As the Detroit Red Wings wrapped up their NHL entry draft weekend, director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright hinted at a change in philosophy within the organization.


No longer a contender for the Stanley Cup and as of last season, not even a playoff team, the Wings appear to be grudgingly accepting that the way they’ve done things in the past with prospects - allowing them to ripen on the vine, so to speak, in the minor leagues before stepping them up to the big time - maybe he an outdated model in today’s game.


“All I can say is I think the days of us leaving kids in the AHL for three-plus years or whatever, we don’t have the luxury of having Nick Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk and those type of guys up top where we can do that,” Wright said.

It’s easy to be patient when there are Stanley Cups being won, but as the Pittsburgh Penguins have proven the past two springs with Matt Murray, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel, you can play the kids and still do all right.

The Wings seem to slowly be coming around to this way of thinking.

“Hopefully we can speed up that process as far as their development and get them into a Red Wings uniform a little bit faster, but that’s out of my control,” Wright said.

The approach the Wings appear to be leaning toward is to not have a hard and fast rule in place where young players are automatically shuttled off to AHL Grand Rapids to mind their manners and wait their turn while they learn the ways of Winged Wheel.

“I think we can speed up that process a little bit,” Wright said. “I think we did it a little bit with Svech (forward Evgeni Svechnikov, the club’s top draftee in 2015) this year. We kept him down (in Grand Rapids), played him on the third or fourth line. HE didn’t get off to a great start but he was playing a bottom six role.

“Once November came around he put the time, he came here in summer, he had a great training camp, played some exhibition games, had some success, so let’s give him a little more. He had what - 20 goals, 50 some points - and became a big part of that team that ends up winning (the Calder Cup).

“We’re trying to speed that process up now. He should be a guy that comes into camp and tries to win a spot (in training camp). If not, he’s the up and down guy and (go) be the guy down there.”

Wright cited forward Tyler Bertuzzi as another kid who should push for a job in Detroit next fall, and believes that the old Wings way slowly began a phasing out process when forward Dylan Larkin made the team as a 19-year-old rookie straight out of college hockey in 2015.

“Dylan Larkin came in and broke the mold as far as a 19-year-old kid,” Wright said, while also noting the sophomore jinx that took a bite out of Larkin last season.

“He comes back as a 20 year old and the league figures you out a little bit. It’s a little bit of a humbling experience for these kids. Dylan we believe is going to rebound because of the competitiveness and the character and maturity he has.”

There’s the rub, though, in this change in philosophy. While there shouldn’t be a no-kid policy in place, you also can’t give carte blanche to the kids to play on the big club just because the team isn’t what it used to be.

“It is such a fine line,” Wright said. “If you do give them too much and they don’t succeed, it’s really hard to get them back because you’ve really got to strip them down and break them back up.”

He speaks from personal experience. Wright was selected 12th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 1991 and a year later, jumped right from WHL Swift Current to Edmonton, but the NHL current proved too swift for him.
“I was a first round pick that got sped up in that process,” Wright said. “I stayed in the NHL as a 19-year-old and I believe it hampered my career.”

Wright scored three goals in 41 games with the Oilers, spread over four seasons.

“I had to go to another organization (Pittsburgh) to really kind of find myself,” Wright said. “I lived through that. You’ve got to do it the right way. I think every kid is a different scenario.

“So, if they’re physically mature enough and they’re mentally mature enough to go, I think we should expose them to that. If they’re physically not ready, why put them at risk to fail? We have to do our best interest to make sure these kids don’t fail, and give them every resource to succeed.”

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