The Detroit Red Wings' prospect system under GM Steve Yzerman’s care has been one of the best in the NHL, producing what is now nine of the team’s 23 NHL regulars in the past six years.
The Red Wings have, however, struggled mightily in the past few years on defense. As great as Mo Seider and Simon Edvinsson are, they’re only representative of one-third of the Red Wings defensive, and on a lot of nights they haven’t played together.
Behind them, only Ben Chiarot carries a positive plus-minus as a defenseman this season, and he was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers, not Yzerman. Rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka, while starting to find his footing offensively, is still minus-11 so far this season as he adjusts to NHL responsibilities defensively.
In the Detroit Red Wings' pipeline
It’s no secret that the Red Wings are thin on defense, and that extends beyond what most fans see on their TVs. Right now, most of the Red Wings' defenseman prospects like William Wallinder or Shai Buium project more for a third pairing rotation than the top-four of the lineup.
Buium is the older brother of Zeev Buium, the defenseman the Minnesota Wild sent as part of the package for Quinn Hughes to the Vancouver Canucks. Grand Rapids have been without the older Buium since the start of the season as he recovers from injury, though he has recently returned to skating.
Wallinder, for his part, has been manning a spot in the Griffins' top-four for the past couple of seasons. However, he has only produced 40 points in 152 games of action. While he wasn't drafted for his offensive output, the lack of development in that department combined with his average to above average defensive ability means he likely won't be pushing for a roster spot unless injury occurs.
On thin ice...
Detroit’s top prospect at the LHD position outside of those two in the AHL is Anton Johansson (no relation to their other Johansson, Albert), and currently plays in the SHL. Although his team, Leksands IF, is in danger of being relegated to a lower level after a 4-14 start to the season. That’s certainly not helped when the team doesn’t make a shot after the first five minutes of the first period in the game.
Anton did appear in 11 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins during their brief Calder Cup Playoffs run, putting up five points. Still, Anton projects as a second pairing-defenseman at best, and it’s possible he doesn’t even reach that. According to insiders like Elliot Friedman, when it came to trading for Quinn Hughes, the Red Wings just didn’t have a young player outside of Simon Edvinsson that could play on the left side to even potentially dangle for the Canucks to consider.
The Red Wings are suffering by rotating their defenseman pairings, and Yzerman has left a void on the defense that simply can’t be covered by deploying Mo Seider for more minutes, as he already averages 25 a night. Detroit will need to look to the draft if they intend to fix their lopsided defense any time soon.