Red Wings Draft Day Whirlwind

After winning the draft lottery the Red Wings were sitting with picks 1, 4, 7, 12, 20, 21, 33, and 78 in the draft. So GM Evans was in a great position to rebuild the lowly Red Wings with just a few bold moves. Things really heated up the night before the draft, and after much negotiation the Red Wings were able to land the #2 overall pick.

GM Evans was quoted as saying "I like to make bold moves, so when the opportunity presented itself to make a splash and land that #2 pick I was determined to make it happen. Of course we paid a pretty penny to move up from pick 7 to 2, but you just don't get an opportunity to land 2 elite franchise centres in the same draft very often. It was especially important to retain the #4 overall pick so we could land Mitch Marner. Marner isn't a sure thing like Connor and Jack but I feel he has the potential to be a truly special player."

To land the 2nd overall pick the Wings had to give a package of top prospects Nikolaj Ehlers and Anthony Duclair as well as the 7th, 21st and 33rd picks in the 2015 draft.

When draft day rolled around, GM Evans was sitting with picks 1, 2,4, 12, 20 and 78. Just to keep things interesting (and to do a little trolling) the Wings selected Jack Eichel with the 1st overall pick and made Connor McDavid wait a few extra seconds to hear his name called. GM Evans said "We wanted to have some fun and give Jack his 15 minutes of fame. Poor Jack was overshadowed by Connor most of the year, despite having one of the best freshman season in NCAA history. We consulted with Connor before making this decision and he was all for it, such a humble kid. I think he will use it as extra motivation for the coming season, not that he needs any more."

When pick 4 came around GM Evans sprinted up to the podium to select the ultra-skilled Mitch Marner and said the following "We did have some discussions about moving this pick, but our intention was always to draft Marner here. We feel he will be an elite scorer at the NHL level, whether he ends up as a centre or right winger. This kid was just too good to pass up."

 As picks 8, 9 and 10 came rolling in the Red Wings suddenly became very optimistic that they would be able to land one of their 3 taget players at pick 12. Unfortunately that would not end up being the case and Carolina smartly took Rantanen at pick 11. The Wings then used their 12th overall pick to select another small, skilled centre in Matthew Barzal; not a bad consolation prize at all.

When pick 17 came around and our 11th ranked prospect was still on the board, GM Evans desperately tried to move up from pick 20. The Wings were eventually able to acquire the 17th pick from Vancouver, along with the 56th overall pick in exchange for 20th overall and young C/LW JT Miller. "We felt that JT was a lot to give up to move up 3 spots, but being able to add the 56th overall pick as well made the deal worth it. JT is just on the cusp on making a real impact at the NHL level so we wish him the best going forward. However, we just simply could not pass up an opportunity to draft a player we were seriosuly considering taking at 12th. Gurianov has the size and offensive ability to one day be a top line winger. We see Barzal and Gurianov to be similar prospects to Nugen-Hopkins and Nikushkin respectively."

Since the Wings had traded picks 21 and 33, there was quite a substantial amount of time off before the Wings would pick again at 56 and 78. So GM Evans hit the phones are tried to see what type of deals were out there. After about an hour of serious discussion and much back-and-forth, the Wings were able to land the most dynamic defenseman in the league: Erik Karlsson. The Wings sent 3 top defense prospects : Anthony Deangelo, Madison Bowey and Travis Sanheim along with the recently acquired 56th overall pick to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the Swedish Phenom.

GM Evans had this to say about the trade: "As I said before, I like to make bold moves. Erik Karlsson has won 2 Norris trophies in his short NHL career, despite being surrounded by a fairly mediocre team both times. In the MRFHL Erik Karlsson dominated the 2014-15 season, racking up an impressive 107 points and earning Norris trophy consideration. We feel he will probably win. The long term plan for Erik Karlsson is to have him and fellow countryman Hampus Lindholm anchor our top pairing for the foreseeable future. The price was high to acquire Erik but the opportunity to land possibly the best defenseman in the world was just too tempting."

As the draft progressed into the 3rd round and pick 78 neared, GM Evans decided to trade down to recoup some assets. 78 was moved for 125, 136, and 149. 136 and 149 were then flipped for a 2016 3rd round pick, so essentially 78 became a 2016 3rd rounder plus 125th overall. The Wings then made another minor trade sending 2016 BUF 4th and $100k cash to Minnesota for picks 123, and 124.

So when pick 123 came rolling around, the Wings were sitting with 3 straight picks. These picks became 3 high-risk high-reward european skaters: Russian LW Kirill Kaprizov, Ukrainian LW/RW Dmytro Timashov and Russian C Mikhail Vorobyov

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Net gain: Karlsson, McDavid, Eichel, Marner, Barzal, Gurianov, Kaprizov, Timashov, Vorobyov, and 2016 DAL 3rd round pick

Net loss: 7th, 20th, 21st, 33rd, 78th, 2016 BUF 4th, $100k, Duclair, JT Miller, Deangelo, Ehlers, Bowey, and Sanheim

Kevin Reynolds

Trade me Marner lol

Red Wings Draft Day Whirlwind
Wings add Karlsson, McDavid, Eichel, and Marner

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