Post-Draft breeze shooting: How do you grade the draft?

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Well folks, here's our haul for the year.

Simon Edvinsson - D
Some guy not named Wallstedt - G
Shai Buium - D
Carter Mazur - W
Red Savage - C/W
Liam Dower-Nilsson - C/W
Some guy whose name is too close to Cholowski - D
Pasquale Zito - W

How do you think we did?
Last year our prospect pool was ranked top 5 by many publications after the 2020 draft. Do you think we still belong there? Or have other organizations stolen enough good prospects to move us out of that spot?

We also moved a lot of picks to move up and grab guys. Necessary or not? What would you have done?

Click to read more...

 

[golffuul]

I'd say, based on what Yzerman was looking for and what he got...I'd say a B+ to A-. Lot of value in the mid to late rounds and we got who we wanted with our 1st rounders.

 

[Frk It]

Probably like a ~B.

I think the first 2 picks made a lot of sense from a fit and team building perspective. Very good thought process there, IMO.

After that, I don’t think we got great value with the remaining picks. I thought we could have done more with those picks. A bit of a weird draft for me after the first 2 picks, not what I was expecting.

 

[MBH]

Day 1 was an A+
Day 2 was a C.
Day 1 matters more.
B+/A-

We're set at LD.
We're set at RD.
We're good on the wings.
We're set at goalie.
Center is all that remains.

 

[DetroitRed]

They kinda lost me after the first round, but look, from about the third pick in the draft, things went off script.

I guess you have to get the guys you came there for; you cannot risk losing them because they were ranked 70th in the media and hey, it's still the second round - things don't go according to plan like that.

So, I can accept how things went and I wont complain, but when you go that far off into the woods, then you have to hit big on at least one of your wild draft choices.

That said, I like what the Wings did in the first round and I think both of those players, especially together, could be huge in turning the team around. You really do need two good goalies and some amazing defenders, to make it through the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I liked our first day a ton and I like the direction it looks like the rebuild is going in terms of the increase in depth with upside throughout a decent amount of the organization. We still need to land a lot more talent up front, but we fixed some areas this week and I applaud Yzerman. I wasn't thrilled with some of the second day guys versus players on the board I liked more, but they still drafted players true to the identity we have seen. Guys with pretty good skating or decent skating upside that have high end compete levels.

I also think it was interesting we went the college route again. I know I pointed this out some during the draft, but I thought in an uncertain year that was an interesting thing by our team. I think they were really just going BPA, but we do have more time for decisions on some of these guys then. I like that you can argue how these guys might be NHL players for the most part, they have an argument.

I think it is about a B+ to B kind of draft. But for aggressive Yzerman to be around for the last 72 hours, that is exciting, glad to see him put another jolt into the organization and start to push things forward in my opinion.

 

[jaster]

B, with the definite potential for an A when it’s all said and done, depending on how the top guys fare.

Our top-2 guys are bigger question marks than usual for me (one because of makeup, one because of position), but I respect the potential.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

I think the draft essentially rides or dies on Edvinsson and Cossa. If we've added a quality top 4D and a quality starting goaltender then was a very productive weekend. If not, there will probably be some buyer's remorse.

Buium strikes me as largely boom-bust to use an old cliche, obviously if you get an NHL blue liner with his tools that's a win. Likewise for Plandowski.

Between Mazur, Savage, Dower Nilsson, and Zito we'll hopefully have a solid bottom six guy. To me though none of these guys are really going to make or break the draft the way Edvinsson/Cossa will.

I'm content with the draft. Again I think it's pretty reliant on those top two, maybe three picks. I don't love that we're walking out without a solid bet for a top 6 forward, but I think that comes with the Leddy deal, the Nedeljkovic deal, and the Cossa deal.

 

[ShanahanMan]

I don’t hate the actual picks per se, I more so hate what we passed on.

I also think Edvinsson has the biggest bust potential out of anyone in the Top 15.

C

 

[ricky0034]

too lazy to type it again so i'll just quote my post I made earlier on the main board:

I like the Wings draft overall

I like Edvinsson, definitely wasn't my favorite Defenseman in the draft(arguably my least favorite of the big 4 guys actually) but Power was never hitting 6, Hughes didn't either, and i'm kinda torn between whether I like Clarke or Edvinsson more myself anyways and Clarke being on the right side is definitely a downside as far as the Wings are concerned, pretty high on all 4 of them and didn't really care for the forwards much this year so glad they ended up with one of them

I kinda viewed Cossa as being on the same level as Wallstedt anyways so i'm not upset that the Wings preferred him like some people are, i'm not big on Goalies in the first round in general but it being the second pick makes me much more okay with it(would have been pissed if the Wings grabbed a Goalie at 6)

i'm also a sucker for trading up and wish the Wings would do that more often in general


mixed feelings on the later rounds with a mix of liking some of the picks, being indifferent on others, and hating the Mazur pick but ultimately the first round is the one that matters

as far as grades go i'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of a B+ for the 1st round and a C for the other rounds feels about right, which I guess i'd put at about a B overall

 

[Shaman464]

Day 1 is an A, even though I am usually vocal about no first round goalies, I really like the pick after seeing the footage and listening to Yzerman talk.

Day 2: D I want to tie Draper to a train that's pointed in any direction away from Detroit. I was left scratching my head WAY too much on some of the reaches.

Overall a I think an A. If the two first rounders hit, the rest of the draft is meaningless anyway.

But I also think Draper will be the reason we don't get many later round steals in the near future.

 

[Chad Smiley]

Draper has taken at least 3 players the last 2 drafts because either it's his son or he's close with the kid and his family. All reaches. At least another 3 to 4 years from making the playoffs.

 

[ShanahanMan]

Draper has taken at least 3 players the last 2 drafts because either it's his son or he's close with the kid and his family. All reaches. At least another 3 to 4 years from making the playoffs.

He pretty much admitted to it during the presser too. That some of these picks he went with cause he new them personally or were local.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

Draper has taken at least 3 players the last 2 drafts because either it's his son or he's close with the kid and his family. All reaches. At least another 3 to 4 years from making the playoffs.

We are guzzling prospects from Frolunda, where Hakan Andersson served on the board of directors for several years. I don't see why that is fundamentally different.

Last year everyone was certain we were taking Perfetti because of the patented Draper connection, yet we went with the Frolunda kid.

 

[Sadekuuro]

Hard not to give the side-eye to the Mazur pick in particular but I like the direction overall. Love the top picks and going after high reward players especially on D (now we just need them to pan out...)

I'm a bit shocked how many people seem disappointed that we didn't pick another playmaking winger.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Probably like a ~B.

I think the first 2 picks made a lot of sense from a fit and team building perspective. Very good thought process there, IMO.

After that, I don’t think we got great value with the remaining picks. I thought we could have done more with those picks. A bit of a weird draft for me after the first 2 picks, not what I was expecting.

The first two picks made sense from an organizational standpoint but I have a lot of trouble buying the, "we're only picking best player available" narrative when we only did that with Red Savage and Liam Dower-Nilsson.

I don't see Edvinsson as a better player than Eklund but I still see it as a good choice for this team because he fits a positional need. At worst he's Adam Larsson. At best he might be our McDonagh to Seider's Hedman. And I feel better about this pick knowing that Kronwall is over in Sweden and will be working with this kid.

Cossa is a pick I'm on the fence about. We filled a gaping hole in the organization but again I don't think he was the best player available at that slot (Svechkov, Lambos, Bolduc, Dean, Olausson) and it's to be determined if Cossa is better than Wallstedt. The metrics that I've read and Cossa playing for a powerhouse in a dumpster fire division make me skeptical but I'm hoping that things turn out great for this guy.

I don't know what to make of the Shai Buium pick because I've been going over the shift by shift videos, watching highlights and reading the reports. I really don't think he fills an organizational need and I really don't think he was the best player available to us at that pick. I also think it wasn't necessary to trade up for him. I have a hunch that this is the pick I'll be cursing in 2 years time when I look at the list of guys that we passed on for Buium.

The Carter Mazar pick made me audibily groan. And I know he's a Kris Draper guy. But we have exactly 1 Kris Draper guy on the team in Tyler Bertuzzi despite a lot of 'Kris Draper guy' picks. Givani Smith isn't a fulltimer yet or we'd have 2. This kind of pick shakes my confidence in Draper's ability to make the objectively right selection for this organization.

Savage and Dower-Nilsson look like they have the potential to be something. I'm not sure what to make of the other two picks.

Overall I'd give this draft a B-.
I think we could have done better. I think this draft is better than the 2017 draft but it's definitely not as strong as our 2018 through 2020 drafts, and I think that is more to do with our selections rather than the quality of the draft overall. I'm guessing that this draft produces 2 full time players.

 

[ChadS]

He pretty much admitted to it during the presser too. That some of these picks he went with cause he new them personally or were local.

Not really, what he said is that it's easier to push for guys who he has more info on because it increases confidence in their evaluation. To me that's a reasonable reason to rank a player higher than the consensus does, and ultimately "reach" aka use the results of your scouting. I'm not saying I like the pick, but the entire point of scouting is to find the players you like. If you're going to just follow the consensus list then what's the point of having scouting staff? And good luck trying to guess where other teams will take guys, sounds like a great way to miss out on the guys you actually want.

Who is the 3rd reach in 2 years? Hope were not talking about 6th/7th rounders as reaches, that makes no sense at all.

 

[Frk It]

The first two picks made sense from an organizational standpoint but I have a lot of trouble buying the, "we're only picking best player available" narrative when we only did that with Red Savage and Liam Dower-Nilsson.

I don't see Edvinsson as a better player than Eklund but I still see it as a good choice for this team because he fits a positional need. At worst he's Adam Larsson. At best he might be our McDonagh to Seider's Hedman. And I feel better about this pick knowing that Kronwall is over in Sweden and will be working with this kid.

Cossa is a pick I'm on the fence about. We filled a gaping hole in the organization but again I don't think he was the best player available at that slot (Svechkov, Lambos, Bolduc, Dean, Olausson) and it's to be determined if Cossa is better than Wallstedt. The metrics that I've read and Cossa playing for a powerhouse in a dumpster fire division make me skeptical but I'm hoping that things turn out great for this guy.

I don't know what to make of the Shai Buium pick because I've been going over the shift by shift videos, watching highlights and reading the reports. I really don't think he fills an organizational need and I really don't think he was the best player available to us at that pick. I also think it wasn't necessary to trade up for him. I have a hunch that this is the pick I'll be cursing in 2 years time when I look at the list of guys that we passed on for Buium.

The Carter Mazar pick made me audibily groan. And I know he's a Kris Draper guy. But we have exactly 1 Kris Draper guy on the team in Tyler Bertuzzi despite a lot of 'Kris Draper guy' picks. Givani Smith isn't a fulltimer yet or we'd have 2. This kind of pick shakes my confidence in Draper's ability to make the objectively right selection for this organization.

Savage and Dower-Nilsson look like they have the potential to be something. I'm not sure what to make of the other two picks.

Overall I'd give this draft a B-.
I think we could have done better. I think this draft is better than the 2017 draft but it's definitely not as strong as our 2018 through 2020 drafts, and I think that is more to do with our selections rather than the quality of the draft. I'm guessing that this draft produces 2 full time players.

Edvinsson was higher on my list than Eklund, and 6 teams passed on Eklund before us.

I don’t think they were lying about who their BPA was, that’s silly.

You are free to disagree with them on who the BPA is though, that’s fine.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

A-

I really like the first rounders. The 2nd rounder was alright, and the 3rd was a little puzzling. The other picks seem very good.

In general, I think it makes more sense from the perspective of adding assets with a lot of potential trade value than actual filling needs.

 

[RedWingzz]

Didn't love it... B- maybe?

A lot of uncertainty. Obviously if Edvinsson and Cossa reach their potential, then this would be far higher than a B-. Didn't like the Buium or Mazur picks at all. I liked the later round picks.

 

[Realgud]

Like: Sebastian Cossa, Shai Buium, Red Savage, Oscar Plandowski
Meh...: Simon Edvinsson, Liam Dower Nilsson
No idea: Carter Mazu, Pasquale Zito

 

[lilidk]

It's hard to grade when most of players are unknown to me. Day 1 is b, day 2 is C.
It's B-

 

[Tetsuo]

I think it's a B+/A-. Our first two picks are great for us, really solidifying our backend pipeline and the drafting of Cossa immediately alleviates our long term concerns in net.

Day two matters much less so I give it less weight, but we still managed to make another really strange pick in the late 2nd/early 3rd. It's pretty clear the organization was not thrilled with the forwards available early on today, but it's not like any of these players are going to be ready to make the NHL anytime soon either way. I do however really like the idea of going with Savage and Nilsson where we did, I think both have potential middle six C upside.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Edvinsson was higher on my list than Eklund, and 6 teams passed on Eklund before us.

I don’t think they were lying about who their BPA was, that’s silly.

You are free to disagree with them on who the BPA is though, that’s fine.

I think that BPA as a philosophy is the right one to follow but it's also easy to twist.

Do I need player x who plays position Y? Yes. We have an organizational hole there in position Y.
Is he the best player available? Yes. Because he fills our organizational need.

I think the above happens a lot more than we realize. Eklund was consistently ranked top 5 or even top 3 in most categories by bloggers and scouts alike but he's a small winger. If you're New Jersey and bare on defense you need a defenseman. If you're Columbus you either need to replace Seth Jones or PLD. If you're Detroit you just drafted Raymond so you can work on another organizational need. The best solution is the one that solves your problem today. I see this all the time when I'm consulting.

Like I said, I'm not mad at the Edvinsson pick. He wouldn't have been my first choice and that Eklund fell to 7 shouldn't be an indictment of Eklund. He was the first winger off the board. Everyone ahead of him is either a center or a defenseman. (Although the jury is out on Johnson)

The Buium and Mazar picks are the two that really left me questioning what the hell they were doing in this draft. Those felt like Tyler Wright picks.

 

[The Real Pastafarian]

I like Edvinsson, but Ecklund was available. Ecklund seemed like a safer pick -- just about a lock to be a 30 goal scorer, first line wing. But in hindsight, and looking at how many more left-handed D we drafted, I can see what the DRW braintrust is doing: They're fixing this problem of no top-pairing LD once and for all by using half of a draft on that one very important spot. At least one of these guys is probably going to be a very good defenseman.

I like Cossa, but Svechkov and Bolduc were available, and we need a center. But in hindsight, I can see that the team didn't think that any of those centers would ever be as good as Larkin. That's what we need -- if Larkin is going to be our 1C, then we need a 2C just as good. Better still would be a 1C better than Larkin, who would be a very good 2C instead of a barely adequate 1C. So even with the seeming overpayment of trading up and losing a late pick for Cossa, I guess I'll allow this, begrudgingly.

I like Buium, he's an interesting LD, worth a shot. See first paragraph above. Same for Plandowski later in the draft. These guys seem atypical in some ways and might shock everyone, be our next Hronek pleasant surprise. Or they might flame out.

Mazar, I don't know what that is. There were still a few interesting guys left at that point, LW isn't a need, this seemed like a waste at 70 overall, early in the third. Still, it's "only" a third rounder, there were no mortal locks left at that point.

So overall grade: B+. I'm pretty sure that in 5 years, if we look back at these guys we drafted, and the guys I would have drafted, these guys will have helped the team more than my picks would have. But there were a couple of opportunities for improvement here.