3 surefire steals the Red Wings must target in the NHL Draft

Miroslav Satan, C/Slovakia

Imposing may be an understatement when you describe Miroslav Satan’s size, as he’s one of just a few prospects in the 2024 draft class to have already reached the 6’7 threshold. At a bodyweight of just 190 pounds, he will spend at least a few years putting on muscle. But he’s also about a half-decade away from being NHL-ready, so he doesn’t need to pack on size quickly. 

Anyway, for a player with so much length to be projected to fall into the late rounds, Satan can be a steal if he uses that length to play a solid defensive game. Someone of his size could be, in a worst-case scenario, a sound defensive forward who would double up as an excellent asset on the penalty kill simply because he would have a long range to get his stick onto an opponent’s puck and knock it free. 

Further, the more size and strength he builds, the easier it will be for him to outmuscle opponents by the net when his team has the puck and stop sequences before they begin when his team is not in possession. Forechecking and physical play will be his strong suit, but Satan has also shown us enough to at least consider he could be good with evolving into a supplementary scorer. 

For HC Slovan Bratislava U20, Satan found the net 14 times and recorded 30 points, and he also averaged over a point per game in U18 in 2022-23 and in U16 in 2021-22. That said, Satan is one of those potential-laden prospects you can’t help but keep a close watch on if he’s drafted into the Red Wings system.

(Statistics powered by Hockey Reference and Elite Prospects)