The Detroit Red Wings will have the 15th pick in the first round of the 2024 NHL entry draft. This is yet another example of the Red Wings not having luck when it comes to the NHL draft lottery. The Red Wings finished the 2023-24 season with 91 points and were eliminated from playoff contention on the final day of the season. The San Jose Sharks will likely draft Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick in the draft out of Boston University. Celebrini is a 6’0” center who is only 17 years old.
The last time the Red Wings had the 15th overall pick in a draft was in 2014, when they drafted Dylan Larkin out of the University of Michigan. Larkin would be named the 37th captain in the history of the franchise. Playing for the team that he grew up cheering for in Waterford, Michigan, Larkin has led the Red Wings franchise through a rebuild, and the expectations are now that the team makes the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons.
Larkin had the Red Wings in playoff position prior to him getting injured during a game against the Florida Panthers. This was not the only injury that Larkin suffered during the 2023-24 season. In the two weeks after Larkin’s injury the Red Wings team seemed to lose its direction. The Red Wings had a record of 4-10-0 in the three weeks that Larkin missed. One player cannot be so important to a team’s playoff chances no matter how talented.
The Red Wings have improved their team defense in the two seasons that Derek Lalonde has been head coach. Simon Edvinsson played well down the stretch as the Red Wings were in a chase for a playoff spot. At only 21-years-old Edvinsson will one day be a part of the top defensive pairing on the Red Wings alongside Moritz Seider. Edvinsson was drafted sixth overall by the Red Wings in the 2021 NHL entry draft out of Kungsbacka, Sweden.
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic has the Red Wings taking Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, right-winger, out of Mora IK. Born in Oslo, Norway, in 2005, Brandsegg-Nygard is a 6’1” forward who scored 17 goals and added 21 assists in 35 games played. He has all the tools in his offensive repertoire and the confidence with which to use them. The most important of these tools is a lethal shot that any team can use in a right-winger.
The Red Wings have come out of their rebuild thanks to the leadership of players like Larkin. It cannot be known if the player that the team selects with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft has the same sort of leadership qualities as Larkin. However, in the five drafts that general manager Steve Yzerman has run in his time with the Red Wings, no draft pick made by Yzerman will ever be more shocking than when he selected Seider out of Adler Mannheim of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The next thing that Yzerman needs to accomplish is the Red Wings team making the playoffs.
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