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Red Wings draft for the future By Richard W. Kozak, Jr.  |
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Throughout the 2007-08 Championship season for the Detroit Red Wings, one aspect of the team remained nearly constant. The Wings led the overall regular season campaign in wire to wire fashion backstopped by the goaltending tandem of future Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood.
While Hasek was the consensus Number one goalie despite a workable platoon system, Osgood defined himself as a premier playoff goalie after a lineup change became the Wings’ catalyst for a Cup drive. With the taste of champagne still on the lips of the Red Wings brass, the team still needed to focus on the future delivered via the National Hockey League draft.
Within days of winning the Cup, Hasek decided to hang up his pads. If he remains retired this time still is a question, but with Osgood 35 years old, it was glaringly apparent that goaltending’s future became an immediate priority for the champs.
With that in mind, with the 30th overall pick in the first round of the NHL Draft, the Red Wings claimed goaltender Thomas McCollum. The 18-year old prodigy is the top rated and most coveted goaltending prospect in North America. After a stellar year for the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, Detroit seized the opportunity to grab the best of the best.
Wings’ GM Ken Holland felt the time was ripe to restock the goaltending stable of the organization, and after McCollum was in place it was on to addressing other needs both immediate and long range.
Here’s a recap of the Red Wings 2008 Draft:
In the first round, McCollum can develop behind the stable Osgood without pressure. He’s big for a keeper at 6-2 and 205 pounds plus has quickness at all four corners of the cage. Played 51 games for Guelph with four shutouts and a 2.50 goals against average in a goal happy developmental league.
With the 91st pick in the draft, the Red Wings obtained American Max NiCastro a defenseman from Chicago of the USHL. He has some size at 6-2 and has ability to move the puck up the ice. He scored 20 points in 58 games last season.
Thirty slots later, the Red Wings snatched up center Gustav Nyquist from Sweden. He won’t be with the Wings for sometime as he’s headed to the University of Maine next season. Not listed in the elite of European skaters, Nyquist is a work in progress who had 31 points in 24 games in 2007/08.
Canadian Julien Cayer was the Wings’ fifth round pick. A sizeable 6-4 and 186 pounds, is also headed to the college ranks at Clarkson University. A true high schooler, Cayer is also a long term project at the center position.
The team’s fifth pick for the sixth round was Stephen Johnston, a left wing also from Guelph of the OHL. Only one season in the OHL, Johnston’s learning curve accelerated as the season went on notching seven points in a 21 game playoff run.
Finally, in the final round, the Wings drafter center Jesper Samuelsson from Timra of the Swedish Elite League. A bit on the smallish side, the Wings are hoping this Swede carries on the fine tradition of his country mates in the NHL.
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