Detroit Red Wings: Top 10 prospects entering 2019
The Detroit Red Wings have a bright future thanks to their prospect pipeline. Let’s take a look at the 10 best prospects after the 2019 draft.
The Detroit Red Wings are officially rebuilding. A necessary front office change was made, as franchise legend Steve Yzerman left the Tampa Bay Lightning to take on a massive challenge. He’s got a pretty good start, judging by their prospect pipeline.
Old general manager Ken Holland didn’t leave the NHL roster in a better place than he found it, thanks to lots of long-term deals and no-trade clauses. But his last draft highlights their pipeline.
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Yzerman’s first draft wasn’t a rousing success, but they definitely added some interesting players. The Red Wings have one of the deeper prospect pools in the NHL. That’s good because they’re going to need it to dig themselves out of the hole they’re in right now.
My definition of “prospect” is going to make the Red Wings pipeline look bad. Anyone who is under 25 years old and hasn’t played in at least 25 games in any one NHL season or 40 in two consecutive seasons is a prospect.
Let’s take a look at who would have made the list, but didn’t qualify. All of these players will be under 22 years old when the season starts in October.
Before I begin my top 10 list, this was a tough one to make, so let’s look at the honorable mentions.
I’ve definitely got time for Albin Grewe. He plays with borderline reckless abandonment. Grewe needs to be more disciplined and focus more on the skilled side of his game because he’s got what it takes to be a skilled, pesty, player who is a pain in the butt to play against. He didn’t impress me much in the SHL, but he dominated against his peers. Grewe could shoot up these rankings.
Antti Tuomisto is someone I didn’t get to watch as much as I wanted. I only saw him in tournaments, but he impressed me. Tuomisto is a big defenseman who can skate and he has enough skill to intrigue me. But I didn’t feel comfortable putting him in the top 10 when I only saw him in tournaments.
Ryan Kuffner got a chance in the NHL (10 games) but did nothing. That said, with some time to marinate in the AHL, I think he could develop into a full-time NHL forward. Kuffner’s skating stands out to me and he’s got a strong work ethic. He’s a solid scorer as well, but I don’t think he’ll do it enough to be more than a bottom-six forward.