If the Red Wings are going to be able to successfully rebuild on the fly, they’re going to have to do well in the draft. If we take a look at last year’s draft, we can see they took the right steps in accomplishing that. As of right now, this was one of the better drafts they have had, coming out with quality prospects in Dennis Cholowski, Givani Smith, Filip Hronek, and Jordan Sambrook. 

Many, however, have criticized management for the Pavel Datsyuk trade. The trade has been viewed mainly as Dennis Cholowski for Jakob Chychrun, but that isn’t the case. Essentially, Detroit came out of this trade with (I’m not saying this was the trade, but Detroit wouldn’t of had these assets without it) 3 defensive prospects and Frans Nielsen for 1 defensive prospect. Whether you like Nielsen or not is up for you to decide, but Detroit received picks that became Cholowski and Hronek (arguably our 2 best defensive prospects) and cap space for Nielsen and Vanek, who was traded for the pick that became Kasper Kotkansalo. Overall, they received quality and quantity for Jakob Chychrun and even though he may be better now, Cholowski and Hronek both have the potential to be just as good one day.

Now looking at the good draft picks themselves, more in depth:

Despite struggling in his freshman year at St. Cloud with only 12 points (1 goal and 11 assists) in 36 games, Cholowski will be in a more pro lifestyle next year, playing for either the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL or the Prince George Raiders of the WHL. This is the best move for his development. Dennis still has the most upside of anyone of our draft picks, making the Datsyuk trade not so bad. He’s an elite skater with great hockey sense, he just needs to keep getting stronger and work on his consistency.

Smith, the first of two 2nd rounders, is coming off a great year with the Guelph Storm of the OHL. He put up 44 points (26 goals and 18 assists) in 64 games, very impressive considering the Storm were one of the second worst teams in the OHL. He showed great improvement in his defensive game as well as his skating. Discipline is still an issue of his, but that comes along with his aggressive style. He may be the closest to NHL ready of any of our 2016 draft picks, and was overall a slam dunk pick.

Hronek, might have been our best pick of the draft. He’s made a case as our best defensive prospect, already making the jump to the AHL next year. In his rookie OHL season he had 61 points (14 goals and 47 assists) in 59 games and was named to the OHL 3rd all-star team. He was a star at the World Junior Championships, captaining team Czech Republic and putting up 6 points (2 goals and 4 assists) in 10 games. He was named a top 3 player for Team Czech Republic. He scored this beauty at the tournament as well:

At 19 years old, he has stardom written all over him.

The 5th round pick had an underrated season for the OHL champion Erie Otters. He scored 40 points (15 goals and 25 assists) in 61 games as a defensmen. But what catches your eye is that he was a plus-38. Sambrook played a big role in helping the Otters reach the Memorial Cup, as his strong two-way game was effective. out off all the late round picks made by the Wings, he is the most likely to reach the NHL. It is picks like this that make this draft a step in the right direction, in speeding up the rebuild on the fly.

To come out of a draft with 4 quality prospects out of 7 picks is a good sign. Cholowski and Hronek both have the potential to be top-4 defensemen in the NHL, Smith can be a good middle-6 goal scorer with the opportunity to be better, and Sambrook projects to be a top-6 defenseman in the NHL. 10 years from now I think Detroit can be in the conversation for having a top-10 draft.