These things tend to go in cycles, but, per Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, only two Red Wings prospects were ranked among the NHL Network’s “Top 50 Prospects in the NHL,” with Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper landing at 11th and 25th, respectively…
The Top 50 Prospects in the NHL, revealed.
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 11, 2023
Let's hear it 🧐 do you agree? pic.twitter.com/nAHLhOlXMM
And Allen discusses this development in an article on DetroitHockeyNow.com:
The bad news, from the Red Wings’ perspective, is that the Atlantic Division rival Buffalo Sabres have four players on the list. Forwards Zach Benson, Matthew Savoie, Jiri Kulich, and goalie Devon Levi are all ranked among the top 30 prospects.
The Ottawa Senators boast one player (Ridley Greig, 39th) in the top 50. Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman said last season that the Red Wings are primarily competing against the Sabres and Senators because they are at a similar stage of their rebuilding.
The Montreal Canadiens, another Atlantic rival, has two players (David Reinbacher at 17 and Lane Hutson at 26) on the NHL Network list.
Detroit’s 2023 first rounders Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin Pellikka are not on the list, even though players drafted later in the 2023 draft are on the list. Sandin Pellikka is generally considered the best offensive defenseman coming out of the 2023 draft.
It happens. At this point, the Sabres and Senators are quite chic (ask their fan bases and bloggers, who have spent this summer looking down their noses at the poor, star and prospect-bereft Red Wings), and the Wings are going to have to prove that they belong in the conversation. The Atlantic Division is incredibly competitive, so both the Red Wings and their prospects will have to prove themselves on the ice.
