Red Wings Gear Up For 2019 Draft

After a busy trade deadline, the Wings went into the offseason with a clear wishlist: add a few picks, shuffle around some defensemen, find a new home for Matt Murray, and hopefully win the draft lottery.

To kick off the 2019 offseason the Red Wings made the first of several small moves. 24 year old defenseman Alex Lintuniemi, a decent young player who didn't have a path to playing time on a crowded Wings blueline, was sent to Washington for a 2019 5th.

With the early emergence of super prospect Carter Hart and acquisition of Robin Lehner around the trade deadline, Matt Murray didn't have a clear place in the organization. After some tough negotiations the GM Evans ended up sending Murray, young sniper Viktor Olofsson, and young defender Radim Simek to Montreal in exchange for former Red Wing 1st round draft pick Ryan Pulock, Montreal's 2020 1st, and NYR's 2020 2nd.

GM Evans held a press conference the next day, saying: "Ryan Pulock is a player I've always liked, and I regretted trading. He was one of the most improved players in the league this year and established himself as a top 3 defenseman that can play 22 plus minutes per game and chip in 30 plus points. Our organization has made it a clear priority to add 2020 1st round picks and we managed to add another one in this deal plus a 2nd round pick. The price was high; It was tough to part with a young goalie with elite potential like Matt Murray, I believe Viktor Olofsson has the potential to be a 25 goal scorer in the NHL, and even Simek has the potential to grow into a number 4 dman."

The next trade up was a bit of a gamble. Lias Andersson, a top 10 pick just 2 years ago in 2017, and Adam Ginning, a 2nd round pick in 2018, were acquired for young bottom 6 forward David Kampf, the recently acquired 2020 NYR 2nd, and Detroit's own 2020 2nd. 

"Lias Andersson hasn't had the smoothest transition to North America, but he's still extremely young. I believe he has a good shot at being a 2nd line player, and he should be pushing for a bigger role in a few years when our team will need to fill some spots. Ginning is a strong and smart defender with size and good mobility. He won't rack up points but he's a good bet to make the NHL within 3 years, and has top 4 upside. If both of these players come close to their ceilings it could look like a steal, but this deal will mainly hinge on Lias Andersson continuing to improve."

As the lottery drew nearer another pair of small deals were made. First, veteran defender Greg Pateryn and a pair of older prospects in Ville Meskanen and Michael Lindqvist were sent to San Jose in exchange for a 2020 3rd round pick. Then veteran winger Garnet Hathaway was moved to New Jersey for a 2020 5th. Both were roster crunch moves with the side benefit of adding to the Wings' stockpile of 2020 picks. 

On lottery night the Wings entered with the 3rd and 14th picks and after a highly improbable (11.1% chance) lottery win, exited with picks... 3 and 14. Yes the NHL draft lottery system is that strange. Regardless, the Wings were thrilled to finally have their draft position cemented and to avoid falling out of the top 3. According to the Wings' scouts this draft has a clear top 3 in terms of talent, making this an easy pick. 

In a mysterious move, the Wings acquired the UFA rights to Semyon Varlamov. This gives the club a player to use their pre-sign on, but seems to be a player that doesn't fit on the club, like Matt Murray. 

In yet another farm system depleting move the Wings sent undersized winger Brendan Leipsic to Washington for a 2020 4th round pick. When reached for comment, GM Evans stated "Brendan is a good player with a long history in our organization, but I'm not sure if he will be able to reach his NHL potential, and he wouldn't have cracked our lineup. I wish him all the best in DC and hope he proves me wrong."

In (probably) their final pre-draft move, GM Evans swung for the fences and added superstar Brent Burns to the team! The Kings agreed to retain $1.5M of Burns' $8.25M contract in exchange for the 14th overall pick, top 3 defender Jake Muzzin, depth defenseman Oscar Fantenberg, young bottom six forward Colby Cave, and 2020 SJ 3rd. 

GM Evans: "We had explored various options with the 14th pick: adding to trade up significantly, adding to trade up a few spots, trading down, trading for a different superstar player, and staying put, before deciding that adding Brent Burns to the roster was the way to go. He's one of the very best in the league, and should compliment our group well. This roster has a clear window this year to make the playoff run that has eluded our franchise for years. As an added plus, we will be able to afford Burns for 2020-21, setting the team up for another run next season. 14 overall was likely to be a very strong prospect this year and it will be interesting to see who Todd and the Kings pick. Muzzin is a great defenseman but he's on an expiring contract while our organization has fellow pending UFA's Doughty and Lehner to worry about. I'm happy to say our team is stronger after this move without harming our future."

The forgotten players in this deal, Cave and Fantenberg, are just further examples of the Wings' impressive pro scouts continuing to turn over rocks and find hidden talent. Of last years 17 non-Edler UFA signings, 10 played in the NHL this season: Raffl, Domingue, Wideman, Boyle, Fantenberg, Lettieri, Simek, Clifton, Cave, and Robinson. Another pair of highly coveted targets: David Kampf and Cal Petersen, ended up signing with other teams but also played. A few others like Noel Acciari, Dean Kukan, Vinny Hinostroza, and Andy Welinski were signed in-season last year. Other depth players added via trade, such as Hathaway, Leipsic, and Lintuniemi were eventually flipped for late round picks. Through a wide variety of trades, only Raffl, Lettieri, Kukan, and Wideman remain on the Wings from this large UFA crop but the others have helped the Wings add numerous roster players and picks. 

Lastly, the Wings made a creative move to free up some roster space without dumping guys for nothing. Minor leaguers JF Berube, Sam Anas, and Ryan Haggerty were sent to the Canes for a conditional 2021 5th. If Berube plays 30+ NHL games, or either Anas or Haggerty plays 60+ NHL games, the pick transfers, but if none of these players prove to be NHLers the Canes pay nothing for some AHL depth.

After the busy month of tinkering with the roster, the 2020 Wings currently look something like:

Hertl-McDavid-Kucherov
Kreider-Couturier-Reinhart
Coleman-Jenner-Athanasiou
Raffl-Kesler-?

Spurgeon-Doughty
Pionk-Burns
Gustafsson-Pulock
Cernak

Lehner
Hart

Top 10 Prospects:
1) Whoever goes 3rd overall
2) M Samuelsson, D - 7.5C
3) I Mitchel, D - 7.5C
4) A Morand, C - 7.5C
5) A Ginning, D - 7.0B-
6) D Gustafsson, C - 7.0B-
7) N Nordgren, W - 7.5D+
8) J Halbgewachs, W - 7.5E
9) V Ejdsell, C/RW - 6.5C-
10) C Chatham, RW - 3.5D

Legend:
10 - Generational
9.5 - Superstar
9.0 - Elite
8.5 - Top 3F/Top 2D/1G+
8.0 - Top 6F/Top 3D/1G
7.5 - Top 9F/Top 4D/1bG
7.0 - Middle 6F/4-5D/2G+
6.5 - Bottom 6F/Bottom pair D/2G-
6.0 - 13F/7D/3G
5.5 - Bubble player
5.0 - AHL
4.0 - ECHL

0 - Not yet rated
A - Lock
B - Likely
C - Potential
D - Risky
E - Extremely Risky
F - 1% Chance

-Detroit Free Press, 2019