In three weeks, Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman will be drafting the teenager he deems best able to boost the franchise’s rebuild.
The first round of the draft is scheduled to be held virtually on July 23. The Wings hold the sixth pick, for the second time in three drafts under Yzerman. Michigan defenseman Owen Power is expected to be the first player selected, and fellow Wolverine Mathew Beniers is expected to go in the top three.
It has been a weird year for scouting because of the pandemic, so outside the top handful of picks, teams’ lists could vary significantly. One thing is certain: The Wings need help at every position. In his first two drafts, Yzerman selected defenseman Moritz Seider at No. 6 overall in 2019, and forward Lucas Raymond at No. 4 in 2020.
In previous Free Press mock drafts, the Wings have taken center Mason McTavish and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt with their first pick in 2021. In this edition, Yzerman goes for another player who projects to help the Wings become more productive — especially when most needed.
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F Dylan Guenther
Size: 6 feet 1, 181 pounds
2020-21: 12 goals and 12 assists in 12 games for Edmonton Oil Kings; four goals, three assists in seven games for Canada in gold-winning performance at the U-18 World Championship.
Buzz: Guenther, 18, is a dual threat as a shooter and passer — he had 26 goals and 33 assists for the Oil Kings in 2019-20. He has a hard, accurate shot but is also a superb playmaker who finds passing lanes, even in tough situations. He’s good without the puck, too, possessing a knack for getting open for a breakout pass. He’s also a deceptively good skater. This past season was a small sample, with just 24 games played for Guenther. But in 2019-20, he scored eight power play goals, and the year before that, he scored two of his three goals during man advantages in eight appearances with the Oil Kings.
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Why he makes sense: Guenther is a top-notch shooter from anywhere, but as a right-shot, he’s especially at home in the left circle. His prowess on the power play is a huge asset for a team that has struggled as much with man advantages as the Wings have. Their conversion rate of 15.2% over the past three seasons ranks 30th out of 31 teams. This past season, the Wings scored 17 times on 149 man-advantage situations, an 11.4% rate. Even before losing Tyler Bertuzzi at the end of January, the conversion rate was only 11.8%.
Adding Guenther to the lineup could mean that — and this is projecting several seasons down the road — the Wings could field right-shots in him and Seider on one power play unit, and defenseman Filip Hronek and Raymond on another. Guenther is certainly intriguing as an option to help the Wings generate more offense.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.