2018 NHL Draft: 1st Round Recap for Red Wings Picks

Round 1 is in the books!  In a draft where the pressure was on Ken Holland & Co. to deliver, indications right now are that the Detroit Red Wings have walked away with some absolute steals.

With our first pick of the night at #6, Wings fans listened intently as Filip Zadina fell from an expected #2 or #3 spot right into our laps.  Widely regarded as a “Tier 2” player in this draft along with Andrei Svechnikov (Rasmus Dahlin being the only “Tier 1” player), Zadina falling to us at #6 is both unexpected and extremely welcomed.  Per jmcurran28’s profile on Zadina, it was widely thought we would have to trade up to get him.

If that wasn’t enough, another name started to slip as the 1st round crept towards the Wings’ pick at #30.  Joe Veleno was widely thought to be a top-15 pick, even cracking the top-10 in the ISS Hockey and McKeen’s Hockey rankings.  When talent like that slides to you at #30, you can’t pass that up – Ken Holland even said so:

Ken Holland just now on NBC:

“We wanna get some D at some point, but we just couldn’t pass these forwards up.”

— Kyle M. (@KyleWIIM) June 23, 2018

The speedy center from the QMJHL finished 10th overall in scoring for that league this past season.  Check out Kyle’s write-up for more info on all there is to be excited about with Veleno.

All-in-all, this has to be viewed as a great 1st Round for Detroit.  Great prospects fell into our lap, and instead of getting fancy, trading up or down, or going off the board thinking we had the smartest scouts in the room, we took the obvious talent that the Hockey Gods saw fit to bless us with – talent that, by most accounts, shouldn’t have made it to us.  Perhaps the best part is that there is still obvious talent available as tonight comes to a close – meaning we should be able to start tomorrow off with some good picks or smart trades.

For those of you unfortunate enough to have missed the Draft live or participating in our Open Thread, here’s the full summary of the 1st Round:

1. Rasmus Dahlin to Buffalo Sabres
2. Andrei Svechnikov to Carolina Hurricanes
3. Jesperi Kotkaniemi to Montreal Canadiens
4. Brady Tkachuk to Ottawa Senators
5. Barrett Hayton to Arizona Coyotes
6. Filip Zadina to Detroit Red Wings
7. Quintin Hughes to Vancouver Canucks
8. Adam Boqvist to Chicago Blackhawks
9. Vitali Kravtsov to New York Rangers
10. Evan Bouchard to Edmonton Oilers
11. Oliver Wahlstrom to New York Islanders
12. Noah Dobson to New York Islanders
13. Ty Dellandrea to Dallas Stars
14. Joel Farabee to Philadelphia Flyers
15. Grigori Denisenko to Florida Panthers
16. Martin Kaut to Colorado Avalanche
17. Ty Smith to New Jersey Devils
18. Liam Foudy to Columbus Blue Jackets
19. Jay O’Brien to Philadelphia Flyers
20. Rasmus Kupari to Los Angeles Kings
21. Ryan Merkley to San Jose Sharks
22. K’Andre Miller to New York Rangers (pick acquired from Ottawa)
23. Isac Lundestrom to Anaheim Ducks
24. Filip Johansson to Minnesota Wild
25. Dominik Bokk to St. Louis Blues (pick acquired from Toronto)
26. Jacob Bernard to Ottawa Senators (from New York Rangers)
27. Nicolas Beaudin to Chicago Blackhawks
28. Nils Lundkvist to New York Rangers
29. Rasmus Sandin to Toronto Maple Leafs (from St. Louis)
30. Joseph Veleno to Detroit Red Wings
31. Alexander Alexeyev to Washington Capitals

What do you think of our 1st Round picks?