As Detroit Hockey Now’s audit of the Red Wings’ prospect pipeline continues, we come to one Maximilian Kilpinen, a 6’1,” 179-pound center who was picked 129th overall by the Wings this past July.
Kilpinen didn’t take part in the Wings’ summer development camp, so Detroit Hockey Now’s Nate Brown offers a brief summary of the Orebro center’s game:
Playing in Sweden, Kilpinen checked off two common boxes of Yzerman’s drafting strategy: playing overseas and being a forward. The former is a theme through four seasons; The latter, the theme of the 2022 draft. In all, Kilpinen was one of seven forwards taken in nine picks. Kilpinen is on the left wing and with Örebro HK J20 he had 25 points (14-11) in 27 games. Some outlets have also shown him as a center.
NHL Central Scouting listed Kilpinen as the 61st best European skater out of 157 total. He wasn’t even listed in the midterm rankings.
Continued; Kilpinen needs to establish himself as a young player at more than the Swedish J20 level next, and he’ll take his game through there.
