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I broke down North American Centers in the upcoming draft in the last post.
Before I go into this, I want to (or feel like I have to) touch base on a comments section question regarding Nylander. There is no shortage of voices that seem to think he will move on. I think his fate is inextricably connected to the Matthews negotiations. Not in money, but if you can’t get a commitment from Mathews by January or very early Feb, there are decisions to be made. While I don’t agree (necessarily) Brian Burked chimed in when the contract was done for Matthews. He was sure that the former first overall would walk. If that’s the case, where? He’s going to command a high dollar amount. The Arizona hockey market is “transitional… and like it or not, Toronto is a great city for hockey. Montreal, New York and Boston are as well. When more relevant, Chicago and Detroit were packing the house. Chicago sold 1.8 mil in season tix after the draft. Not a bad start. If Matthews wants money and wants to win, the list narrows down. You can’t let him walk for nothing though (if he’s even considering that). I don’t know that he is. That would make moving on from Nylander easier once they lock down the franchise player. Moving on.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of international centers in either the ESPN or TSN mock draft. This is where I feel like the Wings deviate from Central Scouting. There is a push internally with North American outlets to have Canadians and Americans high on the board. I think there are 2 reasons. 1, you can do a lot more scouting more easily on those games. 2, the CHL and American National Development Program benefit greatly when those players are selected.
I stated last time, it seems like Yzerman likes seeing how younger kids fare if they have the opportunity to work with adults. Regardless of whatever the reasoning is, Detroit is doing a lot of international scouting for the first round. There are increased assets as both Kronwall and Zetterberg can give input. Lidstrom was doing something similar even before he came back.
Next week I will be looking at right side defense. At the beginning of last season, I was more comfortable with that position as Seider and Hronek were a nice 1-2 punch on the right side. It feels as if Detroit will try to sign a “stop gap… right side defenseman. But, it all depends on the price. May be easier to look at trades as multiple teams are going to have cap trouble moving forward.
International Centers:
Leo Carlsson is a 6’3… Swedish center ranked as high as #1 for international forwards and as low as #6. He had 25 points (10G 15A) in the SHL and 17 points in in 15 games in the Sweden U20 international jr. I probably shouldn’t include him on the list as he’s picked to go as high as 3rd or 4th overall. I reminded myself that I said something similar regarding Edvinsson as far as availability so, you never know. This would still be someone Detroit would likely have to trade up for and have probably spent a good deal of time looking at (lots of Swedish love in the office).