Detroit Red Wings: The Yzerplan is Definitely Taking Shape

How are you feeling Detroit Red Wings fans? Similar to the 2019 Draft, it felt awfully familiar when a lot of offensive talent sat on the board and Steve Yzerman went with a defenseman. Not to be outdone, he traded up with former colleague and friend Jim Nill to grab not only the 15th overall pick, but also to get goaltender Sebastian Cossa.

Opinions were scattered but one phrase kept coming to the forefront: Trust the Yzerplan.

These are now Steve Yzerman’s Detroit Red Wings

Yzerman gave clues last night about what the team could look like next year, but more on that later on in the article.. If anything was learned tonight within the draft, he’s building a large, imposing, tough team that is high on hockey IQ, can skate well, and has puck skills to boot. Every opponent will have a hell of a job ahead of them if they’re going to beat Steve Yzerman’s Detroit Red Wings. It will just take time to get there.

He stunned everyone with his pick of Moritz Seider and that now looks like a brilliant move. He hasn’t looked back since and if there’s anything we’ve all learned watching Yzerman do his job, he doesn’t give a damn about what anyone thinks.

Everything must be earned to make his roster and listening to him and Director of Amateur Scouting Kris Draper talk last night, it’s something they’re imprinting within the entire organization–from those players they’re drafting to those already skating in Detroit.

Simon Edvinsson began his journey to Detroit last night.  The Athletic’s Corey Pronman gave reports after speaking with anonymous scouts on a number of players. Edvinsson, like every other prospect in that piece, had both positive and negative views of his game. The same goes for Cossa.

But the one thing to consider is that as many have cautioned, and especially with this draft class, no one really can say for sure what to expect. It’s not a cop out–it’s the truth. Yes, there will be absolute slam dunk guys like Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews. But for the 2021 Draft Class, upended by a global pandemic, every team was working with limited options–moreso than ever before. At this point, it’s all about development. And so far within the Yzerplan, so good.

Draper Explains The Red Wings Reasoning

Director of Scouting Kris Draper spoke with the media following the Red Wings‘ first round selections, and explained  how Cossa stood out:

We probably had five, six, seven conversations (with Cossa) and obviously Stevie was a big part of those. It just seemed like everyone we were talking to were real big fans of Sebastian.

When pressed about what set him apart in the interview, Draper talked about how both parties became more comfortable as they talked with one another. But Draper emphasized, too, that there was no shortage of scouting Cossa. Draper added that they “did a lot of digging” when they interviewed others about him as well.

But aside from the interviews, his athletic abilities obviously placed him high on Detroit’s list, which then prompted Yzerman to trade up. From Draper:

The six foot six, the athleticism, the compete. Obviously statistically he had an incredible year playing in the Alberta bubble. You’re adding up all those things, watching his last year in Edmonton as well–it just made sense for us to move up.

As for Edvinsson, Draper indicated that the mobile six-foot-four (and a half) defenseman is expected to be a top pairing/top four player:

He’s obviously a very smooth skater, his edge work and his deception with the puck is something that impressed all of us. Over in Sweden, Thomas Carlsson and Hakan Andersson were able to see Simon play live this year. Obviously a big group of us was in Texas for the U18s and watch Simon play quite a bit. The one rink, it’s a smaller rink you were literally on top of the players and watching someone his size skate the way he could and his edgework was something that really impressed upon us. I think he as he continues to improve, continues to get stronger, the opportunity to work with NIklas Kronwall over there, we’re very excited to bring him in.

Yzerman Addresses More about His Vision

During his time to speak, Yzerman echoed much of what Draper said but went further when pressed on his choice to go with a defenseman at six:

It’s imperative to have a good defense to win championships ultimately. You’re not winning without a good goalie. You’re not winning without a good d corps. I think once you’re a solid defensive hockey team you’re going to be competitive, and you’ll be able to win a lot of nights. Over time, we’ll be able to add to the offense.

When it comes to offense, Yzerman had this to say:

Upgrading our pool of forward prospects is something we’d like do ultimately in this draft.  Our approach is been we’ll take the best possible prospects. Where we were picking at six we had zero hesitation or debate as to who we were taking at that pick. If you look at our team and our pool of prospects we have a lot of offensive wingers: Lucas Raymond, Jonatan Berggren’s coming on our team, with (Dylan) Larkin, (Tyler) Bertuzzi, (Jakub) Vrana, (Robby) Fabbri– missing another one there, too.We have a lot of wingers. We do need to score more, but ultimately you can’t do everything in one season. You can’t do everything in one draft. We’ll look at all different ways to improve our offense. But for us to say ‘hey we need.a top six centerman’, look in free agency and tell me if there’s one there for us to get. So, it’s an area if we have to improve on and we’ll continue to address it. It’s taking time to build a team, and we’ll try to balance it out.

Yzerman added that they would explore free agency and trades to round things out, while also doing what he could through the draft–albeit with a best prospect available mindset–to improve the depth of the organization.

But as always, Yzerman went back to that key term: time. Two years removed from when Yzerman took the job, there’s no doubt that the Yzerplan is in full force, and every decision made is methodical and according to that blueprint.

Final Thoughts after Day 1 of the Draft

There wasn’t any surprise here outside of who most fans wanted to see chosen at six. Though Eklund was there for the taking, Yzerman went with his vision and continued to build the blue line into what could be a dominant force. With picks still in the second, third, fourth (2 actually),  fifth, and sixth rounds, there’s plenty of time to address those needs. A lot of offensive talent has slipped to the second round–where it could absolutely be snatched up by Detroit.

But if there’s one thing we all learned after the third entry draft in Yzerman’s tenure, it’s that he will do what he deems in the best interest of the organization in any fashion–whether it’s trading up or down to get what he values.

We’ll see what day two holds.