Victor Brattstrom May not be a household name yet, but it is nice to see another goaltending prospect added to the pipeline. Drafted in the 6th round by Detroit in 2018, the 6’5” goaltender was scheduled to spend next season playing for Koo Koo in Finland. (Hilarious name) this may not change that, but it will be a player “loaned” by Detroit which is an important distinction.
The 2018 draft could end up being very special for Detroit. Zadina, Veleno, Berggren, and now Brattstrom all hold some level of interest for fans and the organization. Committing a contract spot to a player is an important step with a limit of 50 per organization. Yzerman must like what he’s seeing from the big net minder, and it will be interesting to watch him at prospect and development camps this coming year. At 23, he’s a bit older as a prospect and that additional time playing may well have helped him find his game. Goalies and Defensemen go through an immense amount of change between 18 and 25. Both are challenging positions to draft for (shy of the known commodities that go in the first and early 2nd round). Even those aren’t always easy to figure out.
We certainly need an exciting prospect in net. When Mrazek joined the organization, he would out play the pros in camp and was fun to watch. In 1 year he went from the ECHL to the AHL to the NHL. Mrazek struggled a bit in Philly but seems to have found his touch again in Carolina. We need another prospect like that. One who’s not looking to climb the ladder and wait their turn, someone who wants to take the top job without caring who is in front of them.
Babcock once joked that when Mrazek was called up, “he doesn’t come up looking to back up Jimmy. He comes up wanting to take his spot”. It was that fire that was so much fun to watch. Complacency and entitlement can destroy an organization, and Yzerman seems to be willing to let players “take” jobs. In reality, sports is one of the final “meritocracies”. There is so much money tied up in a team that no one can really afford to “settle in” much anymore. Jiri Fischer’s fingerprints are evident in this mentality. In helping to develop the prospects, he tells them that they have to take someone’s job. And, consequently, someone else will be coming for theirs. It sounds nasty, but you can’t teach someone to be hungry. It’s a mind frame you learn the hard way.
Kudos to the Yzerman and the organization for what has been a very quiet but busy year of scouting. It will be interesting to see who will be next. As an aside, the 2018 draft was Kenny’s last as our GM. A lot of criticism has been leveled that he left the organization bereft of any prospects. That, obviously, isn’t true. Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi, Hronek and Zadina have made huge strides for the organization. Lindstrom, Smith, Veleno, Svechnikov, Rasmussen, McIsaac, Petruzzeli, Larsson and now Brattstrom may well end up being part of the team moving forward. Holland had his flaws, but he also did a lot for this organization.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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