Will it be a a center or a defenseman?

Those would appear to be the areas of immediate need for the Detroit Red Wings, so it’s a safe bet that their first round pick (ninth overall) in Friday’s NHL entry draft will be spent on a player who plays one of those positions.

“Yeah. I think that’s a fairly accurate statement,” Red Wings director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright acknowledged.

There certainly are some intriguing possibilities at those positions right around where the Red Wings will make their initial selection.

Among defensemen, Cale Makar of the Alberta Junior League’s Brooks Bandits and Erik Brannstrom of HV71 could both still be on the board. Each has been paralleled to Erik Karlsson and even a poor man’s Karlsson would probably be the best defenseman on the current Wings. They could also opt for Miro Heiskanen of IFK Helsinki, cast as the prototypical modern puck-moving defender, although if hockey people are to be believed, Heiskanen is a guy who could jump up the list and be gone before the Wings get their turn at the podium. Kelowna’s Cal Foote, son of former Colorado Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote, would be another reach at No. 9, but he’s got size and skill and might be a possibility if the Wings made a deal and move down in the draft.

When looking at the center position, there’s a belief among scouts that Owen Sound’s Nick Suzuki could slide down the draft list and perhaps be there when the Wings make their call. He’s a solid, all-around player, and for those who love the fancy stats, Suzuki’s analytics are off the charts. Brno’s Martin Necas is another intriguing possibility who’d be a bit of a reach at No. 9. He has tremendous hands and vision but still needs to grow physically.

Being the Wings, going off the charts is not out of the question, and someone they might take a flyer on, considering their strong history with Swedes, could be Timra right-winger Elias Pettersson. He’s been compared to another Timra alum the Wings once drafted - a fellow by the name of Henrik Zetterberg.

You might have heard of him.

Regardless of who they take in Round One, Wright remains confident that with 10 more picks on their agenda as they enter Day 2 of the draft festivities, there will be plenty more opportunity to make themselves better as an organization.

“We’re pretty confident we’re going to get a good player that we’ve identified for the organization at nine,” Wright said. “But with that said, we’ve got a lot options this year, which is good. We’ve got (seven) picks in the top 100.

“We’ve got options that maybe if one of our guys slide we can move up, and vice versa. Maybe we could go back and get some value and still get our guy. We’ve done all our due diligence and gone through with our lists and our talks, but it’s a cliché that for the organization needs, we’re still going to take the best player we deem possible at nine.”

Schedule Out
While it was revealed Wednesday that the Minnesota Wild would be the first regular-season visitor to Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 5, the entire Red Wings slate for the 2017-18 NHL season was announced on Thursday.

After opening at home, the Wings will play five of their first seven games on the road, including an Oct. 13 trip to Sin City for the first game against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Sidney Crosby and the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins make their first visit to Detroit’s new rink on New Year’s Eve, and return again on March 27. The Arizona Coyotes get to howl at the moon in Detroit on Halloween night, while the night before Thanksgiving, it’s Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers who provide the opposition.

Steve Yzerman’s Tampa Bay Lightning are in town Oct. 16 and Jan. 7, while Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will be at Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 20 and March 22.

As for Original Six teams, the first to visit Detroit will be the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 30. The Boston Bruins (Dec. 13), Toronto Maple Leafs (Dec. 15) and New York Rangers (Dec. 29) all come to town for the first time during the month of December. The Chicago Blackhawks make their only trip to Hockeytown on Jan. 25.

The hated Colorado Avalanche also visit Detroit just once, on Nov. 19. The St. Louis Blues, who provided the opposition in the first game at Joe Louis Arena, will play in in the first afternoon game at Little Caesars Arena, a 3 p.m. start on Dec. 9.

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