Month: June 2024

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.”

Continued (paywall)

The NHL has posted a 10:52 video which offers the “Stanley Cup Final celebrations” from the last 30 years’ worth of Cup-winners’ celebrations, as related by broadcast crews, and there are four Wings wins involved (and two losses):

NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale posted a list of his 10 best moments from the 2024 NHL Draft, and he included the Wings’ drafting of Michael Brandsegg-Nygard of Norway on his list:

Norwegian ascent: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard became the first Norway-born player selected in the first round of an NHL Draft when the Detroit Red Wings chose him at No. 15 on Friday. He’s a right wing who played for Mora in Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division last season.

Stian Solberg, also born in Oslo, Norway, went eight picks later to the Anaheim Ducks to cap an unforgettable opening night for Norwegian hockey. Solberg’s a defenseman with Valerenga in EliteHockey Ligaen, Norway’s top professional men’s league.

“It’s quite an accomplishment for a Norwegian player to be considered as a first-round selection, and it’s a testament to the commitment and passion of the player to find the best development path to pursue his ambition to get to the NHL,” NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr said. “Both of these players have great futures ahead of them and will be looked up to as examples for other Norwegian players.”

There were four Norway-born players chosen over two days, including defenseman Ludvig Lafton (No. 190, Utah) of Farjestad in Sweden’s junior league and left wing Noah Steen (No. 199, Tampa Bay Lightning) of Mora.

Continued; as Brandsegg-Nygard said yesterday, he and Solberg are best friends.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler weighed in on the draft hauls of each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams about half an hour ago, and fellow prospect expert Corey Pronman now grades the NHL teams’ drafts. As per usual, Pronman’s nonplussed by the Red Wings’ “go our own way” selections:

Detroit Red Wings: C+

Detroit’s first-round pick, Brandsegg-Nygard, projects as a hard-to-play-against top-six winger. Their day two picks weren’t that exciting to me. Max Plante and Ondrej Becher are very skilled forwards and have chances to play but have a long way to go in their development.

Read the full analysis of Detroit’s draft class here.

Continued (paywall)

Good evening, everybody. I hope you’re enjoying the return of the blog during what really is the busiest time of the entire NHL calendar. I’m pretty tired after two draft-y days, but I am hoping to recuperate a bit and get ready for free agency on Monday, and then…

Well, that part is still up to you. We’ve raised about $500 of the $900 necessary to get me down to Little Caesars Arena for the Red Wings’ summer development camp in a rental car (because our one and only vehicle’s exhaust system drags on the ground).

I’m thrilled to say that we’re halfway there due to a couple of extremely generous donations, but it takes a combination of big and small to get down the road.

I’m hoping that those of you who were reluctant to offer your support without me putting out a product might change your minds now that the blog is up and running again.

So, with two more days of fundraising to go:

If you’re interested in having me attend the Red Wings’ summer development camp next week, here are the fundraising details, as Paypal is acting weird about holding back funds right now: you can use Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

As always, thank you for reading and thank you for your support.

Here’s the Red Wings’ press release regarding their second-day-of-the-draft haul:

RED WINGS SELECT SEVEN PLAYERS ON SECOND DAY OF 2024 NHL ENTRY DRAFT 

  … Four Forwards, Two Defensemen and One Goaltender Chosen By Detroit in Las Vegas …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today selected seven players during the second day of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas.

The Red Wings chose left wing Max Plante (47th overall) in the second round before taking center Ondřej Becher (80th overall) in the third round and goaltender Landon Miller (126th overall) in the fourth round. From there, Detroit selected defenseman John Whipple (144th overall) in the fifth round and left wing Charlie Forslund (176th overall) in the sixth round before using a pair of seventh-round picks in left wing Austin Baker (203rd overall) and defenseman Fisher Scott (208th overall).

Detroit’s first pick of the day was the 15th choice of the second round (47th overall), which the team used on left wing Max Plante. The 5-foot-11, 177-pound forward has spent the last two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich. Plante spent the 2023-24 campaign with the NTDP’s under-18 squad, recording 61 points (15-46-61), a plus-16 rating and 16 penalty minutes in 51 games. He also finished with 29 points (6-23-29), a plus-nine rating and six penalty minutes in 25 games with Team USA in the United States Hockey League. Plante skated with the NTDP’s under-17 team during the 2022-23 season, tallying 46 points (11-35-46) and 24 penalty minutes in 54 games. He also collected 24 points (5-19-24), a plus-two rating and 18 penalty minutes in 32 USHL games, in addition to one assist in three postseason contests. A native of Duluth, Minn., Plante is committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for the 2024-25 season.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler analyzed the 2024 NHL Draft performances of each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and he deemed the Red Wings an “overtime winner” as the authors of a “decent” draft performance:

I think the Red Wings had a decent draft. It’s not going to change their ceiling as a team, but Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Max Plante and Ondrej Becher all made sense where they took them. Plante is going to need to play with a little more pace to become an NHLer, but he’s a cerebral and hard-working player who makes his linemates better. Becher is an interesting one as an overager who impressed domestically and internationally this year, becoming an important part (and playmaker and driver) on one of the best lines in the WHL.

Landon Miller seemed to have some tough nights in net whenever I watched the Soo this year, but he’s huge and goalies are tricky, so who knows.

John Whipple, once one of the top American players in this age group, never became at the program what people thought he would, and he can struggle with his decision-making but he has some tools and I expect him to be a better college player than a junior player. He was No. 87 on my list and I don’t think they’re risking much by taking him at No. 144, even if he has some work to do.

I liked the Austin Baker selection at No. 203. I’m not sure he’s got the skill but he was a very good fourth-liner for the NTDP this year and he works and plays to his strengths.

Continued (paywall);

And the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton took note of some of the comments made by Red Wings assistant GM and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper, regarding the Wings’ draft haul. We’ll discuss the “Hakan Pick”:

Sixth round, 176th overall, Charlie Forslund, LW, Falu IF (Sweden-3)

Forslund is a classic Hakan Andersson late-round draft pick.  Forslund scoring 19 points in 19 games this year for Falu in the Swedish third division.  At six-foot-three, he plays like a power forward, with legitimate dual threat ability.  

Forslund is set to join Mora IK (where Michael Brandsegg-Nygard spent the past two seasons) for the upcoming campaign. Draper noted that Mora has developed prospects well in recent history, something the Red Wings noticed in the draft process. 

“(That’s) important development-wise, picking somebody like Charlie that has kind of been off the radar,” Draper said. “And then all of a sudden he’s starting to play and now going into a good organization (he) can continue to develop. Looking forward to getting him into Detroit for dev camp for sure.”

Continued; Draper sounds a lot like Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin regarding the concept that Lindgren is going to benefit from being with a professional organization this upcoming season.

Here are the Red Wings’ videos of assistant GM/director of amateur scouting Kris Draper and Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman speaking with the media at the conclusion of the second day of the 2024 NHL Draft:

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis issued draft grades to each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and the Red Wings got a “B+”:

14. Detroit Red Wings: B+

Notable Picks: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Max Plante, Ondrej Becher

The Red Wings took some serious value today, which is always fun. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard isn’t the high-end goal-scorer they need in the system but he plays with power and does have a wicked shot. Plante is one of the best playmakers out of this draft, while Becher was one of the best overage players. I also think Landon Miller established himself as one of the more interesting goalie prospects and John Whipple has decent third-pairing potential. In all, I like it.

Alex Wood on YouTube posted a 15-minute clip of each and every one of the Red Wings’ 2024 draft picks, John Buccigross’s gaffe included: