Red Wings prospect defenseman Brady Cleveland, a 2023 47th overall draft pick, has bounced around thanks to the NCAA transfer portal, playing for the University of Wisconsin during his freshman season, Colorado College as a sophomore, and now he’s headed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth as a junior.
The Hockey News’s Jake Tye suggests that Cleveland’s multiple transfers are somehow the Red Wings’ problem, and that Cleveland’s situation is representative of a developmental system in crisis:
Cleveland was a high draft pick by the Red Wings, and the organization is hoping he can finally find his footing and grow into a player worthy of an NHL contract. He still has two years of NCAA eligibility remaining, including this upcoming season, which means Detroit still has time to come to a decision. Once his college career is over, they will have a 30-day window to decide whether to sign him or allow him to become a free agent. The hope is that he can develop within a stable system in Minnesota-Duluth that has produced top NHL defensemen like Justin Faulk, Neal Pionk, and Carson Soucy.
What the Red Wings can’t afford is another situation like Red Savage, a fourth-round pick who ultimately went unsigned and wasted a fourth-round pick. For General Manager Steve Yzerman, continuing to miss on a second-round picks is something he can’t afford to continue. Other recent second-round selections, like Andrew Gibson (2023), Theodor Niederbach (2020), and Robert Mastrosimone (2019), have failed to make an impact and are no longer with the organization.
While Detroit has seen some success with their top picks like Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, and Marco Kasper, those hits can’t overshadow the issue that has become the inability to draft impact players and developing talent from within. A lack of productive prospects from the AHL and below may be one of the reasons the Red Wings have now missed the playoffs for nine straight seasons. Cleveland’s trajectory could be used a symbol of a greater issue within the organization that has been if the team truly on the right path, or are its development issues holding it back?
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have built up championship teams not just with star talent but players that excel in their roles even in the bottom six of their lineup. The Bolts had drafted and developed players like Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Ross Colton into impact players that weren’t superstars like Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos but still played a pivotal role in the team’s success. The Red Wings will need to look to do the same if they want to eventually find success.
Continued; in NCAA hockey, players have a say in their developmental paths, and while Cleveland’s multiple transfers may have set his developmental path back a bit…
He’s going into his junior year of eligibility as a stay-at-home defenseman who plays mean hockey. And it is NOT the Red Wings’ problem that he’s transferred several times.
Moreover, the Red Wings have accumulated a very solid number of picks and prospects over Yzerman’s tenure with the team, and after leaning on their 1st round picks for the first few years of the Yzerman regime, they’re beginning to see players like Albert Johansson, Carter Mazur, Elmer Soderblom and Jonathan Berggren either push for jobs or plain old win them outright, there are more players to come from the AHL level…
And as much as I really liked Red Savage, losing a 4th line center with a tremendous work ethic to a 2-year AHL-level contract is not a tragedy here.
There is nothing to panic about here, and the reality of developing players is that not everyone you select pans out. The Red Wings are getting more and more out of their mid-round picks as the years progress, so I just cannot manufacture significant worry regarding someone like Cleveland not “sticking” should he not pan out.
It’s not the Red Wings’ fault that the young man has transferred three times, and it’s not the Red Wings’ fault if he doesn’t succeed at making it to the NHL. Player development is a two-way street, with the team equipping prospects with the best possible skill sets in terms of on-ice skills and off-ice responsibilities, and the players attempting to deliver in terms of their mental, physical and on-ice developmental curves ascending to a successful peak all at the same time.
It ain’t as easy as willing things to happen.
