Landon Ferraro, who the Detroit Red Wings drafted instead of Ryan O’Reilly, was among 14 forwards named to represent Canada at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing next month.
Hockey Canada revealed its roster Tuesday. The NHL pulled out of attending in December because of the many games that at that time had to be rescheduled as COVID-19 surged through the league. Given Canada’s tremendous depth at the NHL level, no Wings would have been on that roster — but Dylan Larkin would have been on the U.S. team, Lucas Raymond would have made the Swedish team and Moritz Seider already had been named to the preliminary German roster.
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Ferraro, 30, has been playing in Germany since the 2019-20 season. His last appearance in the NHL was 2017-18 with the Minnesota Wild.
The Wings drafted Ferraro at No. 32 in 2009, one spot before the Colorado Avalanche took O’Reilly. O’Reilly eventually ended up in St. Louis, where his accomplishments in 2019 included winning the Stanley Cup, being named the Conn Smythe winner (playoff MVP) and winning the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best two-way forward. O’Reilly, 30, was named captain of the Blues in December 2020. He has 642 points in 898 games.
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Ferraro’s time in the NHL didn’t last 100 games.
He spent 17 games with the Wings, recording one goal. In November 2015 he was placed on waivers and claimed by the Boston Bruins. They didn’t renew his contract at the end of the season, and Ferraro signed a one-year contract with the Blues, only to end up on waivers before the start of the 2016-17 season.
The following summer he signed a contract with the Wild. Ferraro has 12 points in 77 NHL games.
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.