The Detroit Red Wings made the playoffs. This isn’t news anymore; the streak is 24 years and counting. The last two years weren’t as easy as the 22 prior, and to make it a quarter century will be arguably the greatest challenge yet.
Jeff Blashill will be the Red Wings coach next year, replacing Mike Babcock who left for Toronto after a decade behind the bench in Detroit. Blashill has experience with the organization as Babcock’s assistant for one year, and the head coach of the AHL Griffins in Grand Rapids. 
Despite the playoff appearances, there are holes in this roster and deeper within the system. Many of the recent draft picks have made appearances in the Red Wings roster over the course of the last two seasons. The organization’s defensive depth has been on display when 2011 draft picks Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul and Alexey Marchenko all earned call ups, and all will figure into the Red Wings’ plans — perhaps as soon as this year.
Where the Red Wings’ system is proving deficient at the moment is in two key areas: goaltending depth and front-line size. In goal, with Petr Mrazek likely earning himself a full-time stay in Detroit, Detroit has Jake Paterson, Jared Coreau, Chase Perry and Tom McCollum in the system.
Paterson has played two games at the ECHL level after his season finished with Kitchner of the OHL; Perry was a dreadful 1-8-1 with a 3.97 goals-against average and an .876 save percentage with Colorado College; Coreau, an undrafted free agent out of Northern Michigan University and he split the year between Toledo and Grand Rapids; and McCollum has improved the last two years in Grand Rapids, splitting time with Mrazek. Coreau is a restricted free agent this offseason, while McCollum is a Group 6 unrestricted free agent.
The majority of the forwards Detroit has in the system, unsurprisingly, are skilled and responsible in their own zone. Also they aren’t big. Most tend to be around 6-feet tall and 180 or so pounds (see: Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, Zach Nastasiuk, Teemu Pulkkinen). Arguably the team’s top prospect, Anthony Mantha, is 6-foot-5. But with a year of pro hockey under his belt, he needs to both add size and learn how to use it.
This is where Detroit ultimately goes. Evgeny Svechnikov from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles fits the bill. At 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, the left winger isn’t afraid to work along the wall, but can also be a playmaker from behind the goal line. He just finished his rookie season in the QMJHL with 78 points in 78 games, and 7 in 7 playoff games. As his season developed, scouts were impressed with his 200-foot game, something that he’ll need at every level of the Red Wings organization, as well as his skating ability and aggressiveness finishing a check.
“With the 19th pick of the NHL Draft, the Detroit Red Wings select from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the QMJHL, Evgeny Svechnikov.”
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