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EliteProspects issues a B- to the Wings’ draft haul (among some very harsh marks for the rest of the league)

Updated 2x at 12:37 AM, Sunday morning: Pronman, Bultman, Ellis, Wheeler, the vast majority of the NHL’s “draft gurus” have weighed in on the Red Wings’ 2025 NHL Draft class over the course of this evening. Now, EliteProspects’ Mitch Brown, David St-Louis and Daniel Gee wrap up the “draft guru grade” portion of our programming with a comprehensive set of assessments of the Wings’ picks:

Detroit Red Wings: B-

Picks: Carter Bear (13), Eddie Genborg (44), Michal Pradel (75), Brent Solomon (109), Michal Svrcek (119), Nikita Tyurin (140), Will Murphy (172), Grayden Robertson-Palmer (204)

We didn’t love Detroit’s day two, but it might not matter: Carter Bear is just that good. Our No. 8 prospect is draft’s fierciest competitor, a top-end playmaker, skilled net-front finisher, elite defensive forward, and a non-stop menace. He can slide into any role, but we anticipate he’ll be a top-six, playoff-performing winger.

Genborg was a heavily debated player in our ranks, before we ultimately all settled into seeing him as a bottom-six forward. He’s a north-south, fast-moving winger who drives hard and occasionally breaks some ankles. They also added some lower-probability checking upside and puck-moving with guys like Svrcek and Tyurin. 

Michal Pradel, a tall, smooth goalie who performed well in the USHL’s second half, could also reach the NHL, development-dependent. 

Continued (paywall); to be fair, the gents’ grades are particularly harsh. Lots of C’s and D’s.

And, as you and I both know, the Red Wings’ amateur scouting staff always sticks doggedly to their player list on the second day, more popular picks be damned. The team takes its own tack, and that may turn off the experts, but the Wings seem to have done okay drafting since Kris Draper took over the amateur scouting reins.

Update: Bleacher Report’s Adam Herman is a little more liberal in grading the Wings’ top two picks as a B:

Continue reading EliteProspects issues a B- to the Wings’ draft haul (among some very harsh marks for the rest of the league)

Press release: Red Wings summarize their second-day 2025 NHL Draft haul

From the Detroit Red Wings comes a press release in which the team discusses its 7 picks drafted over the course of the second day of the 2025 NHL Draft:

RED WINGS SELECT SEVEN PLAYERS ON SECOND DAY OF 2025 NHL ENTRY DRAFT

  … Four Forwards, Two Defensemen and One Goaltender Chosen By Detroit in Los Angeles …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today selected seven players during the second day of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

The Red Wings chose right wing Eddie Genborg (44th overall) in the second round before taking goaltender Michal Pradel (75th overall) in the third round. Detroit used a pair of fourth-round picks on right wing Brent Solomon (109th overall) and left wing Michal Svrcek (119th overall) before taking defenseman Nikita Tyurin (140th overall) in the fifth round. From there, the Red Wings picked defenseman Will Murphy (172nd overall) in the sixth round and selected center Grayden Robertson-Palmer in the seventh round (204th overall).

Detroit’s first pick of the day was the 12th choice of the second round (44th overall), which the team used on right wing Eddie Genborg. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward spent part of the 2024-25 season with Linköping HC’s under-20 squad in Sweden’s top junior league, recording 34 points (19-15-34), a plus-18 rating and 26 penalty minutes in 28 regular-season games, in addition to three points (1-2-3) and four penalty minutes in three postseason contests. Genborg also made his professional debut with Linköping HC in the Swedish Hockey League during the 2024-25 campaign, netting two goals and four penalty minutes in 28 games while playing in Sweden’s highest professional league. Additionally, Genborg picked up two points (1-1-2) in one appearance with Linköping HC’s under-18 team in 2024-25. Genborg played the majority of the 2023-24 season with Linköping HC’s under-20 team, tallying five points (4-1-5) and 41 penalty minutes in 25 games. He also logged 11 points (7-4-11) and 12 penalty minutes in 16 games with Linköping HC’s under-18 squad in 2023-24.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings summarize their second-day 2025 NHL Draft haul

The Red Wings’ draft ‘type’ is getting grittier

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings assistant GM and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper, and GM Steve Yzerman, regarding the team’s 2025 NHL Draft haul, and he found that the Wings have a slightly different “type” than before:

“I enjoyed watching the last couple months of playoff hockey,” Draper said. “The one thing that really sticks out is how hard it is to play, the compete. You look at the teams that were successful and able to go on a run, they had guys that could skate, guys that were hard to play against, responsible hockey players. We think that’s what Eddie is going to bring for us.”

[Eddie] Genborg played the past two seasons in the Linkoping system, including 28 games with the men’s team (two goals, no assists). Next season he’ll play for Timra, Henrik Zetterberg’s former club.

…

“We want to continue to draft and bring in prospects that can skate, that can think the game, that are competitive and be tough players to play against, 200 (foot) complete hockey players,” Draper said.

The Red Wings will be holding a Summer Development Camp at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center this upcoming week, and as such, the team’s focus will shift from drafting to developing players:

“We are able to address some needs as far as depth in the prospect pool,” general manager Steve Yzerman said. “We’ll try to do our best and to be patient and develop them and help them along the way to become professional players and hopefully play for the Red Wings.”

Most of these picks along with many other prospects will be at Little Caesars Arena next week for development camp.

“We know we have to be patient,” Draper said. “We want these young players to be chomping at the bit, doing everything they can to make a push for the Detroit Red Wings.”

Continued (paywall)

Wings earn an ‘overtime win’ from Wheeler

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.

Continued (paywall)

Videos: Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper weigh in after Day 2 of the 2025 NHL Draft

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman and assistant GM/director of amateur scouting Kris Draper both spoke with the media over the course of lengthy press conferences via Zoom, summarizing the Red Wings’ 2025 NHL Draft haul, the Wings’ trade for goaltender John Gibson, the team’s buyout situation, and much more:

A trio of Red Wings draft grades

Updated 2x at 7:04 PM: The NHL’s 2025 Draft ended just an hour-and-a-half ago, but the NHL’s draft gurus are already weighing in on the Red Wings’ draft haul. Here are the first three sets of draft grades that I have found:

First, The Score’s Kyle Cushman gives the Red Wings a B- grade, with a small summary of the Wings’ eight picks…

[Carter] Bear’s tenacity and competitiveness are standout traits. He has top-six upside as a fun complementary winger. He sustained a partially lacerated Achilles in March but is expected to be ready for training camp. [Michal] Pradel is a 6-foot-5 goalie who moved to the USHL midseason from Slovakia and showed promise as a potential future starter.

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis is a little more enthusiastic, giving the Wings an A- grade…

Continue reading A trio of Red Wings draft grades

Discussing the John Gibson trade and its implications for Sebastian Cossa

Updated 2x at 9:52 PM: Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman spoke with the NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek after making the trade to bring 31-year-old goaltender John Gibson to Detroit, as noted by NHL.com’s staff writers…

“(Ducks general manager) Pat (Verbeek) and I had some discussions last season around — if I recall — the Trade Deadline,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman told NHL Network on Saturday. “John was dealing with some injuries at that time, so the timing didn’t really work. Leading up to the draft as we all do our offseason work, we had some discussions and as we got closer here, we were able to (make the trade).

Gibson has two seasons remaining on the eight-year contract he signed with Anaheim on Aug. 4, 2018. He is 204-217-63 with a 2.89 GAA, a .910 save percentage and 24 shutouts in 506 regular-season games (494 starts) and 11-13 with a 2.80 GAA, a .912 save percentage and one shutout in 26 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

He earned the William Jennings Trophy, given to the goalie on the team with the fewest goals-against, after the 2015-16 season when he was 21-13-4 with a .920 save percentage and 2.07 GAA in 40 games. He shared the award with teammate Frederik Andersen.

In the past two seasons, Lukas Dostal has emerged as the No. 1 goalie in Anaheim. The 25-year-old was 23-23-7 this season with a 3.29 GAA and a .902 save percentage.

“I just placed a call in to John, I haven’t talked to him yet, Yzerman said. “There was no need to convince him (to come to Detroit). Our understanding he was looking for a fresh start and saw an opportunity in Detroit to get in the net and play a lot of games. I look forward to speaking with him. I’ve been assured he’s excited about coming to Detroit and we’re excited to have him.”

And Shap Shots’ Sean Shapiro reflected upon the Red Wings’ new tandem of Gibson and Cam Talbot in his Substack blog:

Continue reading Discussing the John Gibson trade and its implications for Sebastian Cossa

Another Gibson-for-Mrazek trade grade

After the Red Wings traded Petr Mrazek and two draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks for John Gibson earlier today, The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus and Shayna Goldman offered trade grades, and the same is true for ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark:

Detroit Red Wings
Grade: B+

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman had plenty of questions to answer this offseason after the club had missed the postseason for nine seasons. One of them is what he and his front office staff would do about their goaltending situation.

They tried different solutions in recent seasons. Ville Husso went from winning 26 games in his first season with the club (2022-23) to being traded to the Ducks during 2024-25. A tandem of Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot combined for a 0.899 save percentage, which is why the Wings traded for Mrazek before the deadline; he had a .902 save percentage in five games.

Lyon is an unrestricted free agent, whereas Mrazek and Talbot both had a year left on their contracts. It presented the possibly they could turn to Sebastian Cossa, their first-round pick from 2021, who finished with a .911 save percentage and a 2.45 goals-against average in the AHL. Some believe he could use another year of development as the Red Wings seek to avoid a 10th consecutive season without the playoffs.

Acquiring Gibson now provides them with a chance to have the stability that has eluded them. Injuries — along with the growth of Lukas Dostal — played a role in why Gibson was limited to 28 starts last season. But in that time, he won 11 games while registering a .912 save percentage — a strong figure compared to what the Red Wings experienced with their options in 2024-25.

The Red Wings could use Gibson and Talbot as a tandem while letting Lyon walk in free agency. The 31-year-old has two years left on his contract at $6.4 million annually, which also gives the Red Wings more time to develop Cossa in the AHL.

Per PuckPedia, Detroit now has $18.411 million in cap space to address a roster that has decisions to make regarding UFAs such as Patrick Kane and a three-player restricted free agent class that includes Jonatan Berggren.

Clark gives the Ducks an A- for unloading Gibson and his contract…

Two Tweets of note from Steve Yzerman’s post-draft presser

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman revealed two items of note during his post-second-day-of-the-draft presser, as noted by The Athletic’s Max Bultman and the multi-talented (EliteProspects, DLLS Sports, Shap Shots, and more) Sean Shapiro:

The first bit of news is a shock to me because Osaer did a good job as a “goalie whisperer,” and he will be missed by the Wings’ prospects; the second bit of news is a shock, period. I can understand trying to give Vladimir Tarasenko another year, but Justin Holl is Persona Not Great right now, and that’s going to be a tough sell to the paying public.