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Yzerman keeping his cards close to his vest |
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Trevor Zegras? Dylan Cozens? Vasili Podkolzin? Alex Turcotte?
The possibilities of who could end up being there for the Detroit Red Wings with the sixth pick of Friday’s first round of the NHL entry draft are numerous.
If Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman is leaning toward a specific player, he isn’t saying, going with the standard pre-draft observation.
“Our philosophy is we need the best player available,” Yzermans. “It’s a need and the best player.”
The Wings desperately need help along the blueline but if they’re holding out hope that Vancouver (WHL) Bowen Byram will do a free fall to them at No. 6 in the same fashion that Filip Zadina did a year ago, that would be foolish hope. If Chicago doesn’t grab Byram third, Colorado will be all over him at No. 4.
Yzerman recognizes that it’s not a draft likely to provide him with any instant help for their wobbly back end.
“If you take all the draft lists, right now there’s probably more forwards than defensemen on anybody’s list,” Yzerman said. “What order they’re in, I don’t know.”
The Detroit GM also admitted that after Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kaako at 1-2, the draft could go off in a number of different directions, which most certainly could play into the Wings’ hands.
“I think from 3 to 12, 15, guys can go in a lot of different orders,” Yzerman said. “That’s the way I see it but I could be way off from someone else’s assessment of it, or we could be way off from another club’s assessment of it.”
Detroit could also use a No. 2 center. The team isn’t sold on Andreas Athanasiou being the answer there. And a big guy like 6-foot-3, 194-pound Dylan Cozens of Lethbridge (WHL) might too tough to pass up for a team not blessed with overwhelming size up the middle.
There’s been speculation that the Wings might go off the board and grab Russian left-winger Vasili Podkolzin, who could be the real sleeper of this draft. But Detroit needs to address its needs at center.
Not that Yzerman is about to let down his guard.
I wouldn’t really emphasize one more so over the others,” Yzerman said. “Ultimately, they have to have some degree of all those things.
“Ultimately, we take who we think is the best prospect.”
USA! USA!
It’s likely to be a record-setting night for US-born players at the draft. Several key contributors to the success of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, the squad that gave Detroit Dylan Larkin in 2016, figure to be available when the Wings pick at No. 6.
Zegras should be there, and Turcotte could slide. Zegras is another legitimate center possibility for the Wings, although he doesn’t offer the size that Cozens would.
Yzerman doesn’t think people should be the least bit surprised by the prominence of players from the US program.
“Theoretically, those are the best players in the United States, so therefore you have the best prospects,” Yzerman said. “It’s as simple as that. Any country that would have a particular national team, you’re getting their best players.
“Why you’re seeing these great prospects is because they’re the best players in the United States for the most part.”
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