Jeremy Laura: Wings after 11 - stats not very friendly

still a long way to go in this rebuild. Yzerman has done well so far but, he has a ton more work to do.

What i fear with a 5th to 10th pick is that we end up with another winger. I'm all for BPA but Yzerman needs to draft a center with their top pick in this next draft and they need to seriously hit on it. There a lot of centers in this draft, although different sites have some players listed as wingers that other sites have them as centers...not sure what to believe. I'm to lazy to go to each players team sites to look at what they are listed as.

I don't think he can delay it anymore because even if they draft one, it could take a year or two before he is NHL ready and until they get that they will continue to struggle.

What i fear with a 5th to 10th pick is that we end up with another winger. I'm all for BPA but Yzerman needs to draft a center with their top pick in this next draft and they need to seriously hit on it. There a lot of centers in this draft, although different sites have some players listed as wingers that other sites have them as centers...not sure what to believe. I'm to lazy to go to each players team sites to look at what they are listed as.

I don't think he can delay it anymore because even if they draft one, it could take a year or two before he is NHL ready and until they get that they will continue to struggle.
- dcz28

I think it’s headed that direction. He got a right side stud, a stud winger (so far) and Edvinsson and Johansson look really good on the left side. Those first two picks turned out so much better than most people thought. I didn’t think Raymond’s ceiling was so high. Now we also have a stud goalie (looks like so far). I really do think he’s going to focus on the middle. Our defense is so bad, he really loaded up nicely in the draft.

Looks like Suter will be on the top line in Buffalo with Bert and Raymond. I'm fine with giving that a try. Veleno will be centering the 2nd line with Fabbri and Zadina if the practice lines today in Buffalo are what we see tomorrow. I know that Suter needs to get better at faceoffs... but I'd rather see him at center than wing where he's been playing recently if I recall correctly.

What i fear with a 5th to 10th pick is that we end up with another winger. I'm all for BPA but Yzerman needs to draft a center with their top pick in this next draft and they need to seriously hit on it. There a lot of centers in this draft, although different sites have some players listed as wingers that other sites have them as centers...not sure what to believe. I'm to lazy to go to each players team sites to look at what they are listed as.

I don't think he can delay it anymore because even if they draft one, it could take a year or two before he is NHL ready and until they get that they will continue to struggle.
- dcz28

I've been wanting this team to draft a good center for a long time. Until they get some real talent up the middle they will not ever be a serious playoff threat. There isn't any way around it.

I think it’s headed that direction. He got a right side stud, a stud winger (so far) and Edvinsson and Johansson look really good on the left side. Those first two picks turned out so much better than most people thought. I didn’t think Raymond’s ceiling was so high. Now we also have a stud goalie (looks like so far). I really do think he’s going to focus on the middle. Our defense is so bad, he really loaded up nicely in the draft.
- Jeremy Laura

I don't know if he will draft a center in the next draft with their 1st pick. If there is a winger that they think is a level higher than any center close to that pick, i think he will choose the winger. He has said it a lot that the team isn't at a point where they can draft for need...maybe his opinion has changed since then or might change but i'm not sure if it has. He has also said that drafting for need is not the best way to go about it since your needs can change in the 1 to 3 years it takes for that player to be ready to play in the NHL. I guess if there is a guy so good they think he can either step right in or be one year away that might change things since the wait wouldn't be a big one and your needs either won't change (if he can step right in) or might not change (if it only takes 1 year).

When drafting in the top 5 or 6 (unless it's a weak draft or one player is clearly above the top guy of your position of need), you should take the position of need since that player shouldn't be so far off being on your NHL roster that your needs will completely change by then. Late 1st round and the rounds beyond then for sure take BPA since most will likely take a couple years to make it.

I have to admit i was wrong about Raymond. I thought Berggren had a better chance to make the Wings this season. Too bad he got injured early in the prospect game. Saw flashes of his skill but not enough. I am a little worried about Raymond though. He has had some injuries before and he is taking some hard hits almost every game. If he keeps putting up points i fear teams will start to target him like they do/did with Larkin. They can try that with Seider but he actually seems to start being more physical if they do. The top line and Seider are the main reasons to watch Wings games right now. If Raymond or Seider didn't make the team it would have been very hard to watch this team at all.

Looks like Suter will be on the top line in Buffalo with Bert and Raymond. I'm fine with giving that a try. Veleno will be centering the 2nd line with Fabbri and Zadina if the practice lines today in Buffalo are what we see tomorrow. I know that Suter needs to get better at faceoffs... but I'd rather see him at center than wing where he's been playing recently if I recall correctly.
- Vladdie_Kon1

My patience with Suter is running thin even if it has only been 10 games or so. If he can't show something with Bert and Raymond then i'm not sure if there is any hope for him at center. I'm not saying he has to get a bunch of points but he needs to show something. I just haven't seen anything from him really that made me think it's going to get better with him.

I've been wanting this team to draft a good center for a long time. Until they get some real talent up the middle they will not ever be a serious playoff threat. There isn't any way around it.
- Vladdie_Kon1

Yep been saying that too. Having a really good playmaking center can also make winger much much better...like Abdelkader making million because he played with Datsyuk or Cheechoo with Thornton. Imagine Raymond or Zadina playing with a player like Datsyuk that can do a no look pass through a bunch of players right in their wheelhouse to shoot. This one of the reasons i would have been ok to get Kuznetsov from the Caps when they were rumored to want to dump him. He is not on Datsyuks level for sure but still a good playmaking center that would for sure be a 1st or 2nd line center for the Wings...he has 13 points in 10 games so far being their top center with Backstrom injured.

I don't know if he will draft a center in the next draft with their 1st pick. If there is a winger that they think is a level higher than any center close to that pick, i think he will choose the winger. He has said it a lot that the team isn't at a point where they can draft for need...maybe his opinion has changed since then or might change but i'm not sure if it has. He has also said that drafting for need is not the best way to go about it since your needs can change in the 1 to 3 years it takes for that player to be ready to play in the NHL. I guess if there is a guy so good they think he can either step right in or be one year away that might change things since the wait wouldn't be a big one and your needs either won't change (if he can step right in) or might not change (if it only takes 1 year).

When drafting in the top 5 or 6 (unless it's a weak draft or one player is clearly above the top guy of your position of need), you should take the position of need since that player shouldn't be so far off being on your NHL roster that your needs will completely change by then. Late 1st round and the rounds beyond then for sure take BPA since most will likely take a couple years to make it.

I have to admit i was wrong about Raymond. I thought Berggren had a better chance to make the Wings this season. Too bad he got injured early in the prospect game. Saw flashes of his skill but not enough. I am a little worried about Raymond though. He has had some injuries before and he is taking some hard hits almost every game. If he keeps putting up points i fear teams will start to target him like they do/did with Larkin. They can try that with Seider but he actually seems to start being more physical if they do. The top line and Seider are the main reasons to watch Wings games right now. If Raymond or Seider didn't make the team it would have been very hard to watch this team at all.
- dcz28

Obviously I can’t guarantee where or who he’ll draft. I will say that he aggressively went after the “desperate” parts of the roster. Building a back end right and left side. Grabbing someone who can score and now a goalie that is getting more “wows” every week. He moved up for Cossa. Finding out now that several teams had Edvinsson high on their radar. In terms of age and learning the “grind”, our top defensemen will be a little older than whatever top center we draft. I’m good with that. You look at teams with elite centers that can fill nets and in the playoffs the focus comes on the back end. I do feel good about building from the blue line, then in the blue paint, and then up the middle. We’re still a way off of contending, but we have a defenseman who will have 3 years in the league at 23 (as long as he’s healthy) and is already logging 22+ minutes.

Yzerman did a lot of his own scouting. He was all over Seider and Raymond. (He compared Raymond to Pastrnak before I ever saw him play in North America). Knowing the teams he won cups with and what he built in Tampa, he obviously grasps how important the center position is. We have an 18 year old playing near 20 minutes in the SHL, a 19 year old on the top line wing, and a 20 year old playing 22 minutes in the NHL. That’s crazy fast return on some of these picks so far.

I was hoping Stevie would take Rossi, but I now see why he picked Raymond. I thought a center would be his 1st pick this past draft, but there again Edvinsson seems to have been BPA and also a need for a LD. I really can not fault who Stevie picked with his first picks, even if I consistently wanted a center with those 1st picks. Now it seems that it is the #1 need in the organization is a #1 C and center depth as well. And hopefully Dylan can get back to playing very soon as well.........

I was hoping Stevie would take Rossi, but I now see why he picked Raymond. I thought a center would be his 1st pick this past draft, but there again Edvinsson seems to have been BPA and also a need for a LD. I really can not fault who Stevie picked with his first picks, even if I consistently wanted a center with those 1st picks. Now it seems that it is the #1 need in the organization is a #1 C and center depth as well. And hopefully Dylan can get back to playing very soon as well.........
- HenryHockey

I know they were high on Stutzle but the draft lotto didn’t help there. When you hear the GMs talk about drafts, they talk about “good year for defensemen, or centers, etc”. Yzerman and so many of these guys have been scouting some of these kids for years. Germany and Sweden are really growing some impressive prospects. This could be the year for better centers, I’m not really sure. But so many of us fans think draft to draft. I think that broader vision of “this will be a year 3 or 4 players I like will be available around when we can pick” is a hard thing to understand because we look at it season to season. I really do believe that Yzerman and Co have their lists of when they think those players will be available.

I know they were high on Stutzle but the draft lotto didn’t help there. When you hear the GMs talk about drafts, they talk about “good year for defensemen, or centers, etc”. Yzerman and so many of these guys have been scouting some of these kids for years. Germany and Sweden are really growing some impressive prospects. This could be the year for better centers, I’m not really sure. But so many of us fans think draft to draft. I think that broader vision of “this will be a year 3 or 4 players I like will be available around when we can pick” is a hard thing to understand because we look at it season to season. I really do believe that Yzerman and Co have their lists of when they think those players will be available.
- Jeremy Laura

There were 10 centers that went in the 2021 1st round, I was really hoping for 1 or 2 with Stevie's picks, but he drafted differently.......definitely not wrongly, but certainly less conventional. I think Stevie will do alright on these picks, even though he spent a lot on Cossa. He could have had 2 centers and a goalie further down in the draft for those picks. But he drafted Vasy, with a Red Wing pick.......yeah!