With the 47th pick, Detroit could target elite skater Ben Macbeath, a high-scoring WHL blueliner poised to bring game-breaking mobility to the Red Wings’ pipeline.
It will be a quiet opening night at the NHL Draft for the Detroit Red Wings, sitting without a first-round selection after shipping that pick to San Jose as part of the trade deadline deal that brought offensive defenseman Justin Faulk to Detroit.
Their first selection now comes at 47th overall, and in recent weeks several interesting names have emerged as potential targets in that range, from Victor Plante, brother of current Red Wings prospect Max, to Adam Nemec, younger sibling of New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec. Today, the focus turns to one of the most offensively gifted blueliners available anywhere near that pick in Calgary native Ben Macbeath.
The 18-year-old defender spent the 2025-26 season with his hometown Calgary Hitmen of the WHL and put together an impressive campaign, posting seven goals and 44 assists for 51 points with a plus-five rating across 67 games.
Scouts consistently point to his skating as his defining attribute, calling him one of the best movers in the entire draft class. At six feet two and 181 pounds, he already carries a frame that projects well at the next level.
Next season, Macbeath will take his game to the NCAA with a commitment to the University of Denver, one of the premier programs in all of college hockey. Denver has won three national championships over the last five years, and the program recruits with the same scrutiny an NHL team applies to its draft board.
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The selection speaks for itself as a testament to how highly regarded Macbeath is across the hockey world, and Denver gives him the ideal stage to sharpen his game before making the jump to the professional ranks. His draft rankings reflect that same range of opinion, sitting as high as 29th overall on TSN's Craig Button's board and as low as 65th on Elite Prospects.
Macbeath would enter a pipeline that already includes Axel Sandin-Pellikka, a player with a similarly skilled and mobile profile and would also give him an opportunity to learn from NHL offensive defenseman in Justin Faulk directly, who has shown what top end production from the blueline looks like over his 16 NHL seasons.
Adding another offensively gifted blueliner of Macbeath's caliber at 47th overall would go a long way toward making that trade feel even more worthwhile in the long run.
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