MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ 2024 NHL Draft haul this evening, noting that the Red Wings attempted to restore their depth at forward (in terms of their prospect pipeline) over the course of the last two days:
The Red Wings took skilled passer Max Plante of the U.S. National Team Development Program in the second round (No. 47), overage high-scoring center Ondrej Becher of Prince George (WHL) in the third round (No. 80), Swedish winger Charlie Forslund in the sixth round (No. 176) and speedy Austin Baker, another USNTDP product who is Michigan State-bound, in the seventh (No. 203).
“If you look at our depth chart, we’ve drafted a lot of D over the previous drafts,” Kris Draper, Red Wings assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting, told media at the draft. “If you have a D-man you like, you’re certainly going to step up and take him. Just the way it went we thought we addressed a lot of needs up front — scoring, we got some speed, we got some competitiveness, some smarts. We thought what we wanted to do over the last couple of days, we were able to do it.”
In addition to Plante’s passing ability and skating, the Red Wings like his hockey sense and ability to play up and down the lineup and in all situations. He is the son of former NHL center Derek Plante and will play at Minnesota-Duluth next season.
“He’s smart, he can play on the penalty kill, he can play on the power play,” Draper said. “The important thing that we love is he can play with really good hockey players and he showed that.”
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