In addition to a quintet of Red Wings draft grades issued by experts who weighed in on the Detroit Red Wings’ 2025 NHL Draft haul this evening, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler has offered a column which discusses all 32 teams’ draft picks in terms of “winners” and “losers.” Wheeler issues an “overtime win” for the Red Wings:
The Red Wings got two Red Wings and two players I’d mocked to them at different points in Carter Bear and Eddie Genborg. They’re both competitive, hard-working, committed, pro-style players. Bear has top-six talent and potential and Genborg’s profile is a bottom-six one, but nobody will ever be able to question future teams in Detroit for their work ethic.
I’ll never fault a team for taking a goalie in the middle rounds, either. Once the top goalies in the draft were gone, and they were by No. 75, the big Michal Pradel was in that next tier and was a fine third-round pick. The Red Wings aren’t a team that’s desperate for young goalies either, so they must really like him.
My favorite pick for the Red Wings was Slovak forward Michal Svrcek in the fourth round. He was No. 70 on my board; they got him at No. 119 and I’ve yet to see him play a bad game. He attacks and scores against his peers and I think they could look back on that pick like the Dmitri Buchelnikov one because I think he has legit skill and he’s an SHL/AHL top-sixer for sure.
Also in the fourth round, Minnesota high schooler Brent Solomon is an interesting dice roll. He has a long way to go but he can rip the puck.
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