{"id":567323,"date":"2026-05-05T08:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/567323\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:33:16","slug":"red-wings-arent-second-best-at-least-not-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/567323\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Wings Aren\u2019t Second Best . . . At Least Not Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Red Wings Aren\u2019t Second Best . . . At Least Not Yet<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Syndication:<\/p>\n

Nick King\/Lansing State Journal \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesNick King\/Lansing State Journal \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Under the leadership of general manager Steve Yzerman, the Detroit<\/a> Red Wings have made 15 selections in the second round of the NHL Entry Draft.<\/p>\n

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During the 2025-26 season, only two of those picks were playing in the NHL. And just one of them was playing for the Red Wings.<\/p>\n

Cause for concern? Perhaps.<\/p>\n

A reason to sound the alarm? Not really.<\/p>\n

When it comes to assessing Detroit\u2019s second round selections, for the most part, the jury is still out.<\/p>\n

While just one of these picks is an NHL regular wearing the Winged Wheel \u2013 defenseman Albert Johansson (60th overall, 2019), only six of the 15 choices definitely won\u2019t play in Detroit. The Wings weren\u2019t offering forwards Robert Mastrosimone (54th, 2019) and Theodor Niederbach (51st, 2020) contracts.<\/p>\n

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Forward Cross Hanas (55th, 2020) played for the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins<\/a>. The Wings were allowing him to leave when his entry-level pact expired. Defenseman Donovan Sebrango (63rd, 2020) played last season with the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n

Defenseman Andrew Gibson (42nd, 2023) was dealt to the Nashville Predators. Winger Jesse Kiiskinen came back in that trade. He\u2019s currently with the Griffins and is considered an NHL prospect. Winger Dmitri Buchelnikov (52nd, 2022) went to the St. Louis Blues in the Justin Faulk trade.<\/p>\n

Griffins Are Loaded With Red Wings\u2019 Second Rounders<\/p>\n

In the midst of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs, the Griffins are well-stocked with Detroit second-round picks. Defensemen Antti Tuomisto (35th, 2019), William Wallinder (32nd, 2020), and Shai Buium (36th, 2021) are playing in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n

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Goalie Trey Augustine<\/a> (41st, 2023) and forwards Dylan James (40th, 2022) and Eddie Genborg<\/a> (44th, 2025) are also with the Griffins.<\/p>\n

Two other second-rounders remain in the college ranks. Minnesota-Duluth forward Max Plante<\/a> (47th, 2024) just won the Hobey Baker Award as the most outstanding player in NCAA hockey. Defenseman Brady Cleveland (47th, 2023) will be entering his senior year at Minnesota-Duluth in the fall.<\/p>\n

Plenty of Potential For Further Development<\/p>\n

While only one of them is currently in the Red Wings, to write off Detroit\u2019s second-round crop as a bust is both short-sighted and patently untrue. Players such as Genborg, Plante, Augustine, and Wallinder are all legitimate NHL hopefuls.<\/p>\n

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Research shows that 42% of second-round draft picks end up playing in the NHL. That means seven of Detroit\u2019s 15 selections would need to make the show for the Red Wings to clear that bar.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unreasonable to think that could happen. Yes, it\u2019s much too early to describe Yzerman\u2019s second-round class as a success story. However, to categorize it as a failure at this juncture is an equally false narrative.<\/p>\n

The post Red Wings Aren\u2019t Second Best . . . At Least Not Yet<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Red Wings Aren\u2019t Second Best . . . At Least Not Yet appeared first on Detroit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[5175,599,93,5137,57,5,1821,231,4,3358,5138,24992,84,135,61110,17929,13247],"class_list":["post-567323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-red-wings","tag-albert-johansson","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-detroitredwings","tag-florida-panthers","tag-hockey","tag-justin-faulk","tag-nashville-predators","tag-nhl","tag-red-wings","tag-redwings","tag-shai-buium","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-steve-yzerman","tag-the-griffins","tag-trey-augustine","tag-william-wallinder"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116521049186629662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}