Goaltending and D look good but haven't really liked the direction Yzerman has taken with the forwards

Danielson over Kasper? I think Danielson has a lot of untapped offense, but I'm hesitant to put him above Kasper because of how refined and how good Kasper is in almost every other facet of the game.

Danielson appears to be the type of player that you have to watch to understand how good he is. Personally I haven't watched him, but the Athletic article that anonymously interviewed NHL execs and scouts, he came up about 10 times as the player that could be the steal of the draft. Seems to be very well liked by front offices in the league

Not sure how you could have Mazur over Soder when Mazur hasn't sniffed NHL ice yet.

Looks good otherwise - this years draft should be a heavy winger draft.

Defense and Goaltending takes longer to develop. I completely agree with the approach Yzerman has taken with heavily focusing on Defenders over Forwards in the first 5 drafts he's overseen. When you select a Dman it's usually minimum 3 years before they step onto NHL ice. Typically 4 years. Sometimes even up to 5 years. Forwards on the other hand can usually be ready to step onto NHL ice 1-2 years after being drafted. Kasper already got a look 1 year post draft. Raymond was a full time player 1 year post draft. I wouldn't be surprised to see Danielson get a look in the 2024/2025 season and be full time by 2025/2026.

Sometimes I questioned picks like taking Wallinder over Peterka when Wallinder is just getting into the AHL now and Peterka is already an effective NHL forward for Buffalo. But seeing more of Wallinder now and how fast he is and big he is, I believe he'll have the better impact once he's in the NHL. Or taking Buium over a guy like Stankoven, same thing. Finding good Defense is always harder than finding good Forwards. It's better to draft the D and find forwards through other means, such as trades or free agency like DeBrincat, Perron, etc. if you have to.

Mazur was a ppg player in the NCAA and in his very short stint in the NHL was a ppg player. Soderblom was less than 0.5ppg in his AHL stint. Mazur is just a pure gamer and will be a Red Wing for a long time. Soderblom maybe has more potential if he figures his game out but at this stage he's still trying to figure out how to use his size to his full advantage. He's also not very reliable in his own zone yet. He had a lot of mental errors in his NHL time. If he figures that out, he'll be our #1 winger prospect for sure.

What? PPG Player? Mazur has literally never stepped onto NHL Ice.

You're comparing two guys that are basically the same age - one is playing professional hockey, the other is playing in college. One is a much better prospect than the other right now.

I agree his defense picks have been good I just am not a fan of who he passed on to pick Kasper and Danielson I think they're very much middle 6 forwards and the wings system heavily lacks on elite forward talent which IMO will be the reason they probably don't win a cup with this rebuild

The forwards who were taken after Kasper were Savoie, Geekie, Nazar, McGroarty, Lekkerimaki...since the draft day Kasper has proven to be the best forward out of that group, the rest are kinda underwhelming for 1st rounders. Snuggerrud is the only guy who has potentially looked as good as Kasper, but he's a winger. I'd rather have Kasper at C. So not exactly sure who you're referring to when you say Steve passed over this guy or over that guy for Kasper. The reality is the 2022 draft probably wasn't the best draft out there for talent and Steve took the best player available. Not sure what else you expect him to do.

When the wings came up to draft at 9th overall. there were no more 'elite forwards' available. Danielson was the best two way forward available. He fits the mold of a Ryan O'Reilly / Henrik Zetterberg type. That's my hope for him. I'll stop short of saying he'll be a Patrice Bergeron type because he's probably the best two way forward ever. But all those guys were never really elite players who will ever contend for a scoring title, but come playoff time, they are guys you want on your team. Conn Smythe type guys.

The Danielson is a middle six forward talk is just garbage. The same thing's were all said about Mo Seider who was projected to be a good 2nd pair Dman or very below average 1st pair Dman...why would Steve use a 6th overall pick to draft a 2nd pairing Dman...what was he thinking?!?! Now those same people are saying why is Steve using 9th Overall to draft a third line center...what was he thinking?!?! Danielson's numbers in the WHL are deceiving because he was on a very bad team without much talent around him. Give him a few quality teammates who can help to distribute the pressure off of him and he'd easily be a 100pt player in his draft year. I spent more time watching his play since he was drafted and now I see why they took him at 9th. The kid is a stud

This is all spot on, except the best two way forward ever is Datsyuk.

I'm an enormous Datsyuk fan and absolutely despise the Bruins. But I have to be real. Bergeron was better at the two way game consistently throughout his career. 6 Selkes vs 3 Selkes. And Bergeron won the Selke in his final two seasons when he was 36 and 37. That's insane. Datsyuk was elite as f*** in his prime but in his final two seasons but he wasn't at the top level that he played at between 2006 - 2012 anymore. Patrice was still in his prime the day he retired. He's a legend.

#1 is Patrice Bergeron
#2 is Pavel Datsyuk
#3 is Sergei Fedorov

Honorable mention to Peter Forsberg. Never won a Selke, but my god there wasn't a player that scared me more than him during the late 1990's early 2000's when the wings had to play Colorado.

Sure, but Patrice played on MUCH better teams his entire career, especially when looking at his defense and goalies.

I will never forgive Holland for what he put Datsyuk (and us) through from 2010 and on. Danny Cleary, Tomas Jurco, Abdelkader...my god.

Danielson was one of the oldest players in the draft (born 2 weeks earlier and he's a 2022 pick) and was barely over PPG bad team aside to be picked 9th in a draft this good is suspect, most of the forwards taken in the next 10-15 picks end up better than him most models just do not project him being anything that good. Kasper on the other hand like a lot of players taken in the top 15 did not have the best d+1 seasons barely improved his totals I'm just sayin I personally would prefer taking rare skillsets like a Savoie. And I've heard enough about Seider lol every time there's a disagreement with wings drafts he is brought up sure he was a good pick but he might not even be better than the guy picked right after him who was the consensus 5/6 guy

Danielson was far and away the best C at 9 when the Wings drafted, and exactly the type of prospect this org needs. His age is largely irrelevant when you're talking about a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds. Who gives a sh*t what the "models" say? They are wrong constantly every single year.

Same argument for Kasper, as he was the best and BIGGEST forward available at 9. Savoie is a nice player but he's tiny, and clearly Yzerman put stock in that.

Seider is BY FAR the best player taken at that spot thus far, and I'm not sure who you're referring to but he's obviously a better player than Cozens and/or Broberg, at this point in time.

You're splitting hairs and, quite frankly, talking out your ass.

Lmao I disagree with you on a heavily opinionated topic so I'm talking out of my ass very tiny minded of you

I'd take Seider over Cozens on my team all day every day.

Cozens is a very good young forward. Seider is a true #1 D man.

I think Cozens is a #1C and I would always take 1C over 1D unless the D is Makar level which I don't think Seider is even close to

I'd always take a #1D over a #1C unless that C is McDavid which I don't think Cozens is even close to.