The 2015 NHL Draft was one of the more illustrious drafts in recent memory. With a handful of top-tier forwards and defensemen available in the first round, there was a lot of speculation if the Red Wings would trade up to acquire a blue chip blue-liners. So why didn’t they?
The Obvious answer to this question is because the price was likely far too high for Ken Holland to pony up and push the big green button that says “GO.” They have those at the draft, right? Wait, they don’t? Okay, well add that to the list of things Gary Bettman needs to fix in this league.
I was browsing through the Internet, more specifically, Pension Plan Puppets’ post about how the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Toronto Maple Leafs were chatting about a potential first round trade:
The video shows Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen mulling over a deal that would have sent the fourth overall pick to Columbus in exchange for a first round pick (No. 8) and three second round picks (No. 34, 38, 58).
Here’s the video:
Okay, the Red Wings couldn’t even come close to affording that without dipping into their prospect pool, which could in turn end up as a drastic overpayment. Personally, I think this would have been a disastrous price to pay for CBJ. Think about it.. A top ten pick AND three 2nd round picks? Mitch Marner is good, but you can’t mortgage that much potential depth on one player.
How does this relate to the Red Wings? Well, I guess it doesn’t. They took Evgeny Svechnikov at 19th overall, and I couldn’t be happier. He’s a great prospect to have, and if he pans out, he could be a top-six winger in the years to come. My question is why don’t more teams do this kind of coverage? I was at the NHL Draft doing coverage for Winging It In Motown, and it seemed like general manager Ken Holland was on the phone every other minute during the first, second, and third round. Why not elaborate on what he was doing?
If you wander over to the Red Wings video page, and don’t get me wrong, they do absolutely wonderful work over there, why don’t we see any footage of what was happening on the floor during the first round after all of the diggers were bantering about a potential first round trade?
The quick answer to this would be that maybe Detroit knew who they wanted to take in the first round without any trading whatsoever. As I said before, I could not be happier with who the Red Wings took in Evgeny Svechnikov, but why not show some of the Draft day drama that goes on? Listen, I haven’t gone through all 30 teams video pages, and I probably never will, so maybe the Blue Jackets were one of the only teams to do it. I won’t single out the Red Wings in that regard.
Why don’t all NHL teams do this? You would think that it’s a pretty cool fan experience to know what their most favorite hockey club is doing to benefit their future, right? Right!
The point of this article isn’t to single out the Red Wings, and their ongoing “closed door, only have information that is leaked to beat writers” policy, it’s to ask everyone – Why not do this? The Blue Jackets offered a great, and interactive experience to their fans on what is going on during one of the biggest days in the offseason. Even I listened in on Jarmo Keklainen’s phone calls with interest, even though I loathe the Blue Jackets, and their stupid Twitter account.
Listen, NHL teams, I’m not asking you to reinvent the wheel here… I’m just asking you to provide some better, and more informative Draft content for fans. I saw you talking on your phones! Just tell us what you were talking about!
