The Oakland Press’s Pat Caputo penned a superb article regarding the Red Wings’ 2019 Draft haul, duly noting that the Wings probably made most of their picks based upon recommendations that would have been the same under former general manager Ken Holland, but I’m left questioning his conclusion regarding the Detroit scouting staff’s early picks:
It’s difficult to discern how much different this draft is with Yzerman compared to how it would have been under Ken Holland.
The Red Wings definitely addressed the blue line. Yzerman sure didn’t make the obvious picks.It will be interesting to see if time proves Yzerman right.
The only certainty is it’s way too early to declare him wrong.
And the honeymoon is still on for Yzerman. Had Holland made the same first two selections, the critics undoubtedly would have been quick to jump all over him.
But right now, for this town, it is in Steve Yzerman it trusts.
Caputo continues, and again, his article is superb, but I’m pretty sure that the Yzerplan sprung a leak when the Wings selected Moritz Seider 6th overall:
I read some rather nasty things said about Yzerman after Seider’s pick, but that’s just me and Twitter for ya.
Lack of familiarity plus knee-jerk reactions—-more info now available on Seider, etc., and the biting comments have somewhat subsided.
BTW, ecstatic you’re back for Development Camp—more than a decade enjoying your assessments starting at Camp & leading up to pre-season! 🙂
Made my day George!