The Detroit Red Wings currently hold the NHL’s second best of landing the number one overall draft selection, whenever the annual festivities will be allowed to get underway.
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Of course, that was perhaps the only silver lining of the 2019-20 Season, which saw the Red Wings clinch the League’s worst record in early March prior to the shutdown of sports thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The top prize has widely been regarded as Alexis Lafranière, a young phenom who absolutely tore up the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and who would provide an immediate boost to whomever is able to land his services.
And according to the latest mock draft from The Athletic, Red Wings fans just may be lining up to buy a new jersey with Lafranière’s name on the back.
Check out their reasoning via writers Max Bultman and Cory Pronman:
1. Detroit Red Wings: Alexis Lafranière, LW, Rimouski-QMJHL
Max Bultman: Not too much suspense here. The Red Wings need help at every position on the ice, so they’ll take the consensus No. 1 player in the draft and be on their way. Adding a talent of Lafranière’s caliber is a massive building block for the Red Wings’ rebuild, which is far from over, but gets one of the hardest-to-attain pieces in a potential star.
Cory Pronman’s take: I applaud Bultman for his courage and his analysis is on point. Lafranière provides one of the hardest pieces to acquire in a rebuild: a projected young star. But this rebuild is not near the end as Detroit needs a lot of great players before this starts to turn around. He would slot right into the top half of its lineup right away.
If the stars were to align the right way and the Red Wings do in fact land the first overall selection, selecting Lafranière would easily be the top move in GM Steve Yzerman’s now-year long tenure at the helm.
– – Quotes via Max Bultman, Cory Pronman of The Athletic Link – –
