Bleacher Report’s Hannah Stuart has ranked the NHL’s 32 teams’ prospect pools, and the Red Wings receive a surprisingly middling ranking, finishing 13th out of 32:
13. Detroit Red Wings
Prospects to Watch: Carter Bear, Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin-Pellikka
Analysis: At this year’s draft, the Detroit Red Wings got one of my very favorite picks—Carter Bear. In a more overall sense, though, their drafting has been hit or miss for me the last few years. There were some excellent picks, and some head scratchers. But their top picks, in my view, all have a key thing in common: they can create. And that’s not a bad place to start from.
Bear’s tenacity is unreal, and he’s incredibly involved offensively, creating opportunities anywhere he can, on top of that. It’s his tenacity that makes him a perfect fit for the Red Wings, but the rest doesn’t hurt.
And Axel Sandin-Pellikka already looks like a pro when you watch the little things he does. He’ll almost certainly spend time in Grand Rapids of the AHL rather than jumping right to the NHL, but that’s a good thing—moving to North American hockey is always an adjustment, although perhaps less than it once was with today’s emphasis on smooth skating and mobility.
Continued; I can only guess that Stuart’s examining the top of the Wings’ crop, because Detroit has a deep pool of prospects, and a 13th-overall ranking seems a bit low.
