Detroit Red Wings at the NHL combine in Buffalo
By Ash Thompson
The NHL combine is occurring this week in Buffalo. The Detroit Red Wings are searching for the nucleus of their team five years from now.
The Vegas Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals are doing battle for the Stanley Cup. The Detroit Red Wings are prepping for next year. The NHL combine in Buffalo is not the slick and flashy commentated affair that the NFL’s version has become. It is not televised, but for Wings fans, this is an important step in the process.
Rasmus Dahlin will be the first pick in the draft, but after that the waters get murky. The Wings sit just at the edge of the first tier after the draft’s top prospect. They are likely going to have to select from the draft’s top tier of players that will not make a quick jump to the league.
The prospects available to Detroit are all talented. That is a very small part of the equation, however. NHL draft picks often take two or three seasons to get to the NHL. They do not often make much of an impact for four or five years.
The Red Wings have scheduled meetings with about 70 players, according to Ansar Kahn of mlive.com. there are no pro days to follow up. Unlike the NHL draft, this will be the one opportunity for the Red Wings brain trust to meet with many of these players before the draft. They’ll be taking a few players each night to dinner. According to assistant GM Ryan Martin, they expect their early picks to come from that group for the most part.
The Red Wings have four of the first 36 picks, including the number six overall pick. They could undoubtedly dump some of those picks for players that would help the team. Unfortunately, the Red Wings have some bad contracts on the books and lack the salary cap space to buy their way to a better roster, and the team needs to take the long view this offseason.
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The Red Wings have spent years scouting these players. They have met with the prospects over the course of this season. The NHL combine gets them all in a room for testing and gets all of the team’s evaluators in the same interview. This is a huge week for the Red Wings. The results of their decision making will define the team for years.