Jeremy Laura: Thoughts on the Red Wings’ 2021 draft

Not grabbing Eklund may have been a very big miss. If he would have grabbed Eklund with #6 and the rest of the draft was the same, I would have been more than OK with it.

I hope that Detroit 4th rounder Red Savage makes the team down the line just for that awesome name.

Anyone doubting Edvinsson and/or Cossa at this point is delusional.

While it’s certainly fun to speculate, rank players and state who we would pick, the fact is, none of us have access to the same information Stevie does. Detroit has the largest scouting staff of any NHL team, which doesn’t include former players who also scout and serve as advisers. They have former NHL players watching these kids, probably watching hundreds of hours of video on each kid and access to all the analytics. Equally important is the subjective data they have access to that we don’t. They interview the players, their former coaches, their trainers, even their tutors and teachers. They have medical doctors, physical therapists and trainers who evaluate their physical and mental condition.

After that massive amount of effort and investment, they still hope to get 1 or 2 players per draft who go on to have NHL careers. That is how hard it is to evaluate talent and how hard it is to play in the NHL.

i trust yzerman.
BUT, people need to remember. he didnt run the drafts in tampa , al murrary did. draper runs the drafts here. is draper as good at picking players as murray? we are going to find out.

Anybody saying picking Edvinsson and Cossa was a huge miss this early needs to relax and quit passing judgement so easily. It is fool-hardy to make such a statement.

I'm totally fine with getting Edvinsson at #6, Cossa, also Nilsson. When you have Hakan Andersson pounding the draft table demanding both Edvinsson and Nilsson (which he was per an interview with Draper)... you had better listen and have some confidence in the analysis going into the scouting of these two players. Hakan Andersson has been the best European scout in the NHL for probably the last 20+ years. He only finds guys like Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Federov, Konstantinov, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Seider, etc....

The Wings need both a shutdown defenseman and a stud goalie in this organization. Yes... I would have really liked getting a high pick center as well.. and that need has to be addressed very soon. My guess is that Stevie and his scouts saw some things in these players that made it too hard to pass up. I have faith in Yzerman's judgement and Hakan Andersson to make the calls.

I agree with the stated above. It’s far too early to know whether these were the right guys. It’s just natural for us to gripe a bit when “our guy” didn’t get picked.

I really wanted ecklund or Kent Johnson. Now Johnson being gone I was happy to snag ecklund. I’m very happy they invested in a goalie.

Obviously I know nothing compared to Yzerman.

The one thing I will say I bet money comes back to bite us is this Leddy trade. I didn’t love the trade the moment it was done and I especially don’t like it now that it turned into autu raty.

According to capfriendly re-signed Marc Staal for a year at $2M. Kind of expected that.

Calling it now, Red Wings sign Eric Staal to a 1-2 year contract.

Calling it now, Red Wings sign Eric Staal to a 1-2 year contract.
- slewis

Im completely fine with this as long as the AAV is far less than what he got before.

Calling it now, Red Wings sign Eric Staal to a 1-2 year contract.
- slewis

I hope not Eric Staal is done. At this point Staal isn't really an improvement at center for the Wings. There are rumors of Danault to the Wings but i hope not at the salary and term he wants. Wennberg might be a better short term answer or maybe trade for Kuznetsov from the Caps for a bag of pucks and reunite him with Vrana.

Im completely fine with this as long as the AAV is far less than what he got before.
- digitalbath

Its 1 year 2 million deal with a NMC.

Edit sorry wrong Staal. I already said what i think about Eric.

Its 1 year 2 million deal with a NMC.

Edit sorry wrong Staal. I already said what i think about Eric.
- dcz28

I would have been fine with Eric too lol but i read it as Marc Staal and bringing him back

but im good with Eric too at a small flexible deal

I would have been fine with Eric too lol but i read it as Marc Staal and bringing him back

but im good with Eric too at a small flexible deal
- digitalbath

I see Eric similar to Nielsen or Filppula at this stage of his career. An ok 3rd line center but not good enough to be a top 6 center. This is why i mentioned Danault, Wennberg and Kuznetsov. If Yzerman is serious about making the team a bit more competitive to help the young players grow, he needs to add a decent top 6 center that will help the offense. Wings likely have a couple of years before one develops unless Veleno takes big steps forward real quick.

Danault like i said, likely wants too much term and money.

Kuznetsov has a NTC but i could see him being ok with the Wings and offensively probably the best option (that is known to be available aside from Eichel) and he has great chemistry with Vrana already.

Wennberg could be a decent short term option.

Krejci and Stastny could also be decent short term options.

Given the lack of top notch forwards available at 6, Edvinsson became the logical choice. We weren't going to get a no. 1 center in this draft anyway.

What frustrated me was the pick Cossa. It's not the pick itself, it's the decision to give up a second rounder plus for a goalie deemed the second best goalie prospect in the draft. With Wallstedt still available, why was so much given up to move up?

Yzerman and Co. had their reasons. It may very well have been that Minnesota wanted to draft him. They may have also felt that Wallstedt wasn't really a first round pick anyway.

With the trade for Nedeljkovic, at least Cossa has a chance to develop. That's the most important thing to remember now.