Entering his sixth NHL Draft as general manager of the Red Wings, Steve Yzerman has made a number of draft picks. Here's a ranking of his seven first-round selections the past five years.
Entering his sixth NHL Draft as general manager of the Red Wings, Steve Yzerman has made a number of draft picks. Here's a ranking of his seven first-round selections the past five years.
Since becoming general manager of the Red Wings in 2019, Steve Yzerman has selected seven first-round draft picks. All of them serve different roles, and all of them are at different stages of their development paths. But taking into consideration their abilities, NHL impact and even a smidge of hype, who of these draft picks are Yzerman's best?
Using those criteria, I ranked all seven first-rounders. As a note, these rankings do not mean that one player is particularly better than a lower-ranked player, nor does it mean a lower-ranked player is a bad draft pick. This is a ranking of who brought the Red Wings the most value, and who Yzerman succeeded the most in drafting.
1. Moritz Seider
Yzerman's first draft pick is also his best first-round selection so far. Seider was a reach pick at No. 6 in the 2019 NHL Draft, the second defenseman off the board while there were multiple talented forwards at the time.
"The Red Wings do not have a ton of depth among defensemen in their system, but this was a shocker of a pick in Steve Yzerman's first draft," prospects analyst Chris Peters said at the time. "The value among the forwards still on the board is significant. You'd have to think the Red Wings bring him to North America immediately and allow him to develop in their own system in the AHL."
Peters was dead-on. Detroit sent Seider to Grand Rapids in 2019-20, where he got 49 games in before the COVID-19 pandemic paused. The next season, he played over in Sweden due to pandemic-related league delays, and after that Seider became one of the best defensemen on the Red Wings' blue line.
Key to Seider's value is his sheer ability to absorb shots and make hits, the kinds of physical sacrifices that don't often get the same praise as goals and assists. He's the clear No. 1 defenseman for Detroit, and he plays against some of the NHL's best competition in his shifts. A high workload hasn't stopped Seider from being one of the Red Wings' best players almost night in and night out. Yzerman swung for the fences with Seider, and he hit it out of the park.
2. Lucas Raymond
In 2020, the Red Wings slipped in the draft lottery and lost out on Alexis Lafreniere. It seemed like a slight to the rebuild, but little did Detroit fans know that Yzerman and his staff found a player that has provided immense value.
After a draft-plus-one season playing for Frolunda, Raymond came over and made the Red Wings right out of training camp. This was a bit of a surprise, but he earned his shot and has remained a core part of the top six ever since.
There have been imperfections — this time last year, Raymond was coming off a struggling sophomore season. This year, though, Raymond hit another gear. He set career highs in nearly every offensive stat, leading the Red Wings overall with a 72-point season (Dylan Larkin, though, led in points per game). He's the second-leading scorer of his class, only behind Tim Stutzle. Not a bad haul after missing out on Lafreniere. Not at all.
3. Axel Sandin Pellikka
Last trade deadline, the Red Wings' defense corps of the future had a clear hole. After selling off Filip Hronek at the trade deadline, the majority of Detroit's best prospects were lefty defensemen. The need for a right-handed star was apparent, and Yzerman got to work. With his second first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, he picked up Sandin Pellikka, who has plenty of offensive upside.
Ranking Sandin Pellikka third of all Yzerman's first-rounders is a bold choice, I know, but Sandin Pellikka appears to be a star in the making. He's scoring in the SHL in a way that hasn't been done by a U19 defenseman since back when Victor Hedman was a youngin. His scoring ability is a different style compared to many of Detroit's top prospects, and that uniqueness should benefit Detroit down the line.
Sandin Pellikka is not heading to the NHL next year, at least as far as Yzerman has said, but he should be a talented blue-liner for Detroit once he crosses the Atlantic. Considering where he was drafted at 17th overall, his offensive upside and ability to fill Detroit's right-handed needs makes him quite the valuable pick by Yzerman and his staff.
4. Sebastian Cossa
Yzerman has drafted two goalies in the first round: Andrei Vasilevskiy, at 19th overall in 2012; and Sebastian Cossa, at 15th overall in 2021. While Cossa hasn't made the NHL just yet, he's showing signs of dominance at a young age. This season, he went on a 19-game streak being unbeaten in regulation, breaking a Grand Rapids record that stood since he was nine days old.
Cossa has taken a slower path to development in his pro career, playing where he can get high reps as a tandem starter or better. That included a stop in the ECHL last season where he successfully led a deep playoff run that ended in the Kelly Cup semifinals. Regardless of time, the way Cossa can win games is a positive sign for a Red Wings team that hasn't had an elite starter since the prime era of Jimmy Howard. It's been a while, but Cossa appears to be ready to be the Red Wings' star in net.
5. Simon Edvinsson
Edvinsson has shown a lot of promise in his NHL call-ups, especially a 14-game one to end this season when he showed the kind of shutdown defender he could be. He blocks high volumes of shots like Seider, and his quick feet help him transition out of the zone.
Edvinsson's offensive impact hasn't shown up quite yet, at least from a production standpoint, but he has plenty of runway to grow. He's been a bit of a slower burn compared to many peers in the 2021 draft where he went sixth overall, but his two-way game could be highly valuable if he can bring along that offensive production. It's hard to get a defenseman of his size and skating ability, and Yzerman did well to draft him at sixth overall.
6. Nate Danielson
This low ranking is more so an indictment of time rather than Danielson as a player. He's a speedy scorer who projects to be a big add to the top six down the line. However, he isn't as developed as a lot of Yzerman's older draft picks, while his fellow 2023-er Sandin Pellikka has gathered a lot of hype with his scoring prowess.
With more time to develop, Danielson could shoot up this list. Yzerman expects Danielson to be a future center on the NHL roster, the same as 2021 first-rounder Marco Kasper. If Danielson's entry to the roster goes well, and if his scoring translates to the NHL level, his ninth overall selection could be another solid pick by Yzerman. It's really early to make any value distinctions, but his success in the WHL this season has me high on Danielson's stock, especially with how important a scoring center will be to Detroit's roster now and long term.
7. Marco Kasper
Just like Danielson, it's hard to judge Kasper for time. Picked eighth overall in 2022, evaluated by two seasons where the pandemic affected teams' play, Kasper is a defensive center whose value to his team is harder to quantify by most traditional stats compared to a scorer. However, Kasper has only made one NHL game, and the Red Wings kept him in Grand Rapids in favor of veterans at the end of the season. That should be a sign of his NHL readiness, or more specifically that he needs more time to marinate in the AHL.
Again, that isn't a bad thing. Kasper should be a part of the Detroit roster a few years out. But, he hasn't gotten to that level besides a single game last season before a knee injury ended his call-up. He's low on this list because of that, but that doesn't mean he was a bad pick. For context, only 22 players from his draft class have even played an NHL game; only one player picked after him has played more than 41 games. He's young, and he has time to develop. However, given the high draft position where Yzerman picked Kasper, I don't think he gained as much value as other draft picks. The jury is still out, and he has time to grow into an impact role, but for now I can't rank Kasper above anyone else.
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