being inconsistent on a night in night out basis was a little scary. Also, for a big guy his lack of physicality scared me. However, if he lives up to what he can be I’ll be extremely happy. This is very much a boom or bust type of pick.

2^nd round (48^th overall) Zach Nastasuik 6’1” 190 lbs C/RW – A relatively big bodied forward who is a gritty hard working type of player. He does flash some offensive upside, but he is known as a very solid two-way player. He hits, makes smart passes, scores, plays defense, and really anything else asked of him. He does it all. If his offensive touch develops (and it came along very well last year), he could turn into a Tomas Holmstrom or even a Milan Lucic type. Not the best skater, but not a poor skater either. He projects as a 3^rd line forward with a decent chance to realize his offensive upside to maybe fill a 2^nd line role.

My reaction: I liked this pick. Nastasuik is the type of player this team lost in Holmstrom and we need a guy like that. He doesn’t have the same net front presence skills that Holmstrom had as far as tipping in shots, but few do. He does, however, have a knack for finding loose pucks in front of the net, and being able to finish them off.  The bottom line is, Nastasuik is a hardworking, do it all type of player who may have the scoring ability to fill a 2^ndline role. Players like that are a valuable commodity in the league, and the Red Wings are lacking this type of player both on their team now and in their prospect pool.

2^nd round (58^th overall) Tyler Bertuzzi 6’0” 178 lbs LW – The scrappy nephew of current Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi went higher in this draft than most expected. Tyler is a pest to play against, and can chip in with a goal from time to time, not unlike Andrew Shaw from the Blackhawks. Never going to be known as a scorer, Tyler projects be a 4^th line player who is willing to drop the gloves, and get in the face of the opponents.

My reaction: I can sum up my initial reaction with one word: “why?” Betuzzi was ranked far lower in the draft that this. In fact, he was projected to go in the 5^th round at the earliest. It was hard for me to accept this pick when there were so many other good players left on the board. However, if I ignore the draft position, I actually like the pick. He is a fighting, agitating winger who can skate pretty well. He’s the type of player who is great to have during the playoffs because he drives other teams crazy. I like the player, but I don’t like the resource we used to acquire him.

3^rd round (79^th overall) Mattias Janmark-Nylen 6’1” 189 lbs C/LW – This 21 year old Swede was passed over in the draft before, but this time around he caught the eye of the Red Wings. He is a bit of a late bloomer, and really came into his own offensively this past season. Not the best skater, but he gets by with his very good hockey IQ, and overall skill level. If his skating improves and he reaches his potential offensively, he could be as high as a 2^nd liner in the NHL.

My reaction: This was an interesting pick because he had been passed over in the draft before. According to Red Wings scouts, the Red Wings were interested in Janmark-Nylen in past years, but just decided to take other players. This year, he took hockey more seriously and took a huge developmental leap. I am intrigued by this pick because he does have the potential to be a good player with a scoring touch. Some teams may have passed him up too since he is older already. However, we will see sooner rather than later whether this was a good pick because he is already 21, and is closer to the NHL because of his age.

4^th round (109^th overall) David Pope 6’2” 187 lbs LW – This is a long term prospect who does not need to sign with the Red Wings until 2018. This is because he is playing in a Canadian junior league, and is expected to play in the NCAA with Nebraska-Omaha starting in 2014-2015. Pope is an offensive talent. He has an excellent shot, is a decent skater, and plays with a high compete level. He hasn’t yet put up the offensive numbers that someone with his offensive capabilities would be expected to, but he has a lot of time to put things together. He has the upside of a 2^nd line forward, but if the scoring never comes he could still be an effective 3^rd liner.

My reaction: This is a very solid pick in my opinion. Pope has potential to be an impact player at the NHL level, but then again, there are no guarantees of this. Of course, if there were any guarantees he would make an impact he would’ve been picked in a much higher round. Anytime you can add a potential scoring line winger after the second round, especially one that has some size, I like taking the risk even if he never pans out.

5^th round (139^th overall) Mitchell Wheaton 6’4” 230 lbs D – With the Red Wings’ 6^th selection they chose a massive defenseman. Wheaton fell to the 5^th round because he was injured for a large part of the season, so he had limited exposure to NHL scouts. He uses his size to play a physical game, but has never really been a person known as an exceptional physical force. He is just a solid defensive defenseman who has the potential to be a bottom pairing shutdown type of guy.

My reaction: I like the size, but this pick doesn’t wow me. I guess it’s hard to be wowed in the later rounds. If Wheaton makes the NHL, he will be one of those boring players who doesn’t get noticed a whole lot, but gets the job done. I think of him as a poor man’s Jonathan Ericsson. A solid pick at this point in the draft to bolster our defensive depth, but nothing that really excites me.

6^th round (169^th overall) Marc McNulty 6’6” 185 lbs D – A fairly mobile defenseman for his size, McNulty has a lot of work to do before playing in the NHL. He is inconsistent, and relies on his excellent reach to stop plays. He does boast some offensive upside, but is not very physical. If the pieces come together, he could be a solid two way defender in the NHL. He definitely has NHL height, but needs to add weight to his huge frame. He has some tools, but just needs to continue to develop. Down the road, he projects to be a bottom pairing mobile two way defenseman.

My reaction: This pick excites me a little more than the Wheaton pick because McNulty has a higher upside than Wheaton in my opinion. Now, I think it is more likely that Wheaton will fill his potential, but if McNulty’s development goes perfectly, he will be a good defenseman in the future. It’s another pick that bolsters the defensive depth, but I like this one because there is a little more risk taken then the Wheaton pick. Overall, I like the fact that the Red Wings took one safe pick, and one risk pick with the defenseman this year.

7^th round (199^th overall) Hampus Melen 6’2” 165 lbs RW – With the Red Wings’ final pick in this year’s draft, they took a chance on the little known Hampus Melen from Sweden. Melen is a player who grew substantially over the past few years both physically, and in terms of offensive production. He was the best player playing in a lower tier league that is scouted very minimally, and this is the type of player that could prove to be one of those hidden gems the Red Wings have a knack of finding. Melen is a very hard worker who needs to keep getting bigger and stronger. If he does, he could become a scoring threat at the NHL level with a good shot and a good compete level.

My reaction: I really like this pick. In the 7^th round, the odds of getting a player that will actually contribute at the NHL level are extremely slim, but it can happen (see Henrik Zetterberg). This is what is known as a classic Hakan Andersson pick. For those of you who don’t know, Hakan Andersson is a Red Wings scout  who is generally known as one of the best at scouting draft-eligible European talent throughout the entire league. He is the guy responsible for drafting guys like Tomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Jiri Hudler, Jonathan Ericsson, and Valtteri Filppula among others. Andersson will often be turned to in the late rounds of the draft to make a sleeper pick for the Red Wings. Zetterberg (7^th round) and Datsyuk (6^th round) are the prime examples of this. Will Melen live up to any of the names on that list? Only time will tell. Not all of Andersson’s picks are successful. It’s understood that a 7^th round pick is a longshot, but there’s nothing wrong with taking a low risk high reward pick in the 7^th round as Andersson so commonly does.  

There were a few things about this draft I noticed. First off, they wanted forwards. They didn’t select a defenseman before they had already picked five forwards. This makes sense because we have a lot of very good defense prospects, but we need some more top end forwards prospects with size. That brings me to my next point; every pick was at least six feet tall this year. The Red Wings had a few big forwards in the prospect pool, but that was probably the type of player they are most lacking. Also, Mantha is unique in our system. No other player we have is well over 6 feet with the pure goal scoring ability he has. Tomas Jurco is 6’2” with a lot of skill and point producing ability, but he doesn’t project to be a raw goal scorer like Mantha does. Martin Frk at exactly six feet tall is probably the closest we have to Mantha in our prospect system. Frk has an excellent shot and loves to score goals. However, he is not as good of a skater as Mantha, and isn’t as big.

If I were to grade the draft I would give it a  B. My initial reaction on Sunday was a C, but that’s probably because the Red Wings drafted a lot of players I knew nothing about while there were good players I had heard a lot about still left on the board. I think I will trust the scouts opinions over my judgment that stems reading mock drafts and prospect reports though. The one question mark I still have is why we took Bertuzzi so high in the draft. He was projected to go in the 5^th round, and I thought there were a lot of other good players available when we picked him in the 2^nd round. However, if I don’t look at the draft positions, and I just look at the players, it looks like a solid group overall.

Next week, I plan to discuss free agency because it starts this Friday (7/5). What players would you like to see the Red Wings target?