Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Picks After The First Round Are Important Too

07/02/2020 at 3:10pm EDT

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Now, first-round picks are important. But for an organization like the Wings, those picks in the second, third, and fourth round and beyond are just as vital.

“You need some of those picks to turn into players,” general manager Steve Yzerman said. “If it’s just going to be we’re doing to draft and count on our first-round pick playing every year, it’s going to take forever to build a good team.”

Given their trading of veterans on expiring contacts at the trade deadline the last several years, the Wings have stockpiled a particularly deep treasure chest this year.

The Wings have three second-round picks (their own, Washington’s and Edmonton’s) and two third-round picks (their own, and San Jose’s) in this year's draft.

In recent years, they’ve added prospects such as defensemen Gustav Lindstrom (second round, 2017), Antti Tuomisto (second round, 2019), Albert Johansson (second round, 2019) and Jared McIsaac (second round, 2018); and forwards Robert Mastrosimone (second round, 2019) and Jonatan Berggren (second round, 2018) beyond the first round.

“We’re going to need players to come in the second and third rounds, later rounds, year to year,” Yzerman said. “You’re not going to hit on every pick every year, obviously. You’re not going to hit on your first pick every year, as much work as we do on it.

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