Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell examines the Red Wings’ roster if the team had better luck with the NHL’s Draft Lottery over the past 10 years:
Remember when the Detroit Red Wings had one of the longest playoff streaks in NHL history?
It feels like just yesterday the Red Wings were the model of consistency, making the playoffs every year and, at their best, competing for the Stanley Cup. But just as quickly, they fell from grace, and for the past 10 years, the only consistency found in Detroit is their consistency to miss the playoffs.
Some of the Red Wings’ struggles are self-inflicted. They’ve been inconsistent at the draft, and failed to acquire a plethora of high-end talent for their roster. Former general manager Steve Yzerman jumped the gun on the rebuild and started acquiring middle-of-the-lineup talent which blocked roster spots for their young prospects AND made the team too good to tank, but not good enough to make the playoffs. Yzerman’s inability to properly evaluate defensemen has left their blueline quite barren aside from their young upstarts.
But not all of the Red Wings’ problems are of their own doing. While they could be blamed for their inability to secure more elite talent, luck also played a massive factor in this issue, largely due to the draft lottery. Detroit has had woeful luck with the lottery in the last 10 years, as the results have allowed nine teams to pass them, seen them drop out of the top five twice, and they have also never had their name drawn from the lottery once between the 24 possible draws over 10 lotteries. Even in 2020, when they finished last by a significant margin, they still dropped to fourth in the lottery. I don’t think they could repeat that bad luck at the draft if they tried.
So with the Red Wings’ drought now at 10 years, Dylan Larkin requesting a trade, Steve Yzerman “promoted” from the GM position, and Detroit in all-around chaos, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on the biggest what if for this franchise’s rebuild: what if they had better lottery luck?
For the most part, Wings made out pretty good with their Top 5 picks. Sure, I would definitely take Stutzle over Raymond (rumor was that is who was #1 on Yzermans draft board) and it would’ve taken care of the center need. The biggest miss however was not having a Top 5 pick in 2023 and ending up with Nate Danielson at 9. Missing out on such players like: Bedard, Carlsson, Fantilli and Will Smith. Probably our last chance of “the rebuild” to pick up such high level prospects.
I will also harp on the Cossa pick. Trading up to take him over Wallstedt and Wyatt Johnston is yet another miss for the teams amateur scouting. William Wallinder, Shai Buium, Dylan James, Andrew Gibson and Brady Cleveland were all Top 50 picks. That is not good when you are trying to rebuild through the draft.
This is why I want an external GM hire and for him to clean house from amateur to pro scouting.