An early look at the Red Wings biggest needs for the 2024 NHL Draft
With another lottery pick, the Detroit Red Wings should have zero issues addressing team needs early in the 2024 NHL Draft, but which one is the biggest?
Shortly after we find out who Mr. Irrelevant will be in a big event held in the Motor City, it will officially be time to dive deeper into the 2024 NHL Draft and where each team’s most pressing needs reside. As for the Detroit Red Wings, their prospects pool looks pretty good at the moment, and you can even say it’s among the NHL’s best. But even the best pipelines need improvement at some level since the sheer amount of depth can’t last forever.
For general manager Steve Yzerman, he still has a few positions that could use more youngsters, and the 2024 draft is where he can further solidify his prospects pool as perhaps the best overall in the NHL.
So, which three positions pose the greatest overall needs in the two-plus months leading to June’s draft?
A right winger with scoring upside would be a spectacular find early
Long story short: The Detroit Red Wings need so many right wingers in their prospects pool that I could have listed the position in all three subheadings. But this is a one-position-per-slide article, so I won’t make things mundane by mentioning the RW multiple times.
That said, there is no wonder why Tankathon has Steve Yzerman rolling with a right winger in their latest mock draft. Liam Greentree, who put up 90 points and 36 goals, would be a wise choice for Yzerman to kick off this odyssey to accumulate what should be quite a few wingers with those eight current picks.
Konsta Helenius is another one to look out for, and he’s one with some experience at the professional level, having played 51 regular season games in Liiga, with 36 points and 14 goals. Then, there is Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who played most of the 2023-24 season in HockeyAllsvenskan, where he put up 18 points in 41 games.
Goaltending may be a tough find, but the Red Wings need one more
Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine should be future Red Wings, thanks to their incredible performances in their respective leagues. Cossa took the next step this past season in Grand Rapids and looked phenomenal, and it’s realistic to believe he will make his NHL debut perhaps as early as next season.
Augustine crushed it with the NTDP, so the question was whether he would enjoy the same results with the Michigan State Spartans. After one season, things appear to be in smooth sailing, as Augustine posted three shutouts, a 23-9-2 record, a 0.915 save percentage, and a 2.96 GAA. Those numbers will get better as Augustine gains experience, and he will ultimately make a smooth transition to Grand Rapids after another two seasons in college if not three.
Since Cossa isn’t far off from seeing regular time with the big club either at some point in 2024-25 or, at the absolute latest, 2025-26, Steve Yzerman should at least look to the middle rounds for a sound goaltender in the upcoming draft.
Eemil Vinni is one name to watch out for, and the projected third-rounder saw 37 games in Finland’s Mestis league this season, posting a 2.72 GAA and an 0.892 save percentage along with two shutouts.
Defensive depth is strong, but they can use another RHD
The Red Wings have some phenomenal prospects in the pipeline, including Simon Edvinsson, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, and William Wallinder, so the need is not as pressing as it otherwise may be in the 2024 draft. But if Detroit wants to break its playoff drought next season, calling up Edvinsson and playing him full-time will bring them closer to that goal.
He showed an immense improvement from the nine-game sample we saw last season to the 16 matchups he suited up for in 2023-24, so there should be a need early in the draft to fill the void he will leave in the pipeline.
Since we already talked about a dynamic scorer at right winger taking the top spot here, the second or, more likely, the third round would be a great spot to grab another blueliner and, ideally, right defense. Detroit is beyond deep at left defense, but the right side could use not one but perhaps a pair of prospects, possibly one in the early-to-mid rounds and another late.
Draft them both for the future while promoting Edvinsson to the big club full-time and maybe nabbing one more from outside the organization to win now, and Steve Yzerman should be more than deep here.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference and Elite Prospects)