I’ll be honest - I thought the Michael Brandsegg-Nygard pick was terrible, and one that, if I were conducting an immediate draft do-over with my own picks for the Red Wings, this is the one I’m definitely changing. Ironically, I like the prospect; it was just an ill-timed pick and by far one of the worst I’d seen in the first round, if not the worst.
Now that I got my gripes out of the way, I’ll admit that general manager Steve Yzerman nailed it with his two subsequent picks. I had my doubts that Max Plante would be there with the 47th overall pick, but he was, and the Red Wings either got themselves a future playmaker or someone else will have if Yzerman ever traded the future Minnesota-Duluth star to bring in an established talent.
Ondrej Becher was a genius move, and if he wasn’t already 20-and-a-half years old, he was going in the first round. Becher played in 73 total games this season, racked up 37 goals, and finished the year with 115 points. I’m mentioning both him and Plante in this piece because it’s a deadlock as to who the best pick was, and I’m not choosing one or the other.
Red Wings made a bad decision in Round 1, genius decisions in Rounds 2 and 3
If there’s one pick that adds a lot of intrigue to the system, it’s goaltender Landon Miller, who at 18, already has NHL-caliber length, even if he needs to grow more into that 6’5-inch frame. Miller’s 0.889 save percentage won’t impress you, but he still snagged a 2.79 GAA plus a pair of shutouts in his first full season with the Soo Greyhounds, and expect him to more than build on that success for the upcoming season.
One honorable mention goes to Fisher Scott, who went to Detroit with the 208th overall pick. I’m not saying Scott will be the next seventh-rounder to play in more than just a handful of NHL games in time, but I like the defenseman’s size (6’2), maturity level, and leadership skills. Plus, he can produce, having put up 33 points in 61 games, and he’s another one who will be fun to follow as he heads to Colorado College.
While I did not like Steve Yzerman’s first-round pick, this was overall a draft full of outstanding selections plus a pair of ultra-intriguing prospects, and it’s something I expected no less of from the Red Wings general manager.
(Statistics powered by Elite Prospects)