Press release: On the Wings’ second-day draft haul

The Red Wings posted a press release detailing their 2nd through 7th round selections from the 2021 NHL Draft:

RED WINGS DRAFT SIX PLAYERS ON SECOND DAY OF 2021 NHL ENTRY DRAFT  … Four Forwards and Two Defensemen Added to Detroit’s Prospect Pool on Saturday …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today selected six players during the second day of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The Red Wings began the day by trading up in the second round to draft defenseman Shai Buium (36th overall), then selected left wing Carter Mazur in the third round (70th overall), center Red Savage (114th overall), center Liam Dower Nilsson (134th overall), defenseman Oscar Plandowski (155th overall) and center Pasquale Zito (166th overall).

The Red Wings traded up to begin the second day of the NHL Entry Draft, acquiring the 36th overall pick from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for the 38th selection and an additional fourth-round pick (128th overall) to select defenseman Shai Buium. Buium has split each of the last two seasons between Shattuck St. Mary’s in the U.S. prep hockey ranks and the United States Hockey League’s Sioux City Musketeers. The 6-foot-3, 209-pound blueliner began the 2020-21 season at Shattuck St. Mary’s and logged 13 points (2-11-13) and two penalty minutes in 17 games, before shifting to the USHL and posting 26 points (4-22-26), a plus-16 rating and 27 penalty minutes in 50 games. Buium was one point off the team lead for points by a defenseman, placing fifth overall on the team in scoring. He was a teammate of Red Wings prospect Chase Bradley (203rd overall pick/2020), who led Sioux City in scoring. A native of San Diego, Calif., Buium spent the majority of the previous three seasons at Shattuck, notably racking up 57 points (14-43-57) in 46 games during the 2019-20 season and was previously a product of the Los Angeles Jr. Kings AAA program. Buium holds a college commitment to the University of Denver.

With their third round pick (70th overall), the Red Wings selected left wing Carter Mazur, a local product who hails from Jackson, Mich., and is a graduate of Little Caesars AAA Hockey Club. In 2020-21, Mazur captained the USHL’s Tri-City Storm and ranked among team leaders with 20 goals (T1st), 24 assists (3rd), 44 points (2nd), a plus-eight rating (T8th), nine power-play goals (T1st), a league-leading six shorthanded points (1st) and 102 shots (3rd). The 6-foot, 170-pound forward more than tripled his point total from the 2019-20 campaign, in which he totaled 13 points (6-7-13) and 49 penalty minutes in 47 games for the Storm. Prior to joining the USHL, Mazur played his youth hockey for Little Caesars, racking up 78 points (43-35-78), a plus-93 rating and 67 penalty minutes for the 15-and-under team in 2017-18 and logging 65 points (35-30-65) and a plus-63 rating at the under-16 level in 2018-19. Like Detroit’s first pick of the day (Shai Buium) Mazur is committed to the University of Denver, which is also home to Detroit’s second-round pick from the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, defenseman Antti Tuomisto.

The Red Wings picked up an extra selection prior to their next pick, acquiring the 114th and 155th overall selections in exchange for the 102nd pick. At 114, Detroit selected center Red Savage, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound forward who has played the last two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program. With the under-18 team in 2020-21, Savage ranked among the team’s leaders with 18 goals (3rd), 24 assists (7th), 42 points (3rd), a plus-15 rating (6th) and 39 penalty minutes (T3rd) in 46 games. Savage capped off his season as captain of the United States at the 2021 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, scoring one goal in five games. The Scottsdale, Ari., native also has prior ties to Michigan, playing his youth hockey with Belle Tire (2016-17) and Compuware (2017-19). Red is the son of Brian Savage, who played 12 NHL seasons with Montreal, Phoenix, St. Louis and Philadelphia from 1993-06, and is committed to the Miami University for 2021-22.

Detroit’s first three picks of the day, Buium, Mazur and Savage, are all set to compete for the United States at the 2021 World Junior Summer Showcase, taking place at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich., which runs until July 31.

In the fifth round, the Red Wings went back to Sweden and selected center Liam Dower Nilsson from Frolunda at 134th overall – marking the sixth player drafted by Detroit from Frolunda in the last three Entry Drafts (also first-rounder Simon Edvinsson last night; first-rounder Lucas Raymond and second-rounder Theodor Niederbach in 2020; and sixth-rounders Gustav Berglund and Elmer Soderblom in 2019). Dower Nilsson saw time in four different leagues in 2020-21, scoring four goals in two games in the Swedish under-18 league, ranking third on Frolunda’s under-20 team with 17 points (5-12-17) in 16 games, scoring at a point-per-game clip for Hanhals IF in Sweden’s third-tier HockeyEttan, and debuting for Frolunda in the SHL by skating in five games and registering 25 penalty minutes. Dower Nilsson also captained Sweden at the 2021 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, notching four points (1-3-4) and 31 penalty minutes to capture a bronze medal. The 6-foot, 172-pound native of Gothenburg, Sweden, has spent the last four seasons in Frolunda’s junior system, totaling 99 points (47-52-99) and 66 penalty minutes in 46 games at the under-16 level, 53 points (25-28-53) and 12 penalty minutes on the under-18 circuit and 18 points (6-12-18) in 21 games in the top Swedish junior league.

With their second fifth-round pick, acquired when Detroit traded down in the fourth round, the Red Wings chose defenseman Oscar Plandowski from the Charlottetown Islanders in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at 155th overall. The 6-foot, 190-pound blueliner has spent the last two seasons with Charlottetown, notching 17 points (5-12-17), a plus-22 rating and 28 penalty minutes in 39 games in 2020-21. He also contributed two points (1-1-2) in eight postseason contests. As a QMJHL rookie in 2019-20, Plandowski logged 12 points (0-12-12) and 26 penalty minutes in 60 games with the Islanders. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Plandowski also debuted on the international stage for Canada, posting four points (0-4-4) and two penalty minutes in six games for Canada White at the 2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Before joining Charlottetown, Plandowski spent a season at South Kent Selects Academy in Connecticut, racking up 53 points (8-45-53) in 48 games.

The Red Wings made their eighth and final selection in the sixth round (166th overall), selecting center Pasquale Zito. Zito did not play during the 2020-21 campaign due to the cancelation of the Ontario Hockey League season, but be previously played with the Windsor Spitfires. During the 2019-20 season as an OHL rookie, Zito contributed 13 points (3-10-13) and 27 penalty minutes in 46 games. The 6-foot, 175-pound forward is an Ottawa, Ontario native who played his youth hockey in the Ottawa Senators junior system prior to one season with the Mississauga Rebels in the Greater Toronto Hockey League. Zito tallied 23 points (6-17-23) in 30 games with Mississauga in 2018-19 and combined for 33 points (11-22-33) in 34 games at the under-15 level for the Senators.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

2 thoughts on “Press release: On the Wings’ second-day draft haul”

  1. I see that Raty guy you liked and even I had him high on my wish list scored 4 goals right after he finally got picked.

    1. The thing to remember regarding the World Junior Summer Showcase is that it *IS* summer hockey in July, but yeah, the Islanders used the Wings’ pick in the Leddy deal to get Raty. We’ll see how that plays out.

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