What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but that rule doesn’t apply to what happens at the NHL draft table. What happens there is seen, judged and picked apart by everybody.
So what are analysts saying about the Detroit Red Wings’ 2024 draft haul? Here’s a Red Wings report card from some of the best analysts covering the NHL.
Corey Pronman, The Athletic
2024 NHL Draft grades for every team: Best fits, analysis and what to know
Grade: C+
When it comes to drafts and prospects, Corey Pronman is one of the most trusted voices in the business. He’s not only skilled at analyzing what makes prospects tick, but also how they fit within organizations. Out of all prospect writers, I personally trust his work the most.
Pronman, especially compared to writers later in this list, was a little more critical of Detroit’s haul than others. His C+ grade for Detroit stemmed from the lack of day two intrigue, more specifically the way its picks weren’t all that exciting. In his words:
“Detroit's first-round pick, Brandsegg-Nygard, projects as a hard-to-play-against top-six winger," wrote Pronman after the draft. "Their day two picks weren’t that exciting to me. Max Plante and Ondrej Becher are very skilled forwards and have chances to play but have a long way to go in their development.”
Pronman kept things brief, but his long timeline on second round pick Max Plante and third round pick Ondrej Becher should remind fans that prospects take time to develop, especially when they’re late round projects. In the past six drafts preceding this, the Red Wings have only seen one second or third round pick play in the NHL: 2018 second rounder Jonatan Berggren, currently an RFA. As much as Plante and Becher both offer intriguing profiles — Plante as a playmaking brain trust and Becher as a late-bloomer — they’re far from complete packages.
Pronman is not an especially lenient grader, so a C+ is still a fairly OK grade. At the very least, it’s passing.
Chris Peters, FloHockey
NHL Draft Grades 2024: Here's How All 32 Teams Did
Grade: B-
Peters is one of the most accurate mock draft creators in the business. His ability to identify players’ strengths, weaknesses and how they both interact give really complete profiles of what teams can expect. He gave the Red Wings a B-.
While noting that Detroit stayed faithful to the archetype that has driven its draft philosophy under general manager Steve Yzerman, he also respected some deep swings.
“… There were a couple of swings later in the draft including Max Plante, who I did not expect to go in the second round, but he is a very heady playmaker," Peters wrote. "Becher is an older prospect who seems to be a late bloomer and could have some high-end offensive potential. All three of those players were on FloHockey's Top 100. Detroit added another big goalie in Landon Miller and got some hard-nosed players in John Whipple and Austin Baker from the NTDP. I don't know that Detroit made a major impact on their prospect pool here, but they got good talent in a variety of positions.”
Detroit really favored the late bloomers in this draft, whether that’s Plante who is just now growing into his size, Becher who broke out as a double re-entry, Whipple who underperformed his previous draft hype or even fourth round pick Landon Miller, who has yet to be a full starter in the OHL. The biggest example of these ambitious picks is Charlie Forslund, drafted out of Sweden’s third division because Kris Draper went “deep into Sweden” to scout him due to happenstance while trying to scout defenseman Dominik Badinka.
It’s OK for Detroit to have a type when it comes to its draft classes. You can’t build a house on sand, and players cut from the same cloth as Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson bring the concrete. But in the draft’s later rounds — especially with Detroit’s prospect pool so deep already — it can afford to swing for the fences. Whether any of their picks actually clear will be answered in time.
Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
Winners and losers of the 2024 NHL Draft: Minnesota impresses while Philadelphia falls short
Grade: Overtime winner
Wheeler, in cool teacher fashion, doesn’t give out letter grades. His assessments reflect the leniency required to pass judgment on a collection of 225 predictions hinging on the aspirations of 18-year-olds. He gave Detroit an “overtime winner” title, meaning it made the most of its picks even if it didn’t pick the players he would’ve drafted.
Wheeler’s assessment of the earlier picks follows with what his peers wrote, but he also offered some insight on the Red Wings’ latest picks that I thought was interesting.
“Landon Miller seemed to have some tough nights in net whenever I watched the Soo this year, but he’s huge and goalies are tricky, so who knows," Wheeler assessed. "John Whipple, once one of the top American players in this age group, never became at the program what people thought he would, and he can struggle with his decision-making but he has some tools and I expect him to be a better college player than a junior player. … I liked the Austin Baker selection at No. 203. I’m not sure he’s got the skill but he was a very good fourth-liner for the NTDP this year and he works and plays to his strengths.”
Again, Miller is tall and Whipple is someone Detroit hopes just had a couple rough seasons. Whipple is headed to a strong program at Minnesota, which could help him grow into his potential.
Out of everything in here, I think the Baker assessment is some of the deeper analysis on him, and I think it shows a lot of the traits that could make him a good player for Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale to tinker with. Without comparing apples to oranges, this profile sort of reminds me of Red Savage, a detail-oriented checker whose skating is lackluster but who leverages his shot blocking and playmaking to make him a very effective college player. Savage exploded last season after transferring from Miami, scoring a career-high 27 points in 38 games. Savage has more skill to work with than Baker, but Baker can build skills under Nightingale that make him a functional player. It’s a good shot by Detroit with one of its last picks.
Mitch Brown and David St-Louis, EP Rinkside
EP Rinkside's Grades for the 2024 NHL Draft
Grade: B-
More analytically focused than some of the other voices shared in this article, Brown and St-Louis echoed a lot of similar sentiments regarding the Red Wings’ type.
Their B- wasn’t so much about the picks themselves, but more so how they fit into Detroit’s prospect pool as a lot of redundancies.
“Brandsegg-Nygård is a perfectly reasonable pick at 15th overall. He has the forechecking, physicality, shot, and speed to become a top-nine, puck-winning forward," the duo wrote. "It’s more the lack of variety in their prospect pool that concerns us. Still, the Red Wings took some real swings in the draft. Plante has top-six potential because of his high-end playmaking, but the rest of his game must develop. Though Becher’s a double re-entry, he’s dynamic. If the skating improves, watch out. Forslund and Baker could both checking line forwards, too. So while the Wings kept adding to the strengths of their strength, it’s tough to find too much fault in their work.”
Again, the grade’s lowness is more so due to a lack of imagination by Detroit rather than anything faulty with the picks. I liken frustration with the lack of prospect diversity to this: The Red Wings are drafting steak and potatoes, which is a tasty, hearty meal. But eat it five, six days in a row and it just doesn’t hit the same. Detroit, meanwhile, says pass the A.1. sauce. They players they are drafting aren’t the alluring picks for players who possess elite attributes, but more so they’re investments in guys who could be really well-rounded players.
The Red Wings’ picks aren’t the type that are going to make them an explosive, dynamic team, but they are the type that will prevent them from fizzling out when games get tighter and beefier. Think of how Florida just won the Stanley Cup. It wasn’t pure skill that won it so much as the grit and tenacity to win races and especially battles. That’s not to say that the Red Wings will turn into Florida — nor is it to discount the clear skill underneath the Panthers’ toughness. But, it’s an example of why drafting like Yzerman has can pay off.
Steven Ellis, Daily Faceoff
2024 NHL Draft: Ranking how all 32 teams did
Grade: B+
In a similar way to Pronman, Ellis is great at considering where teams are coming from with their picks. That doesn’t mean he totally reserves judgment, more so that he doesn’t fault teams for sticking to their identities. This showed in how he viewed Detroit’s draft class, giving it a B+, the highest of the selected graders.
“The Red Wings took some serious value today, which is always fun. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard isn’t the high-end goal-scorer they need in the system but he plays with power and does have a wicked shot," Ellis wrote. "Plante is one of the best playmakers out of this draft, while Becher was one of the best overage players. I also think Landon Miller established himself as one of the more interesting goalie prospects and John Whipple has decent third-pairing potential. In all, I like it.”
Hearing third-pairing potential out of Whipple makes me think of him as a younger, albeit less skilled, replacement for Andrew Gibson, the shutdown defenseman that the Red Wings just traded to Nashville. The likelihood of either playing NHL games is slim, and getting third-pairing production out of a fifth-round pick would be a major coup by Yzerman.
There would also be a lot of function out of such a shutdown player. When acquired on the open market, shutdown defensemen are so often overpaid relative to what they bring to the ice. Developing these players from within is important for overall salary cap health, especially for Detroit as it projects to be tight against the cap — no matter how much it increases — as it continues to become a more competitive team. If Whipple shakes off a poor career at the NTDP and blossoms into a third pairing defender, then Yzerman could have a sneakily valuable pick on his hands.
Overall Report Card
Pronman: C+
Peters: B-
St-Louis and Brown: B-
Ellis: B+
Wheeler: OT winner
Overall, the grades aren't too bad even if they're not great. This isn't a report card Detroit should be worried about hiding from its parents. And with a little more time for players to develop, perhaps these grades will change in retrospect.
