Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#3: Detroit Red Wings

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 47

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 4

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 60th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (13th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Axel Sandin Pellikka (5th)

System Score: 4.75

Steve Yzerman took over the Detroit general manager role in the spring of 2019. Tasked with rebuilding one of the most storied teams in NHL history, the Hall of Fame player began mining for diamonds and gold in the draft, looking deep into European leagues to build a highly skilled, smart prospect pool. In the 2019 draft, Yzerman selected German defenseman Moritz Seider sixth overall, despite major pundits having the player ranked much lower than that (Hockey Prophets had him ranked 19th). Seider would go on to win the NHL's Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie in the 2021-2022 season, and at this point has played in 300 NHL games, with 167 points. The following draft, the Red Wings selected left winger Lucas Raymond out of the top Swedish league at fourth overall (ranked 7th by Hockey Prophets). Raymond is currently leading the Red Wings in scoring with 58 points in 54 games this year. Detroit took Austrian center Marco Kasper eighth overall in 2022, and he, too, has become a starting member of the Red Wings lineup.

The Top of The Pool:

The Red Wings have two of the most talented blueliner prospects in all of hockey in 2023 17th-overall draft pick Axel Sandin Pellikka (Hockey Prophets ranked him 14th) and 2021 6th-overall pick Simon Edvinsson (ranked 11th). Sandin Pellikka has everything that a team wants in an offensive defenseman. He is a shifty, smooth skater with elite-level balance and body control. When he carries in transition, he has the puck control and speed that makes opponents back off and give him space up ice, which means that he excels in creating easy offensive zone entries whether it is via carrying the puck in or driving the defenders back and passing off to a player with speed and open space. Sandin Pellikka also has a nice, hard shot and the game intelligence to know the proper times to go deeper into the offensive zone or to be more conservative as required by play on the ice. He rarely rushes himself into mistakes, and despite being slightly below average size at 5'11 and 185 pounds, he holds his own against larger players in his own end. Pellikka currently has 25 points in 34 SHL games for Skelleftea, the best point-per-game production of any U20 defender in the history of the league. He is a legitimate top-pair offensive defenseman prospect.

Right behind Sandin Pellikka on the prospect ranking is Simon Edvinsson, the 6'6, 216-pound blueliner who this year has already become an NHL regular. He will be graduated from the prospects ranking in the upcoming spring edition. Everything looks effortless for Edvinsson, including skating which looks so easy and graceful that it can be easy to forget that he is as big as he is. 

The best forward in the Red Wings system is Norwegian-born player Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, a 6'1, 207-pound winger who, like Sandin Pellikka, also plays for Skelleftea in the Swedish league. The 15th-overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft has 11 points in 30 games (5 goals, 6 assists). Brandsegg-Nygard, at 6'1 and 207 pounds, has the prototypical power-forward frame and he plays that role incredibly well. He is an excellent skater who goes hard on every shift regardless of the zone he is in. He top attribute other than he ultrahigh competitiveness is a blistering wrist shot. 

Nate Danielson might be one of the top two-way forward prospects in hockey. A player that excels at being one of the most difficult opponents on the ice, Danielson can not only drive possession and set up plays, but he also will outhustle anyone on the back check and make games into waking nightmares for opposing forwards. He has excellent hockey intelligence and always seems to be in the right spot on the ice. He works so hard and gets into the dirtiest spots on the ice, winning battles on the boards or at the top of the crease, he just epitomizes that kind of hard-charging, hard-edged player that a championship team needs. 

Detroit has yet another quality Swedish defenseman in William Wallinder, their 32nd-overall pick in the 2020 who is currently polishing his game in the AHL with Grand Rapids. A player who may be just about ready to get his chance at the NHL level, the 6'4, 190-pound stay-at-home defender will have to fight for a spot on the incredibly deep and talented young Red Wings defense.

Beyond the most-known names at the top of the pool are more quality players that create a deep pipeline of young players that solidifies Detroit's spot near the top of the system rankings. Dmitri Buchelnikov is a smaller (5'10, 170 pounds), but blazingly fast winger who currently leads his KHL squad Vityaz Moscow in scoring. In fact, Buchelnikov's 13 goals and 27 assists has him among the top production seasons for a U21 player in the KHL among names like Tarasenko, Kaprizov, Michkov, Kuznetsov and Demidov. He is under contract until the end of the 2025-2026 season. Ondrej Becher is a Czech forward playing his first season of professional hockey in Grand Rapids. Becher plays a smart, solid game in all situations, and can be an integral role player on a top team. He will likely top out in the middle six, but he should be a high-quality member of the Red Wings squad in a year or two. Jesse Kiiskinen is a Finnish scorer that the Wings drafted 68th overall in 2023. Kiiskinen was a standout, point-per-game player for Finland's World Junior Championship squad this year and is the top scorer for HPK in the Finnish Liiga. His point-per-game pace places him at the top if U20 Liiga scoring over the past quarter century, tied with Sebastian Aho and behind only Mikhail Granlund. 

Return to the Team System Rankings

Below is the full list of the Detroit Red Wings' ranked prospects.

Top Forwards 

Top Defensemen