Prospect expert Tony Ferrari decided to make his own draft selections live at the 2023 NHL draft with the Red Wings' picks. Here are his thoughts on the 11 players he chose.

The NHL draft is a wild and weird exercise that clubs go through every year. You spend years evaluating talent and building your scouting database on a group of players in an effort to build the pipeline of players that you can develop into NHLers who make an impact on your roster – but the catch is they are just 17 or 18 years old and haven’t fully developed mentally or physically yet.

It’s a crapshoot.

The ‘Team Ferrari’ exercise is essentially a multi-year continuous activity in which I choose an NHL club and draft in their position to build up a prospect pool of my own. The team I’ve chosen is the Detroit Red Wings, a team that I grew up across the river from.

This exercise is meant to force me to put my money where my mouth is – at least as much as I can while not employed by an NHL club – and choose a player at a given spot to put my name behind. This allows me to look back over the next few years and refine my process and self-evaluate. It’s a fun way to see just how right or wrong I am on certain players and evaluate why.

A couple of quick stipulations. I am not filling out Detroit’s prospect pool; I’m building my own from scratch to be tracked over the next few years. As it stands, my philosophy is that drafting for direct need is often a fool’s errand anyway, and you should be in the business of collecting talent and building your pool of assets.

I tweeted the picks while Detroit is on the clock so as not to be influenced by what they did and to ensure that I have to make the pick in the moment, not look back in hindsight and say, “Well, Player X lasted until the third round so I can take Player Y here.” If I wanted ‘Player X’ and I think he won’t be there at my next pick, I have to be OK with taking him or risking missing out on him.

If you have any other questions about the process, please feel free to reach out on Twitter. Without further ado, let’s get to the picks:

Round 1, Pick 9 - Team Ferrari selects LW Zach Benson

Detroit selected C Nate Danielson

Right off the bat, I was put in an interesting position. 

The players I viewed as the sixth and seventh best prospects in the class were both still on the board, but with margins so thin between them, I wanted to grab the player I felt had less of a chance of being there at pick 17 when I was “on the clock” again. This led me to select my seventh-ranked player, Zach Benson.

Benson may be the most intelligent and tactical player in the draft class. He always has an escape plan if his first decision doesn’t work, adapting to play and taking advantage of what is given to him. His playmaking is cerebral and crisp, threading passing through feet and onto his teammate's stick. He is a smart defensive player and a battler in all three zones. The Winnipeg Ice winger never cheats the game.

The two areas of concern for scouts and analysts alike are size and speed. Benson is listed at 5-foot-9, so you would hope that he is a burner out there, but he is more of an average to slightly above-average skater, with his best qualities coming from his agility and shiftiness rather than his power and speed. If Benson was either a couple of inches taller or had blazing speed, he would have been a contender to go in the top five.

I will always favor upside and intelligence, and Benson has both in spades. Nate Danielson is a fine pick, but he doesn’t have the same upside, intelligence, or skill that Benson brings, which is why Benson is my pick.

Round 1, Pick 17 - Team Ferrari selects C Oliver Moore

Detroit selected RHD Axel Sandin Pellikka

Sometimes you wait, and good things happen. 

Oliver Moore was the player I was debating on taking at the ninth overall pick. He was ranked sixth on my personal board, but based on what I was hearing around the draft, it seemed like he would slip into the late teens. This allowed me to take Benson early and nab Moore at 17.

With that said, I was torn between adding a center or a high-end defender to Team Ferrari. 

Sandin Pellikka was in the same tier as Moore on my board, so it wouldn’t have been a major reach. The Swedish defender is a skilled, two-way force who has developed his defensive game while refining his offensive game over the course of the year. It made a lot of sense to take him here, which the Red Wings ultimately did.

With Moore, you get a speedy center who can help make life easier on his teammates by doing a lot of the work to get the puck up ice and into the offensive zone. He centered the USA Hockey National Team Development Program's second line and rarely got playing time with the team's top players. That didn’t matter, though, as he dragged his revolving door of linemates into the fight every time and made good things happen. 

When he did get high-caliber teammates such as Ryan Leonard, Cole Eiserman, or James Hagens, the production bumped up, and he looked as good as anyone on the line.

Moore’s most common comparable – from analysts and himself – was Dylan Larkin, the Detroit captain. While he may not reach the top-line center status that Larkin has, he could be a very high-end second-line center. It sounds like the same schtick we get from GMs at every draft, but nabbing Moore gave me a second player that was ranked top-eight on my board.

Round 2, Pick 41 - RW Gracyn Sawchyn

Detroit selected G Trey Augustine

The draft really opens up in the second round, and goalies begin to go off the board. Augustine was the top goalie on my board, so I like the pick for Detroit. But with some of the talent left on the board, it was too hard to pass up some of the high-end players. Gracyn Sawchyn was one of the few first-round rated talents left on my board.

Sawchyn plays a highly skilled game with pro habits that should make him a versatile NHLer. He played up and down the lineup with the Seattle Thunderbirds because they were a stacked team that loaded up at the deadline. He can play in a depth role, driving play and mixing in his tenacity in all three zones. He can also be a difference-making offensive player in the top six. The versatility of Sawchyn, combined with the skill and speed, make him too good to pass up.

Round 2, Pick 42 - LW Alex Ciernik

Detroit selected D Andrew Gibson

This might be one of the more controversial picks of Team Ferrari. Ciernik was in the first round on my board, but many NHL personnel informed me that the impression they got from him is that his effort was wildly inconsistent. 

I don’t agree fully, but I do acknowledge that he has moments of lackluster effort. With that said, the speed, playmaking, and understanding of how to move the play up ice with ease are such assets to any team.

Ciernik has been a difference-maker just about every time that he played in a Slovak jersey, oftentimes doing a lot of the work that allows his teammates to look good by finishing his plays. Ciernik played against men for much of the year as well, which allowed him to develop his elusiveness in tight areas along the boards.

Andrew Gibson is a big defender, and I understand why he was picked, although it was a bit rich for me in the 40s. My mindset is to draft for high-end players and find the bottom-of-the-lineup players elsewhere. For that reason, Ciernik is the bet I’d make here.

Round 2, Pick 47 - C/W Oscar Fisker Molgaard

Detroit selected Brady Cleveland

After Detroit traded down from the 43rd pick, I was happy to take the player I would have taken there by taking Oscar Fisker Molgaard. The six-foot forward can play center or wing and brings intelligence beyond his years. His coaches have raved about how he was able to come to Sweden from Denmark and instantly play a role in the lineup at every level.

Whether he was tearing up the J20 level or playing pesky and effective bottom-six hockey at the SHL level, Fisker Molgaard was a difference-maker. The speed and skill came out more as the season wore on as his confidence in his game against men. There has been some discussion that if any second-day prospect has a chance to be a true top-six center, it could be Fisker Molgaard.

Round 3, Pick 73 - RW Jayden Perron

Detroit selected W Noah Dower Nilsson

Jayden Perron is a big swing in the top 50, but in the third round, it seems like the risk is mitigated because the playmaking and skill are superior to just about every other prospect left in this range. 

There aren’t many playmakers that have the brashness to try some of the passes that Perron makes. He loves to fire pucks to high-danger areas and has the puck skill to get off the wall.

Size is a definite issue, but he doesn’t shy away from contact, although he doesn’t win every battle. He will need to add some strength because he plays as if he’s stronger than he is, and if he can get a bit more power in his game as a 5-foot-8 winger, he could be a sneaky good middle-six playmaker with a ton of power-play utility.

Round 4, Pick 117 - D Luca Cagnoni

Detroit selected D Larry Keenan

I swear I’m not intentionally drafting every undersized player there is, but when talent falls, I am going to take it. 

Cagnoni is an interesting defender who is exceptional with the puck on his stick, moving it up ice in transition and joining the rush or attacking from the blueline. His defensive game will require him to commit to playing a bit harder and using his mobility as an asset more often. I want my defenders moving the puck up ice as quickly as possible and winning races to loose pucks, and Cagnoni does both of those things.

For me personally, using a draft pick on a high school prep player isn’t worthwhile. Unless the prep player is exceptional in an aspect of the game – think Scott Morrow’s skating and offensive touch – then I’m avoiding them. Unfortunately, Keenan doesn’t have that trait worth taking a chance on for me.

Round 5, Pick 137 - D Arvid Bergstrom

Detroit selected D Jack Phelan

If I am being completely honest, I don’t exactly know what Detroit was doing with this pick. Phelan’s defensive game is good at the USHL level, but he doesn’t exactly project as an NHL defender. He has good size but isn’t exactly hulking.

For me personally, Arvid Bergstrom is a highly intelligent player who uses his skating to his advantage at both ends of the ice. He isn’t an offensive defenseman, but he is a capable complementary player when he joins the rush. Although he wound up going undrafted, Bergstrom should be a player that we keep our eye on for next season when he’s an overage defender. His tools alone should have gotten him drafted ahead of more than a few defenders in the 2023 class.

Round 5, Pick 147 - LW Timur Mukhanov

Detroit selected LW Kevin Bicker

There is no way that I could hold off anymore. Timur Mukahnov is one of my guys in this draft. He understands how to play from the outside in, get to the middle, and generate high-danger chances with regularity. He has been my sneaky sleeper of the draft for a while, and you can read my deep dive on him here.

Kevin Bicker was a player who I was pigeonholing for a late-round pick, and Detroit beat me to it by taking him here in the fifth round. The young German winger could be an interesting value pick with some sneaky-good dual-threat ability.

Round 6, Pick 169 - Zeb Forsfjall

Detroit selected Rudy Guimond

This isn’t a movie, so I’m not putting Rudy in the game. Forsfjall is a two-way player despite being undersized. The young Swede is a nuisance to play against and has shown up every time he puts on the three crowns of the Swedish jersey. He’s been a leader on his club team and with the Swedish team in his age group as well. He does many of the little things, even if his upside is somewhat questionable offensively.

Round 7, Pick 201 - Charlie Cerrato

Detroit selected C Emmitt Finnie

The Red Wings are either going to be the smartest in the room, or they threw a pick away. In fairness, the player I chose went undrafted. 

Cerrato played on the NTDP squad and understood how to fit in on any line. He played with Oliver Moore on the second line and was one of the better complementary players for Moore, but he was also capable of being the best player on his line in the bottom six. Cerrato had fans in the public sphere, but clearly, NHL clubs had questions.

My Takeaways From Team Ferrari

This was a very interesting exercise. I had a number of players that I decided to wait on get taken mere picks before I had another chance, which showed that I was at least close in terms of where the rest of the NHL valued them. 

With that said, I am very happy with the talent I accumulated. There’s no doubt I went a bit smaller, and I could use some size in the future, but I’ll always take the high-end talent if they are a bit undersized over a bigger player who lacks some dynamism or skill.

Where will this group be a year from now? That will be a fun task to keep up with. This will help me assess my process and evaluate my own work, shaping future rankings and analysis as we see how these players develop.

I’d like to thank Will Scouch, who came up with this concept a few years ago and has allowed me to make it my own.