Red Wings Mock Draft 1.0: Detroit Picks 13th

The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery has come and gone, and the Detroit Red Wings now know where they’ll pick in this year’s draft. The organization dropped one spot to No. 13.

Surely, Red Wings fans were hoping for a draft lottery miracle after years of bad luck. That was not the case, though. But still, there will be several high-quality players available when the Red Wings pick at 13.

To illustrate this, we’ll conduct our first mock draft of the offseason. We’ll focus on just one round for now – the next iterations will feature multiple rounds. Let’s dive in.

More Red Wings Offseason Analysis

NHL Draft Picks 1-12

Before we get to Detroit’s selection, we’ll quickly go through the first 12 picks. Organizational needs and prospect rankings were considered when assigning these prospects to the NHL clubs scheduled to make their selections before the Red Wings.

1. New York Islanders: LD Matthew Schaefer
2. San Jose Sharks: C Michael Misa
3. Chicago Blackhawks: RW Porter Martone
4. Utah HC: C James Hagens
5. Nashville Predators: C Anton Frondell
6. Philadelphia Flyers: C Caleb Desnoyers
7. Boston Bruins: C Jake O’Brien
8. Seattle Kraken: LW Victor Eklund
9. Buffalo Sabres: C Roger McQueen
10. Anaheim Ducks: RD Radim Mrtka
11. Pittsburgh Penguins: C Brady Martin
12. New York Rangers: LD Kashawn Aitcheson

13. Detroit Red Wings: LW Carter Bear – Everett Silvertips (WHL)

While there is a strong case to be made for selecting Jackson Smith to round out Detroit’s future top four, I believe that Carter Bear is the best player available here – Achilles injury and all. 

Above all else, the Red Wings need high-upside scorers to propel the team’s offense heading into the future. Bear can do just that. 

The 6-foot-0 winger was the best player on one of the top WHL teams this year. He even tallied 40 goals before the injury ended his season prematurely. 

Bear’s game is a balance of skill and effort:

“He has had some really strong showings this year both in play-driving and play-creation. He possesses quick, soft hands, legit skill, good speed and a natural shot but he also stays around it, plays with intensity, works extremely hard and goes to the net and inside ice.”

–Scott Wheeler (from ‘2025 NHL Draft ranking: Matthew Schaefer, Michael Misa lead Wheeler’s May top 64 list’ – The Athletic – 5/5/25)

Overall, his compete level and high hockey IQ fit within Detroit’s draft culture. It also helps that he consistently gains coaches’ trust, drives play from the wing, and can play on the power play and penalty kill. 

Personally, I like the way Bear attacks the offensive zone. He’s not a shoot-first guy. He’s not a pass-first guy, either. He just creates. Bear processes the play well and finds quality opportunities for either himself or a teammate. It’s not hard to imagine Bear, Nate Danielson, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard creating scoring chances moving around and through defenders.

Justin Carbonneau was also considered here.

Final Word

If the Red Wings do, in fact, select Bear, he’ll join a deep prospect pool that already includes former first rounders Danielson and Brandsegg-Nygard. These three, plus Lucas Raymond and Marco Kasper, would give the Red Wings a dynamic, young offensive core.  

Whether it’s Bear, Carbonneau, Smith, or someone else, Detroit will have plenty of quality prospects to choose from at No. 13. It’s an interesting draft class – there isn’t a ton of separation between No. 7 and No. 14. And that’s something that can work in Detroit’s favor this June.