Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman arrived in Nashville with 10 selections in the 2023 NHL draft, including five of the first 43 picks.
With several needs, mostly notably goal-scoring, many expected Yzerman to use some of that draft capital to deal for immediate help.
Instead, the Red Wings ended up acquiring an additional pick and came out of the draft with 11 players, including nine on Thursday during the second day at Bridgestone Arena.
Yzerman did acquire 24-year bottom-six forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin from Edmonton for future considerations due to the Oilers’ need for cap space.
But the big move didn’t materialize, despite rampant speculation that sniper Alex DeBrincat was on his way from Ottawa. DeBrincat remains with the Senators for now.
Yzerman will head into free agency, which begins Saturday at noon, seeking a top-six forward, a right-shot defenseman and a back-up goaltender.
“I think we’re positioned reasonably well to have the ability with cap space, with draft picks (in 2024, including two first-rounders), if we want to go at it through trade or if we want to go through free agency, there’s options there,” Yzerman told media at the draft. “But I’m not going to just spend the money because I have it and we’re not going to just trade the picks because we have them. We’ll try to make good decisions regardless of our cap space or our depth. But it gives you options.
“It’s just hard. If we want young players, and there aren’t many of them on the market. To get them you got to be prepared to pay and you got to prepared to pay a lot of money to them as well.”
The Red Wings will get immediate help up front with Yamamoto, who had 20 goals two years ago but was limited to 58 games this past season (10 goals, 15 assists). While he’s small (5-8, 153), Kostin (6-3, 215) will add much-needed size on the wing.
“I love Kostin,” Yzerman said. “We watched him last year. He’s big, he skated well. He was more involved in the game. He played on a pretty deep team in Edmonton, so there’s an opportunity for a bigger role. We felt like he showed he could play in the NHL as a regular player. How high up the lineup? We’re optimistic he can work his way into a bigger role.”
The Red Wings hope first-round picks Nate Danielson, a two-way center, and Axel Sandin Pellikka, a skilled right-shooting defenseman, reach the NHL in a couple of years.
They added four more defensemen on Thursday, all with good size.
The Red Wings had three second-round selections and used Nos. 42 and 47 (which they traded down from 43, acquiring a late-round pick) on defensemen Andrew Gibson of Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) and Brady Cleveland of the U.S. National Team Development Program. They added Larry Keenan of Culver Academy in Indiana in the seventh round and Jack Phelan of Sioux Falls (USHL) in the eighth round.
“It wasn’t necessarily the plan that we need big defensemen, we just happened to like these guys,” Yzerman said. “It’s nice that they’re big and if they can play that’ll be ever better.”
In a bit of a surprise, the Red Wings selected a goaltender with their third pick, No. 41 in the second round — Trey Augustine of the USNTDP.
“I thought he played really well, very competitive goalie,” Yzerman said. “It kind of sounds silly, but he looks really good in the net, he moves well, his positioning is good, he’s a competitive kid. Obviously, we picked him in the second round, we think very highly of him.”
Detroit used its sixth pick on winger Noah Dower-Nilsson of Frolunda in the Swedish League. They drafted his brother, Liam, in the fifth round in 2021.
After scouting German left wing Kevin Bicker at the World U-18 Championship, they took him with their second fifth-round pick.
“He’s a really good skater, he’s got good puck skills, he plays with a lot of energy,” Yzerman said. “Really like his skating and his puck skills and the energy that he plays with.”
The Red Wings wrapped up the draft by taking goalie Rudy Guimond of Taft High School in Connecticut in the sixth round and center Emmitt Finnie of Kamloops (WHL) in the seventh round.
More: Meet the 2023 Detroit Red Wings draft class