Quick hits:
> Detroit’s pipeline is led by a legit star in Moritz Seider. Following Seider it is a deep group of young talent at forward and defense with star upside in guys like Lucas Raymond and Nate Danielson. Detroit is in an interesting position because they have one of the best groups of young players in the league, but they are also ranked fourth in their division and didn’t make the playoffs last year. Thus, there is probably still more work to do.
> Key additions: Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Trey Augustine, Andrew Gibson
> Key subtractions: Filip Zadina
> Key graduates: Joe Veleno, Jonatan Berggren
> 2022 ranking: No. 2
> 2023 NHL Draft grade: B+
I’m a bit surprised to see us fall all the way from 2 to 8.
by Smokes_LetsGo_
19 Comments
Articles from The Athletic are flagged as possible paywall until a moderator can confirm whether the article is unlocked or not. After the flair has been set the sidebar filter will work properly.
Please limit summaries to 2-3 paragraphs maximum – posting full articles from paywalled sites is not allowed here out of fairness to those that subscribe.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/DetroitRedWings) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When he gives each players grade for each skill, like skating, puck skills and shot is he saying where they are right now in comparison to NHL players. Or where that skill set is projected to be?
Because he has Axel Sandin-Pellikka as an average NHL skater, and if that’s what he projects him to be as a skater at the NHL level then I actually think Pronman may be an idiot and hasn’t watched him play. It is very very evident that this kid is an exceptional skater, even if you just watched one game.
Edit: His default is just NHL average, like is that what does if he just doesn’t watch a player? Also how do you only grade a goalie on skating, and hockey sense? How about positioning? How about athleticism? Fuck if you really wanted you could grade them on their ability to play the puck. But only skating and hockey sense is just so low effort to me, I pay $1 a month and this article makes me feel ripped off. It’s not even the fact we’re only at 8th, it just screams low effort to me.
I’m probably butt hurt biased but it’s hard to listen to 3 minutes about Tyler boucher after Corey’s so wishy washy about Mazur.
It’s strange how he calls out star upside in Danielson, but then calls our draft grade B+.
I struggle to see how our pool is 4th in our division as well? Toronto is depleted, same with Boston and Florida… he’s really saying Ottawa, Montreal, Tampa are above us??? I understand Buffalo and maybe Ottawa, but I don’t see how any other team jumps us.
Although I don’t think Pronman has ever really been “nice” to us…
If Seider and Raymond are being included in the ranking then 8 is way too low.
It’s weird how last year’s #2 pipeline can add a “top of the lineup” center and then somehow fall to #8.
I think it’s completely fair. This sub loves to get up in arms over critiques of our pool, but I’d encourage everyone to remember that this is a U23 ranking, not a prospect pool (as in, non NHLers). We’ve had some solid picks but having zero lottery luck for your entire rebuild will most often leave us a slight tick behind some others. It’s all going to be fine.
There are going to be some teams with crazy talent at a u23 level that we can’t quite match at the moment since all our guys aren’t up and showing it yet. Some have talent equal to ours at NHL level, others have recent (and often multiple) top 3 picks, which is virtually *ALWAYS* going to bump your system. It’s okay, let’s just take a deep breath and enjoy what we’ve got despite not being the NHLs Lottery Golden Child™ like some other ~~organizations that facilitate sexual assault~~ teams.
Gonna go watch some Hockey Guy takes
There goes our chances. Shit. I had high hopes for the future too. Oh well.
I think this is the result of going with back to back safe picks with their first picks in each of the last two drafts(though they kind of bucked the trend with A.S.P. as their 2nd 1st round pick this year). These ratings are all just based on perceived potential and neither of the guys that the Wings picked displayed any particular elite offensive skill in their respective leagues at time of draft, but that really means nothing unless they don’t develop in to what the Wings hope they might be in a few years.
I liked the stuff about Andrew Gibson and Wallinder.
“Has a chance to play” is a strange choice for Albert Johansson. He would’ve gotten games this past season if not for his injury. Yzerman speaks highly of him and I’d say he still figure into future plans
Well for those people unhappy about being 8th then the fact that Buffalo, Ottawa, and Montreal are all ranked ahead of us can’t help. 8th is fair, we lack the top of the line superstar so when you’re just banking on depth you need to hit on a ton.
It’s about right I’d say, especially looking at the teams ahead of us. Not really the reality check anyone wants in the summer, but the thing with prospects and prospect rankings is that they are a total crapshoot unless you’re picking players who make the jump to the NHL right away.
That’s where I think Pronman’s rankings are correct. You really have to evaluate us based on our high end first round picks. It’s hard for us to really be at the top of these types of rankings when we’re picking 8-10 every year. I also don’t think it’s anything against us to fall from 2 to 8, because you have to consider how the 7 teams in front of us have all improved their pipelines. A single Bedard or Fantilli has a lot more sway than a bunch of promising second and third round picks.
I too was quite surprised to find us at 8, I can rationalize all the teams that had picks before us last year: Ducks, Chicago, Columbus, Canadiens, Sabres, even i admit with Benson got even deeper. The ones I have a tough time with are Ottawa and New Jersey, and I think its because of the inclusion of all U23 players regardless of games played. They are saying their “young core” is more proven and I guess to an extent thats true Jack Hughes and Tim Stutzle are clearly top centers whereas Kasper and Danielson have a few years to go. Where I am surprised is basically saying that Sanderson and Hughes are better than Seider.
All in all I take this as a challenge, Seider and Raymond gotta take next steps to prove em wrong. Also note: Berggren aged out of his consideration.
Yeah this doesn’t really seem like a good thing. Like we’re not a very competitive team and our pipeline grade went down this year
Which means we had some prospects move from being good to likely AHL
I really wish we would go more in on a big trade, the Alex signing was really clutch and hopefully Seider and Ray have a bounce back year, but I’m not as confident in our prospects becoming Top 6 F and Top 4 D
At first I thought 8 was reasonable, even if I would have figured they were higher than a few teams listed. Read through the Red Wings article first and again all reasonable and balanced.
But then you look through the other teams… and yes I understand elite players bring more value than 2-3 top of the lineup guys. But the ranking of a lot of players is purely potential that gives benefit of the doubt that the Wings seemingly did not get.
Having Luke Hughes, for example, as a tier above Seider is crazy to me. I think Fantilli has potential to be a great player, but he could also end up on the same trajectory as Byfield. Having him in the Elite tier same as Jack Hughes and Stutzle before ever playing a game is also pretty questionable to me.
Overall, I don’t think it’s something fans should take too seriously when projecting the next few years. But does highlight 1) that the identity Yzerman is building is a team of depth that will be very hard to play against (looking at all the high compete grades) and 2) Stevie likely has to utilize his assets to bring in a star or elite level player at some point.
Now that I read the other teams’ analyses, I can’t help but feel theirs are overly generous. Anaheim, especially, where he projects them having 3 all star level centers. Yeah, that’s going to age well…
The only team I’d say we’re ahead of that Corey doesn’t is Montreal. I think this is largely fair. I also don’t mind the pipeline, because it is worth knowing that Jack Hughes is so young still for instance. He has room to grow.
For those that didn’t read, the teams ranked ahead of us are: Anaheim, Chicago, Buffalo, New Jersey, Columbus, Montreal, and Ottawa.
Honestly, this rebuild took a major hit when we got 4th overall pick the year we were awful. I like Lucas Raymond, but this team would be so different with Stutzle instead. Nothing can be done about that though.
I hope Danielson ends up being the top of the lineup player Pronman thinks he can be.