The Detroit Red Wings drafted eleven players over the course of two days at the 2023 NHL Draft.
I posted a massive wrap-up of the Red Wings media corps’ takes on the first day of the draft last night, and tonight, we’re going to review the Wings media’s observations regarding the second day of the draft, on a source-by-source basis:
A. MLive: Ansar Khan posted capsule articles regarding the Kailer Yamamoto/Klim Kostin trade, the Red Wings’ three second-round picks in Trey Augustine, Andrew Gibson and Brady Cleveland, and he noted the Wings’ drafting of Noah Dower Nilsson, brother of Wings 2021 pick Liam Dower Nilsson, and Khan offered scouting reports on the Wings’ eleven picks.
Khan also focused on the comments made by GM Steve Yzerman at the conclusion of the draft:
Yzerman did acquire 24-year bottom-six forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin from Edmonton for future considerations due to the Oilers’ need for cap space.
But the big move didn’t materialize, despite rampant speculation that sniper Alex DeBrincat was on his way from Ottawa. DeBrincat remains with the Senators for now.
Yzerman will head into free agency, which begins Saturday at noon, seeking a top-six forward, a right-shot defenseman and a back-up goaltender.
“I think we’re positioned reasonably well to have the ability with cap space, with draft picks (in 2024, including two first-rounders), if we want to go at it through trade or if we want to go through free agency, there’s options there,” Yzerman told media at the draft. “But I’m not going to just spend the money because I have it and we’re not going to just trade the picks because we have them. We’ll try to make good decisions regardless of our cap space or our depth. But it gives you options.
“It’s just hard. If we want young players, and there aren’t many of them on the market. To get them you got to be prepared to pay and you got to prepared to pay a lot of money to them as well.”
B. Detroit Free Press: The Free Press’s Helene St. James discussed the Red Wings’ trade for Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin:
Kostin’s appeal made it worth it to have to take on Kailer Yamamoto and his contract in order to facilitate a trade with the Edmonton Oilers during a busy second day at the NHL draft. Kostin is 24, 6 feet 3 and 224 pounds, and projects to make the Wings harder to play against.
“Kostin is a big winger, plays hard,” Yzerman said Thursday. “We were looking to add some of that. We have to figure out exactly what our plan and where Kailer (fits). I haven’t even had a chance to talk to him or his agent to figure out what our plan there is.”
…
“We have some roster spots open and we will see if we can’t address those in free agency,” Yzerman said. He didn’t rule out executing another trade, too.
“I think we’re positioned reasonably well with cap space, with draft picks, if we want to go at it through trade, if we want to go at it through free agency,” Yzerman said. “There are options there. But I’m not just going to spend the money because I have it and we’re not going to just trade the picks because we have them. We are going to try to make good decisions. But it gives you options. It’s just hard — like, if you want young players, which there aren’t many of them on the market, to get them, you have to be prepared to pay.”
Yzerman said he would make final decisions Friday on which of their own restricted free agents — a group that includes Joe Veleno, Gustav Lindström — will be qualified. He’s also touched bases with some of the pending unrestricted free agents, which includes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.
“We haven’t rule anything out,” Yzerman said. “We have talked to some of them.”
C. Detroit News: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted capsule profiles of each and every one of the Red Wings’ eleven picks, and he offered snippets of conversations with most of the Wings’ second-day picks, including Noah Dower Nilsson:
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to share this with my family,” Noah in his press conference after being drafted. “It’s what I’ve dreamed of my whole life. It’s so cool.”
The entire Dower Nilsson family was there except for the mother, Bodil. Having fought cancer multiple times, Bodil died in 2017. Noah made sure she was recognized Thursday.
“She’s my biggest idol,” Noah said.
Noah relishes his relationship with his older brother that much more after what the family has gone through.
“Very good, tight,” Noah said of their relationship. “He’s helped me along the way to be better. We’ve always supported each other to get to this point. We love each other so much. It’s unbelievable to share this with my family. They’ve always been with me and helped me to get here.”
And Kulfan offered comments from both Yzerman and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper, regarding both the draft and the Wings’ second-day-of-the-draft trade:
“I’d like to add some offense but there’s no guarantee I’ll do anything,” Yzerman said. “We’ll fill some spots. With who, I’m not sure and for how much or for how long. We’d to like to add and try to add in some form or another.”
There was rampant speculation the Wings were in the mix for Ottawa’s Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills) and Philadelphia’s Travis Konecny, who both were rumored to be available in trade. But neither appears that close to being dealt currently.
The Wings have needs at forward, and are searching to add a right-shot defenseman and a goaltender to back up Ville Husso.
“We don’t have a goaltender signed. We’d like to do that, we need to do that,” said Yzerman, who is likely to let goaltenders Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg go into the free agent market. “We have roster spots open. We’ll see if we can address those in free agency.”
D. Detroit Hockey Now: Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson offered a set of second-day-of-the-draft prospect comments…
In the fourth round, the Red Wings took Larry Keenan of Culver Academy, a high school in Culver, Ind. He is the grandson of Larry Keenan, who played for four NHL teams in the 1960s.
The younger Keenan wasn’t surprised to be taken by Detroit.
“They were probably one of the teams that had the most interest in me,” he said. “I know their scout Tim Gibson, he was calling my personal trainer quite a big, even like two days ago, just checking in, making sure everything was good.”
The elder Keenan scored the first goal in the history of the St. Louis Blues, and was on the ice when Bobby Orr scored his famous goal against St. Louis in 1970.
Among those celebrating the pick was the elder Larry Keenan, who is now 83.
“I’m really excited to share it with them and take it all in. Enjoying the moment,” the younger Keenan said.
And Kevin Allen offered a second-day-of-the-draft summary:
On the second day of the draft, the Red Wings claimed South Lyon, Michigan native goalie Trey Augustine who played for USA’s National Team Development program. He is headed to Michigan State.
Augustine went at No. 43, and Ontario Hockey League right-shot defenseman Andrew Gibson was claimed at No. 44. With the No. 47 pick, the Red Wings went with hard-to-play-against Team USA left-shot defenseman Brady Cleveland.
It wasn’t just the Red Wings who didn’t complete expected deals. No trades for veterans were completed during the first day of the draft. By the fifth round, in day two, the only trades of actual NHLers were the New York Islanders moving Josh Bailey to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit acquisitions from Edmonton.
“I don’t know what everybody else was doing,” Yzerman said after the first round. “But we had some discussions with teams and ultimately, speaking for us, we were comfortable. We had a particular player we wanted for a specific reason at the picks. But, yeah, I don’t remember the last time we didn’t have any movement. Interesting. I don’t really know why.”
E. The Athletic: Max Bultman posted an eclectic set of observations:
The big question from many observers, as rounds 2-7 played out Thursday, was why Detroit was taking so many defensemen. After taking Nate Danielson at No. 9 overall on Wednesday night, the Red Wings took defenders at three of their next four picks, the lone exception being goaltender Trey Augustine. The most surprising may have been No. 47 pick Brady Cleveland, a 6-foot-5 left-shot defenseman from the U.S. NTDP, whom Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler both had outside their top 100.
Detroit has had a habit, the last five years, of using its second-round capital on big, toolsy defensemen. They took Antti Tuomisto there in 2019, William Wallinder in 2020, Shai Buium in 2021 and now Cleveland and RHD Andrew Gibson in the second round this week. All are at least 6-foot-3, and only Gibson shoots right.
I asked director of amateur scouting Kris Draper about that trend after the seventh round on Thursday, though, and he said the Red Wings were simply following their list.
“The list is the list,” Draper said. “It’s amazing how players just kind of fall into those situations. You put so much time (in) — you scout, you make a list and you debate the list, and you keep moving other players up or down and you kind of get your list and you go off your list. And that’s really what we did. It wasn’t a matter of forcing anybody up or down. It was where we put them, and we believed in the list, we believed in the players that we got. … We know we do have a lot of left-shot ‘D,’ but the good ones are just going to sort it out for us.”
He made a reference to Stanley Cup champion Vegas, and the “pretty big boys on that back end there,” which is no surprise, and also made note: Detroit still left the draft with multiple centers and goalies, including a top goalie prospect in Augustine.
And considering the barren state of the right-side pipeline on defense, Gibson and No. 17 overall pick Axel Sandin Pellikka certainly fill a need, too. But seeing only one forward picked with those five top-50 selections was still a surprise.
“Stevie says it: we kind of have to get better in all areas,” Draper said. “And we felt that at the time, we’re making the best pick possible for our organization.”
F. 97.1 The Ticket: Will Burchfield offered a short take on the Yamamoto/Kostin trade, a note on the Red Wings’ second-day picks, and he then suggested that the Red Wings “played it safe” at the draft, both in terms of picks and trades:
Yzerman was working the trade phones Wednesday night, to be clear. He said the Wings “had some discussions with teams” involving both of their top picks, “but ultimately, speaking for us, we were comfortable.”
“When our picks were coming up, the options to move back were interesting, but we had two particular players in each case that we wanted to use the pick on,” Yzerman said.
Moving back would have made some sense in a rich first-round. But for the Wings to move up in a deep Atlantic Division, Yzerman will have to get aggressive. His centerpiece, Larkin, is young, but growing older in the NHL. He turns 27 this summer. In a league where players tend to peak before 30, Yzerman is at risk of aging Larkin out of his prime before his supporting cast is ready to actually support him.
Larkin has lots of good hockey ahead of him, to be sure. He’s coming off the best season of his career. That’s why the time feels right to surround him with more talent, and Yzerman still has the assets and cap space to do it. If it’s not DeBrincat, who’s on the outs in Ottawa with an eye on Detroit, maybe it’s Travis Konecny of the Flyers. If Yzerman refuses to part with his premium assets, Vancouver’s Brock Boeser makes some sense. So does New Jersey’s pending UFA Miles Wood, who brings physicality with his scoring punch.
And while he isn’t necessarily on the block, rising star Clayton Keller is still worth pursuing in Arizona. There is a path toward tomorrow for the Wings that doesn’t trample today.
Yzerman drafted two good-looking hockey players on Wednesday, at a pair of building block positions. You could say he played it safe. But as strong as his resume is in the draft, none of his picks this year are a lock to help the Red Wings down the line. There is just as much risk in waiting for prospects to develop as there is in making a move for the now. And as Larkin enters his prime, the safest play for the Red Wings might be going for it, so to speak.
G. Windsor Star: The Windsor Star’s Jim Parker noted that South Lyon’s Trey Augustine was not the only “local kid” that the Red Wings drafted on Thursday:
LaSalle’s Andrew Gibson had barely settled into his seat at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Thursday.
Within minutes of the start of the second day of the NHL Draft, the 18-year-old Gibson was up and making his way to the arena floor after being taken by the Detroit Red Wings with the 10th pick of the second round.
“I knew there was a possibility that I could go really early (Thursday) and I was on the edge of my seat the whole morning,” said Gibson, who was the sixth Ontario Hockey League player overall drafted. “It’s an honour.”
The six-foot-three, 202-pound Gibson missed two months of the season with Sault Ste. Marie with an injury, but returned and earned a spot on Canada’s under-18 team for the world championship and won a bronze medal.
“He was a guy we were able to see a lot of,” Red Wings’ director of amateur scouting Kris Draper said. “He was off to a good start when he got injured and was able to come back. It’s great when these prospects get a chance to represent their county.”
H. DetroitRedWings.com: In addition to posting a set of second-day videos of the prospects and Yzerman and Draper’s media availabilties, the Red Wings posted confirmation that the team will hold its Summer Development Camp from July 1st to 5th, the Wings posted their second-day draft pick press release, and Jonathan Mills summarized the Wings’ second day haul:
Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris Draper said that Detroit entered Thursday looking to add depth between the pipes.
“We didn’t draft [a goalie] last year,” Draper said. “We were able to add two this year. (Sebastian) Cossa obviously made a big step this year in Toledo. We’re expecting and looking forward to another big step going forward. We gotta start getting some goaltending prospects in the system.”
Detroit took Finnie with its final pick of the 2023 Draft. Finnie totaled 35 points on nine goals and 26 assists in 64 regular-season games this season with the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers.
Up next for the prospects is Detroit’s 2023-24 Development Camp, which begins Saturday at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena.
“Our Development Camp is more about education than it is really about conditioning,” Yzerman said. “Mostly just wanna spend a few days with them, kind of make sure they’re set up for a good offseason.”
And here’s one more thing from the Wings: a video compilation of the best kind of hockey hugs:
Family first. ❤️#DRWDraft pic.twitter.com/w4faNam3lM
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 29, 2023
