ESPN’s Chris Peters recently wrote an article for ESPN+ in which he discussed the prospect pools of each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams, and he ranked the Red Wings’ prospect pool as the NHL’s 5th-best:
The Red Wings’ system strength leans heavily on the quality of their past two top picks. Lucas Raymond is a foundational winger who could become a game-changing prospect for the rebuilding Red Wings, and Moritz Seider is a cornerstone defenseman who looks every bit ready to become a No. 1 in the very near future. Those are the only two A-rated prospects in the system, but they’re such key pieces for the future that they can easily carry this system into the top five.
On top of them, however, there are a lot of second-tier prospects who looked poise to develop into important pieces for the franchise. In recent years, the Red Wings have added a number of quality pieces through the draft outside of the first round. Jonatan Berggren, Jared McIsaac, William Wallinder and Albert Johansson all have notable upside. Joe Veleno is a late first-rounder who continues to develop nicely and probably could become a staple of Detroit’s middle six.
Detroit has pretty nice balance in the system, though it still lacks a true No. 1 goaltending prospect. That’s not to say that some of the goaltenders in the system can’t develop into one, as there are a number of players with solid upside, including Filip Larsson and Jan Bednar. But they’re going to require patience.
Breakout candidate for 2020-21: Albert Johansson
Potential NHL impact in 2020-21: Yevgeni Svechnikov
Continued (paywall); here’s Peters’ list of the Wings’ top 10 prospects:
Top 10 prospects
| Player | Tier |
|---|---|
| 1. Lucas Raymond, RW | A |
| 2. Moritz Seider, D | A |
| 3. Joe Veleno, C | B |
| 4. Jonatan Berggren, LW | B |
| 5. William Wallinder, D | B |
| 6. Jared McIsaac, D | B |
| 7. Albert Johansson, D | B |
| 8. Theodor Niederbach, C | B |
| 9. Robert Mastrosimone, C/W | C |
| 10. Antti Tuomisto, D | C |
