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The first round of the draft brought plenty of good back and forth in the comments. As always, you all made your mark on a memorable night.
Day two of the draft seemed to last forever. When GMs and staff don’t have planes to catch, things tend to drag on a bit. Detroit stocked up on eggs and in a few years we’ll see who hatches.
Before I hit on what’s shaping up for Detroit’s 2021 team, join me in welcoming a new commenter, Diller! Well thought out observation, welcome to the board!
Moritz Seider (and Joe Veleno officially) have been assigned to Swedish clubs. For Veleno, we already knew this is a full season commitment. The same appears to be true for Seider. Yzerman acknowledged on his media availability last night that IF Seider (still working on the deal) is assigned to Sweden, it could well be for the entire season. McIsaac is a full season commit (injured, out 2 weeks). The GM has decided to let some of these prospects have a year of development overseas. Yzerman acknowledged Zadina as NHL ready (as well as Hronek) and so we can expect to see those two.
Henryhockey said it well with the 1 year extensions of Erne and Hirose. “Meh” was his take. Some of the excitement for this year was in seeing Seider play for the club. With departures of Abdelkader, Ericsson, Howard, Daley and Green it seems the club is reshaping itself. The reason, in my thinking, for Yzerman to keep the “kids” at bay is team identity.
We don’t know what free agency will bring, but it seems that Yzerman wants to build a steadier version of the team for now. Assuming that Mantha and Bertuzzi are signed (no reason not to) the top line will remain the same. The second line will look like Fabbri - ? - Zadina. Filppula could well slot in center, but I’m still hoping someone is brought in. Fabbri was being tried at center, but I don’t think they would keep him there at first. With Abdelkader gone, Abby 2.0 was re signed in Erne (stings a little less). Hirose will be battling for bottom 6 mins. Helm, Glendening, Nielsen are down there as well. Not sure if Brome is coming over (I’d expect him to). Rasmussen and Svechnikov need to find a place as well. It’s fairly crowded at the bottom 6. (Turgeon and Smith could also get some looks). Edit - I completely left Sam Gagner out of the mix. It was well put by gergeswillems that SG is likely the 2nd line center. (Fabbri and Zadina on the wings)
Defensively we have Dekeyser, Nemeth, Biega, Hronek, Cholowski, Staal, possibly Lindstrom. We know a new goalie will be acquired somehow to work with Bernier.
There is a general feeling of “here we go again” looking at the names. It still doesn’t feel like we have 6 “top 6” players on offense. Defense. Feels like some 2nd line players and a lot of 3rd line guys. Yzerman could very well bring in some talent to help at least stabilize some of these positions. I’m assuming Raymond will not play in the NHL this year (could be wrong). Part of me hopes that some personnel will be moved in deals. There aren’t many contracts on the books past this season. (Only Dekeyser, Fabbri, Nielsen and Larkin so far, Nielsen and Dekeyser only for one more yr). The decks will continue to be cleared. I am confident that Yzerman wants a more stable environment for the prospects to give them every chance to succeed. This year may echo back to last year a bit, but there is promise of better days ahead.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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