Summarizing Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper’s takes on the Red Wings’ draft haul

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper spoke with the media at length after the conclusion of the 2021 NHL Draft, discussing Detroit’s eight draft picks at length, with an emphasis on the Wings’ Day 2 haul…

During tonight’s Tigers game, Bally Sports Detroit’s John Keating gave the 2-minute version of Yzerman and Draper’s remarks…

The Free Press’s Helene St. James, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan, MLive’s Ansar Khan, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman and Max Bultman have all weighed in on a prospect-by-prospect basis, and their breakdowns complement the comments made by Yzerman and Draper.

As the Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez notes, the Red Wings made sure to draft players with whom the organization has some ties, reducing some of the certainty regarding prospect valuation in a COVID-affected season…

In one breath, Yzerman tried to deny that having ties or strong familiarity with players influenced his pick. He tried to play the “best player available” card as much as he could.

“You like to have as much information on all the kids you can to make the best decision possible,” he said. “It doesn’t really come down to so much, you know, ‘Kris knows this guys, therefore I’m drafting him.’ We’re obviously looking at who’s the best player at that spot, what’s the right pick.”

And in the next breath, Yzerman admitted the truth about his strong ties to [Oscar] Plandowski.

“I met Oscar when he was a little boy,” he said. “I haven’t seen him play. I’ve seen video of him playing.”

That video, Yzerman’s ties to his father and Plandowski’s apparent fit as a puck-moving, right shot with some size all added up to, you guessed it, the best player available.

Most GMs are cagey about their strategy, so I don’t fault Yzerman for not showing all his cards. But when it came to making his decisions, Yzerman showed conviction through his willingness to make some moves, even if it cost him several draft picks. He started with 12 draft picks, but after two pre-draft trades and three trades during the draft, he wound up with eight picks.

Monarrez continues; the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan continues the narrative…

“We hope we made good choices” Yzerman said. “We defintitely wanted to address some needs, particularly on left defense and we talked about the goaltender as well. We feel we have now stabilized our goal in Detroit (Alex Nedeljkovic) and a very good prospect within our system (Sebastian Cossa).

“We’re comfortable with the depth of the prospects on left (defense) and on the right side as well. We were able to to add some forwards, centermen in particular. You look at our prospects, we have a lot of wingers we consider skilled wingers, and we wanted to add to that with some centermen. We were able to do all those things.”

For Draper and his staff, this weekend was a culmination of a draft process that was different and unique because of the pandemic.

Travel was restricted, many leagues didn’t play full or any sort of season, and video was more vital than actually seeing prospects in person.

“It was definitely challenging,” Draper said. “We would be on video and make a ton of calls throughout the year, but the communication was great.”

Kulfan’s story continues as well, and MLive’s Ansar Khan summarizes Friday and Saturday’s emphasis for the Red Wings as an organization–in terms of acquiring both prospects and NHL players:

“All things being equal and one guy’s bigger, we’ll take the bigger guy,” Yzerman said. “It’s not so much worrying about big vs. small, the two defensemen in particular that we took in Edvinsson and Buium, both big guys, we liked them a lot.

“We had (Buium) probably higher than most people, and we just felt like, let’s get him. We’ve been in that spot before where we’re waiting, waiting, waiting, and then they go right before you. We thought the cost to move up to make sure we had him was reasonable. I do like these big D-men, but they have to be mobile, they have to have some skill. We don’t draft them just because they’re big.”

The Red Wings have drafted six players from Frolunda over the past three years, including Edvinsson and Nilsson, who Draper said chief European scout Hakan Andersson was “pounding the table for.”

Draper called it coincidental to have so many Frolunda prospects, but added, “They run an amazing program from youth hockey all the way up. These guys are coached the right way, brought up the right way, taught how to play the game. They’ve had so much success at the youth level and the pro level as well.”

Draper’s second draft as chief amateur scout was more challenging because of pandemic travel restrictions and reduced scouting opportunities, but he believes they addressed their needs at center and defense.

“We feel good about today,” Draper said. “We feel we drafted in a lot of areas we needed to draft in. You talk about the character, the talent of the prospects we brought in, and they all know the work starts now.”

Khan wraps things up, offering a wise quote from Yzerman…

“We feel we’ve stabilized our goal in Detroit (by trading for Alex Nedeljkovic Thursday) and also with a very good prospect within our system,” general manager Steve Yzerman said. “We’re comfortable with the depth of prospects we have on left D and on the right side. If you look at our prospects, we have a lot of wingers, we’d consider them skilled wingers, and we wanted to add to that with some centermen. We were able to do all of those things.”

And ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski are bullish on the Wings’ draft, declaring Yzerman a “winner” after two days’ worth of drafting–as well as the previous days’ deals:

Winner: Steve Yzerman

The Red Wings had a tremendous draft, with eight selections. That started with 6-foot-4 Swedish defenseman Simon Edvinsson (No. 6 overall), who has the raw abilities to become a foundational player. They traded up to get 6-foot-6 goaltender Sebastian Cossa at No. 15, giving them the franchise goalie prospect they lacked — and some Andrei Vasilevskiy flashbacks, when GM Steve Yzerman took him in the first round in 2012.

With defenseman Shai Buium (36th), Carter Mazur (70th) and perfectly monikered Red Savage (114th) drafted next, the Red Wings were on point all weekend. That’s not even mentioning the trade they made with the Carolina Hurricanes, acquiring Calder Trophy finalist Alex Nedeljkovic and signing him to a two-year deal. — Wyshynski

As both Yzerman and Draper suggested, Friday and Saturday mark the start of the NHL-bound journey for the Red Wings’ 8 draft picks. Whether some or all of them “make the show” is yet to be determined, and anywhere from two to five years from now, today’s promise will convert into progress made by some of them.

Where they end up is up to them, and, from today on out, the Red Wings’ player development department.

Let’s hope for the best.