In referencing Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis’ inclusion of 5 Red Wings prospects on Ellis’ “top 75 NHL-affiliated skater prospects” list, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen insists that the Red Wings should not be viewed as a “tear-down” franchise by the next GM:
The Red Wings have picked at No. 13 or later for the last three draft years, and in four of the last five years.
The ranked Detroit prospects this year: 43. Right Wing Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (15th, 2024, should make the Red Wings roster); 44. Left Wing: Carter Bear (13th, 2025, Grand Rapids Griffins); 61. JP Hurlbert (23rd, 2026, University of Michigan); 63. Center Nate Danielson (ninth, 20243, Griffins); 64. Center-Wing Max Plante (47th, 2024, Minnesota-Duluth).
Some of this comes from behind the Detroit Hockey Now paywall, so I’m not going to include a huge chunk of the article, but Allen suggests this:
The reality of interviewing to become this team’s new general manager, or director of hockey operations, is that you likely aren’t taking over a Stanley Cup contender. But Detroit’s new boss will at least be taking charge of a team that is better than the one Yzerman received from Ken Holland in 2019. That team was bottoming out, with nine players over 30 and no quality prospects to replace them.
This team boasts Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Simon Edvinsson and Alex DeBrincat, plus a stable of promising young goalies and five of the top 75 prospects. That doesn’t count players such as Carter Mazur, Marco Kasper, and Emmitt Finnie, who are expected to be dependable contributors. This is not a tear-down-and-start-over situation.
Continued (paywall); I’ve never seen the Red Wings as a franchise that should be torn down to the foundational blocks and totally reset, though I know that some of you feel that way.
To me, between the bright prospects in the organization (none are superstars, but many will be solid NHL’ers) and the plain old fact that the Wings have asked their fans to repeatedly pay more and more for tickets to watch a middling-at-best Original Six franchise, the fans are owed better than another tear-down and complete rebuild.
I would also argue that it’s not fair to Moritz Seider or Lucas Raymond to be stuck on a rebuilding team for another 5-7 years when they’ve got their best years in front of them.
To me, it’s simple: yeah, getting a superstar player or two via tanking and hoping for draft lottery luck is one strategy going forward, but I just don’t see the need for it given the building blocks that the team owns presently in the form of some bright lights on the roster and bright lights in the prospect pool of an Original Six team that happens to be expensive to watch in person or on TV/online.
My expectations for this team are higher than some folks’ expectations, but I can’t help it. I believe that this team can turn itself around in short order via some shrewd moves from its next GM/president of hockey operations.
