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GMRwings1983

Ranking Wings Players by Draft Order

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So just for the hell of it, I ranked current Wings players based on where they were drafted in their respective draft years. Obviously, many of these players were drafted by other teams.

Weiss - 4th overall

Cleary - 13th overall

Kindl - 19th overall

Sheahan - 21st overall

Smith - 27th overall

Kronwall - 29th overall

Jurco - 35th overall

Abdelkader - 42nd overall

Tatar - 60th overall

Howard - 64th overall

Nestrasil - 75th overall

Andersson - 88th overall

Franzen - 97th overall

Nyquist - 121st overall

Quincey - 132nd overall

Helm - 132nd overall

Datsyuk - 171st overall

Miller - 186th overall

Zetterberg - 210th overall

Ericsson - 291st overall

Glendening -undrafted

Gustavsson - undrafted

DeKeyser- undrafted

Lashoff - undrafted

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Small + Euro + late bloomer

His wiki page makes it sound like Nill was a big factor in the Wings picking him (while also mentioning his small stature).

Zetterberg caught the attention of the Red Wings' Assistant General Manager Jim Nill and Director of European Scouting Håkan Andersson during a tournament in Finland. While Andersson was trying to point out Mattias Weinhandl, Nill could not help noticing "this little Zetterberg guy who always seemed to have the puck."[3]

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The player that stands out to me is Nyquist. We all know Z and Dats were drafted late. Old news (but still incredible finds!). Goose, though, is showing more and more promise. I was initially a skeptic because of his (lack of) size, but he has been consistently scoring in the NHL for a year and some of his moves are downright Datsyuk-ian. Great pick at #121!

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You won't find many teams with their best players picked so low because most teams best players are a lot younger, so it would be tough for a very low pick to be such an impact player that quickly. It was 3 years after they were drafted before either Datsyuk, or Zetterberg would play in the NHL....Datsyuk was also already 20 when he was drafted. Most of the top players these days are in the NHL the year after they are drafted with the elite of elite making it the year of their draft.

I think size has been a big issue over the years, especially in the 80s....you find several examples of hall of famers that were drafted very low or not at all. Today's game is more about speed than size, but size is still very important (just not as important as it was 30 years ago).

Also impacting drafting with non-North American players was whether they would ever come to play....so you'd see guys like Fedorov and Lidstrom drafted so low because it was a risk to take them, much different now.

I think size was the issue for both Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Datsyuk was always seen as flashy, but I know I questioned whether he had what it took to be an effective NHLer. There have been dazzling stickhandlers in the past, but that's not what will make you a great player in the NHL...so there was a bit of that with him.

Then, there's always the excuse that the draft is a crapshoot most of the time when you are trying to project guys who are only 18. There are rarely sure bets.

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Hornqvist looks like the most recent gem.....was picked dead last in the same year as Crosby....now he is on his wing and putting up big numbers. Sure, he's getting some benefit by playing with Crosby, but he was pretty productive before this year as well.

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Hornqvist looks like the most recent gem.....was picked dead last in the same year as Crosby....now he is on his wing and putting up big numbers. Sure, he's getting some benefit by playing with Crosby, but he was pretty productive before this year as well.

Hornqvist does what we all complain that our team doesn't do. Shoots the puck. He's a very good player, but I'd like to see what he'd do with a centerman not named Legwand or Crosby.

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Legwand is a bum I thought?

Right. I was hinting that he played with a bum for most of his career, and is now with the leagues top stud. Like to see what he'd do with a regular top line centermen like a Bergeron, or a Plekanec type. Not amazing offensively, but good.

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The most noticeable one for me (aside from our star players) is Ericsson. Drafted dead last (I think?) and turned out to be a solid NHL defenseman. A very similar situation could potentially happen for Marchenko.

Edited by Wings_Toledo

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The most noticeable one for me (aside from our star players) is Ericsson. Drafted dead last (I think?) and turned out to be a solid NHL defenseman. A very similar situation could potentially happen for Marchenko.

I believe he was drafted as a forward too, but it's been awhile.

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Was it '99 that we picked Jiri Fischer first, Datsyuk last, and none of our picks in between ever play nhl hockey.

I believe he was drafted as a forward too, but it's been awhile.

Ericsson made the switch to Dman sometime in juniors, iirc.

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I believe he was drafted as a forward too, but it's been awhile.

The most noticeable one for me (aside from our star players) is Ericsson. Drafted dead last (I think?) and turned out to be a solid NHL defenseman. A very similar situation could potentially happen for Marchenko.

He was drafted as a centerman who Hakan thought would make a better Dman. Marchenko is different than Ericsson. Marchenko had injuries problems in his draft year, and also stated that he wanted to remain in Russia, despite being highly ranked before his injury. Next year he's healthy and tells the wings he'll come to NA as long as he's a Red Wing. With this inside info the Wings are able to draft him with their last pick. Ericsson was just pure good wings scouting.

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Anyone remember how Datsyuk ever made that 2002 roster? A 6th round pick that put up some unimpressive numbers in the KHL the year before. He must have had a hell of a training camp. I'd never even heard of him prior to some game in December that year when he scored against the Avalanche.

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Dastyuk and Zetterberg both have elite hockey IQs. They also have elite work ethics. But who knew?

The Wings might have had a gut feeling, but IQ and work ethic reveal themselves more slowly and more naturally than what you take away from watching a big 17 year old from Ontario bulldoze some kids and pick up a rebound at the World Juniors.

It’s still early, but it looks like Nyquist is cut from a similar cloth.

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Anyone remember how Datsyuk ever made that 2002 roster? A 6th round pick that put up some unimpressive numbers in the KHL the year before. He must have had a hell of a training camp. I'd never even heard of him prior to some game in December that year when he scored against the Avalanche.

That was the year that Yzerman only played a handful of games - That probably was what made room for Pav.

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That was the year that Yzerman only played a handful of games - That probably was what made room for Pav.

2003 was the year Yzerman played a handful of games. In 2002, Yzerman got hurt around the Olympics. I thought Datsyuk was already on the roster by that point, but I could be wrong.

Here's another question.

Why was DeKeyser undrafted? He certainly isn't a small euro playing in some league nobody ever scouts. Is it because he played in the NCAA?

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Why was DeKeyser undrafted? He certainly isn't a small euro playing in some league nobody ever scouts. Is it because he played in the NCAA?

IIRC, yes. I was actually going to comment on this. Him being listed as undrafted is a bit misleading. He picked the Wings over many teams pursuing him.

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Yes, I think DeKeyser going undrafted has a lot to do with him going the college route. College hockey has gotten much more recognition the past few years, largely because of some of the talent that is coming out of the NCAA. Some others that went undrafted from the NCAA in recent years include Ben Lovejoy, Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, Mark Letestu, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Luke Glendening, Mark Arcobello, Christian Folin, Mike Weaver, Andy Green, Stephen Gionta, Cory Conacher, Cam Talbot, Matt Read, Matt, Irwin, J.T. Brown, Andrej Sustr, Tyler Bozak and Chris Tanev. Others a few years back include Curtis Glencross, Teddy Purcell, Ben Scrivens, Ryan Carter, Rene Bourque, Dan Boyle, Martin St. Louis, Chris Kunitz, Jason Garisson and Jay Beagle. There are going to be more and more of these guys coming from the NCAA and the biggest name out there right now is Kenney Morrison, a guy I think could help out the Wings on the back end...

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