Niklas Kronwall was the last first-round pick of the Red Wings, in 2000.

Red Wings mine
late rounds for prospects
By John McGourty | NHL.com
June 28, 2005

Hanging among the NHL's elite has made the players, coaches and fans of the Detroit Red Wings very happy. But that success has been a mixed blessing for the club's scouts who have to pluck prospects not only in the second half of the selection order, but also in later rounds.

The Red Wings have done an amazing job in recent years of finding good players in the later rounds of the Entry Draft, which has been very important since the team has traded a number of first-round selections to secure the veteran players who have kept the Wings among the League's best.

The Wings have had only one pick in the first round of the last five Entry Drafts, taking Niklas Kronwall with the 29th pick in 2000. Since then, they've watched as Chicago took Adam Munro with their pick acquired from Detroit in 2001; Atlanta took Michigan State's Jim Slater with Detroit's pick in 2002; Los Angeles used Detroit's first-round pick in 2003 to select Michigan's Jeff Tambellini and Washington grabbed Saskatoon Blades defenseman Mike Green in 2004 with Detroit's top pick.

Detroit's average first pick over the past five years has been No. 62, early in the third round. But they had no pick at all on the first day of the draft in 2004, waiting until No. 97 to take Swedish center Johan Franzen, then 23, with their first pick.

"Just another average day at the beach for us," joked Wings Assistant General Manager Jim Nill. "Seriously, we know we have to do a better job than others in scouting, evaluating, training and coaching these players. I think the record shows we have been successful in all those areas and that has contributed to the Red Wings' continuing success."

Right wing Igor Grigorenko, the Red Wings' first selection in 2001, first attracted international attention at the 2000 World Under-18 tournament while playing on a line with Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk. Grigorenko was the tournament's second-leading scorer and was named to the First All-Star team.

Grigorenko started his rookie season, 2001-02, slowly but blossomed after a mid-season coaching change. He also played on Russia's Under-20 national team and was the leading scorer. He led Lada in scoring the next season and played on the Russian senior national team. Grigorekno has played well in both the World Junior Championship and World Championship.

Then Grigorenko broke his leg and hip in a car accident in May 2003 and underwent surgery. He missed the entire 2003-04 regular season, returning for three playoff games. But he rebounded last season with 11 goals and 18 points in 30 games for Ufa.

"Igor is back healthy again after the auto accident," Nill said. "He had a rod taken out a year ago from his hip. He started in Lada this season, then was traded to Ufa around January and his game took right off. He's back to 85 percent of what he used to be. He has a ways to go, but major injuries will take time. We're very happy with his development.

Detroit's first pick in 2004 was Johan Franzen, taken with the 97th selection.

"Igor is very strong on the puck and he has great hands, but not blazing speed. His strength overcomes that. He has great hockey sense, a good feel for the game and he's very competitive. He plays either wing. Like a lot of Europeans, he likes the off wing. That's where he has played. He's a left-hand shot and the boards are his whole game."

Detroit struggled with injuries to their goalies two years ago, but the team now has several strong prospects, including Joey MacDonald, the starter last season with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins. Drew MacIntyre was slated as the backup in Grand Rapids this past season, but MacDonald's strong play and MacIntyre's need for work dictated that he be sent to Toledo of the ECHL for a few games.

"It was a tough year for Drew," Nill said. "He had hernia surgery at the end of the previous season and Joey MacDonald just grabbed the No. 1 job in Grand Rapids and held it the whole way in an outstanding season. We think MacDonald can be the NHL backup, so we expect Drew to come back and train really hard this summer to get his game back strong and compete for the No. 1 job in Grand Rapids."

James Howard spent a year with the U.S. National Team then was Hockey East rookie of the year in his freshman year at the University of Maine. Howard was 19-13-7 with Maine last season and increased his team record to fifteen shutouts. He had a 1.92 goals-against-average and a .924 save percentage. He was team MVP and co-winner of Maine's best defensive player award.

"James had another great year at the University of Maine. He was one of the MVPs on that team. He's been their backbone the past two seasons. Their last game, they lost 1-0 in overtime to the University of Minnesota in the final sixteen, the West regionals. He played very well. James is very high on our depth chart. Depending on the situation, we would like him to turn pro now. If he doesn't, he's in a good program. James is very big in net and he has good lateral movement. He doesn't have to overwork in net. He's good on his angles and has good anticipation in squaring up to the shooter."

After finishing as the Swedish rookie of the year behind Henrik Zetterberg in 2001, goalie Stefan Liv wasn't ranked by the NHL's Central Scouting Service. But Detroit scouts had their eyes on him and the team traded to get in position to draft him. Liv rewarded them with a strong post-draft season and has continued to play well.

"Stefan had only an average year after winning the Swedish Elite League championship the year before," Nill said. "Jonkoping didn't sign any NHL players until January so they got behind the Eight ball right away. The team struggled and Stefan struggled. He wasn't very good, early on. He was the No. 3 goalie on the Swedish World Championship team. He's getting to the age where he needs to take the next step, either become an elite goalie in Sweden or come over here."

Joey MacDonald is one of a number of quality young goaltenders in the Detroit system.

Nill said the team had five strong center prospects.

The Wings surprised people in 2004 when they took Johan Franzen a couple of rounds ahead of projections, but he was coming off a strong season in which he also played on the Swedish national team.

The 6-foot-2, 207-pound Franzen is a good skater with speed and is strong on his skates. He's good defensively and makes good passes. His wrist shot is his main weapon and he's been encouraged to shoot more.

"Johan is a little older and he's been playing in Sweden," Nill said. "He played on a line with Brendan Morrison and Mike Knuble this winter and had a good year. We think he can step in and play on our third or fourth line. He has good size at 215 pounds and plays a solid defensive game. We drafted him last year because we think he can fill a void right away and give us size. Like most Europeans, he has good skills but he won't score a lot of goals. He plays a solid game and fit right in with NHL pros this season. That was good to see."

Valtteri Filppula had another strong season with Jokerit Helsinki in the Finnish Elite League. He had 10 goals and 30 points in 55 games while playing on the second line. Filppula has good speed and balance and plays a strong defensive game.

"We're very happy with his development," Nill said. "He's a young player who put up a lot of points in a men's league. He's was the No. 2 center on a good team. He's been sharp since he captained Finland in the World Juniors a couple of years ago. He had a good tournament and since then, his game has taken off. He's good on faceoffs and he sees the ice very well. He has good hockey sense and sets up linemates well. He's a very responsible player at both ends of the ice. We've compared him to Brendan Morrison that way."

Valtteri Filppula (left) had 10 points in 55 games with Jokerit last season.

If Evan McGrath had been eligible for the 2003 Entry Draft, he might have gone in the Top 10. McGrath was highly regarded when he helped lead the Kitchener Rangers to the 2003 Memorial Cup, including two goals in the championship game. But McGrath's game went in the tank the next year and he was lucky to go to Detroit with the 128th overall pick in 2004. McGrath bounced back with 28 goals and 87 points in 68 games and helped lead the Rangers to the OHL semifinals.

"Evan had a very good season, finishing seventh in the Ontario Hockey League in scoring," Nill said. "He had a good regular season and playoffs and got his game back to where it was two years ago. He had a strong Memorial Cup when Kitchner won it in 2003. For some reason, his game disappeared in his draft year so we were fortunate to get him where we got him."

The Montreal Canadiens drafted center Eric Himelfarb in the sixth round, 171st overall, in 2001. He never had less than 31 goals in four junior seasons, but played with three different clubs in Ontario. His best season was his last with Kingston when he had 37 goals and 107 points. He's coming off a decent first season with Grand Rapids.

"Eric is a second-line center in the AHL and projects to a third- or fourth-line center in the NHL," Nill said. "He's not very big. We signed him as a free agent and he quietly had a good year in Grand Rapids, for a first-year player. He's very competitive and strong for his size. He has really good speed and is very good on faceoffs. He's a very responsible player who saw time on the power play. He played in all situations."

Ryan Oulahen had a strong year with the OHL's Brampton Battalion, scoring 27 goals and adding 31 assists. He's a fifth-round pick who wound up a team captain.

Drew MacIntyre is expected to compete for the starting job in Grand Rapids this season.

"Ryan had a good year as the captain and solid all-around center iceman," Nill said. "He played against all the best players because he is good defensively. He stepped up his offensive contributions as well. He projects as a good third-line checking center at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds. It's going to take him some time. He'll need two or three years in the American league to get used to the speed and size."

Right wing Andreas Jamtin struggled with scoring for Jonkoping in Sweden this season but he's a tenacious defender. Nill likes his aggressiveness and ability to draw penalties.

"He had a good season in his first full year in the Swedish Elite League. It was a good test for him. It opened his eyes because he plays a North American style of game and it gave him a chance to play that way. He got injured quite a bit by playing hard so he has to work on getting stronger and developing his body. He's a little gnat in everyone's face. He gets under your skin. I saw him play against Zdeno Chara and he was driving Chara nuts. He was in his face all the time. That will be his game. Who could I compare him to? As a pest, he doesn't have Ken Linseman's offensive skills, but he's more like Ville Niemenen. He's a hard-working player with a fire-hydrant type of body."

The Red Wings are also following a couple offensive defenseman they believe can challenge for NHL jobs within a couple years. Kyle Quincey had 15 goals and 46 points in 58 games for the Mississauga Ice Dogs last season. Miroslav Blatak is a good puck-moving and passing defenseman in his native Czech Republic.

"Kyle had a very strong year and we were very happy with his development," Nill said. "We took him in the middle rounds. He was the last cut from the Canadian World Junior team. It was tough to get cut, but we told him it was a great compliment. That was a great Canadian team. Kyle is a very steady, meat-and-potatoes type of player, not flashy at all. He moves the puck well and you're not afraid to put him in any situation.

"Miroslav has grown a lot," Nill said. "We saw him this year and compared to last year, we're really excited about his game. A year ago, he was a smaller defenseman starting to become a man. Now, he's 6-foot-1, 190-195 pounds and he's starting to get a pretty good build on him. Miroslav had two very good years at Zlin. They won the championship last year. That's good for his development. He was on one of the top teams this year and played well with and against NHLers."