2019 NHL Draft: Biggest winners and losers from Vancouver

Winner: Colorado Avalanche

Unbelievable. The Colorado Avalanche come within one game of reaching the Western Conference Final, and yet this young, star-studded team was able to add two more franchise cornerstones in the first round.

Colorado obtained the No. 4 pick from the Ottawa Senators in the Matt Duchene trade, and they used it on Vancouver Giants blueliner Bowen Byram. The latter joins a blue line that consists of Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, and Tyson Barrie, although the latter could be traded. Byram is an elite puck-moving blueliner, and he’s a natural fit on Colorado’s ultra-skilled team.

With the No. 16 pick, the Avalanche came away with another crafty player in Victoria Grizzlies center Alex Newhook. He’ll be an excellent No. 2 option behind franchise face Nathan MacKinnon, and Newhook won’t need much time to grow into a true impact player.

Loser: Detroit Red Wings

Defense was the organizational need for new general manager Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings. But they went off the board and took blueliner Moritz Seider at No. 6 overall, which led to plenty of questions and criticism from the hockey universe.

Seider could have been had later in the first round. Why didn’t the Red Wings trade down to get Seider later? Why not try to move up and select Byram before the Avalanche got their hands on him? On top of that, Seider isn’t exactly a sure-thing in terms of morphing into a top-pairing blueliner.

The good news here is that Yzerman found two more skilled blueliners in the second round – Antti Tuomisto and Albert Johansson. But otherwise, it’s hard to be pleased with how the Red Wings handled the first round.