The Detroit Red Wings have a rich history of Swedish players through the years. From Nicklas Lidstrom to Henrik Zetterberg and plenty in between, the Red Wings have had a pipeline from Sweden for years now.
As the 2020 NHL Draft approaches, you can bet that GM Steve Yzerman has been doing his homework. Two potential Swedes that the team could consider are Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz, whose seasons are scheduled to begin in September. And if that schedule holds, the Red Wings will be watching.
“If they’re playing, we’re probably going to go watch them,” Yzerman said. “It will have some influence on our decisions, good or bad. There’s work to be done. Now that we know where we’re picking, obviously we can really focus on the kids in that spot. I know our guys, myself, we’ve watched a lot of video on them. We’re going to go back and we’ll watch even more. That’s all we can do right now.
“(Red Wings director of amateur scouting) Kris Draper and his staff have interviewed a lot of the kids in this type of format and have spent a lot of time with them and a lot of time with the people around them, getting to know them from different perspectives. There’s still work to be done and I think if there’s more hockey to be played, which it looks like there will be prior to the draft, we will watch it.”
Detroit holds five selections through the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the Draft, and they’ll be prepared when their name is called.
“We’re not exactly sure how the rest of the summer and eventually leading up to the draft will play out, but we’ll know these kids as well as we possibly can.”
– – Quotes via Ansar Khan of MLive Link – –
