In Red Wings Land

Detroit Red Wings scout: Rasmus Dahlin ‘has no weaknesses’ | Freep

“He’s good at everything,” Andersson told the Free Press. “He has great size, he is a great skater, he has very good hands. He’s extremely smart, and he has very high dedication. There is a lot to like.”

If the Red Wings land the first overall pick tonight, it literally changes everything about the rebuild and the future of the franchise.

Around the League

The Big Four solidify spots in TSN Draft Ranking | TSN

In fact, the Big Four in this year’s draft — Dahlin, Russian winger Andrei Svechnikov, Czech winger Filip Zadina and American winger Brady Tkachuk — hold down the same spots as they did at mid-season.

Svechnikov is No. 2, Zadina No. 3 and Tkachuk No. 4.

I think it’s interesting to see Brady Tkachuk in the top group. I’ve always thought of this draft as Rasmus Dahlin in a group of his own, followed by Andrei Svechnikov and Filip Zadina, and then everyone else rounding out the top 10.

Would I hate it if the Wings took Tkachuk? Nope, but I’d rather have a defenseman if Detroit is in the 5-8 range.

There was almost nothing separating Boqvist, Wahlstrom and Dobson in the spots between six and eight. They appear to virtually interchangeable, based on voting results.

And while there was a little bit of separation between those three and Hughes at No. 9, understand one thing about this year’s draft: Based on our survey, there is a huge drop off in consensus after No. 9.

If there are nine really good players in this draft and the Red Wings are guaranteed to pick no worse than 8th, that’s good news for us.