Red Wings Draft: take a swing at center or strengthen depth?

The Detroit Red Wings finally seem to be heading out of an arduous rebuild, propelled by the team’s last two first-round draft picks. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond look like stars, but a lack of scoring depth and weakness down the middle are holding back the team. In this year’s NHL Draft, will the organization take a swing at center or will they further bolster the team’s depth at the wing and on defense?

Detroit’s pipeline has plenty of depth at nearly every position, but the collection of defensive prospects may be the best in the league. At the top is left-shot defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who’s having a stellar season in the SHL (and looked pretty fantastic in the WJC before it was cancelled). William Wallinder, Albert Johansson, Donavan Sebrango and Eemil Viro are just a few of the defenders throughout the pipeline that make it one of the deepest in the league.

There is also a handful of solid wingers progressing through the pipeline, whether it be the current AHLer, Jonatan Berggren, or the few still developing overseas (Elmer Soderblom, Theodor Niederbach). While it isn’t the best collection of wing prospects in the league, there is certainly plenty of depth (It also helps that Raymond already looks like a home-run).

However, Detroit still doesn’t have any top-end prospects at center. Joe Veleno is solid, but not a gamechanger. There are a few centers in the system that could end up in the bottom-six, but they are nowhere close to first or even second line type players.

So how will the Red Wings approach the 2022 NHL Draft, considering the current state of the pipeline?

The glaring issue with this discussion is that the draft is still months away. It’s still uncertain where Detroit will end up in the standings when the regular season wraps up. Will they sneak into a wildcard spot? Will they finish just outside the playoffs? Will they end up somewhere in the middle? Could fans get one last taste of tanking to end the season?

And, of course, even if Detroit ends up in the mix for higher draft spots, Red Wings fans know all too well well that tanking doesn’t ensure a top-end pick.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to predict what sort of philosophy Steve Yzerman will enter the draft with. But the rebuild is entering the phase where drafting based on positional need is necessary, and center is the organization’s biggest need. In the 2021 NHL Draft, Yzerman proved that he doesn’t adhere strictly to the “best player available” philosophy. In the first round of the draft, the Red Wings GM’s two picks were both positions of need in the pipeline (left-shot defenseman and goaltender).

Of course, where the Red Wings end up drafting will play the most important role in how the team drafts. There are some legit superstars at the top of the draft (Shane Wright tops that list), so if the Wings get luckily in the lottery, the choice will be easy. However, at this point, it seems more likely that the team will end up picking somewhere in the middle, which will make the decision significantly harder.

Draft order aside, this year’s selections will be key as Detroit exits the rebuild. Yzerman has proven to have a keen eye for talent in the draft – could he end up finally solving the question mark at center?