Red Wings restock cupboard with 11 draft picks

At this stage of the rebuild, Steve Yzerman was not focused on any specific player in his first NHL draft as general manager of the Detroit Red Wings.

“The only emphasis was on trying to do our homework, make sure we knew all these kids well and picked the best possible prospects we could,” Yzerman said after the seven-round draft in Vancouver ended Saturday. “As far as position, or whatever, it just kind of plays out how it plays out from pick to pick.”

After dealing a fifth-round pick to get an extra selection in the sixth round and the seventh round on Saturday, the Red Wings finished with 11 prospects. Five are defenceman, seven are from Europe and four measure 6-foot-3 or bigger, topped by 6-3, 208-pound German defenceman Moritz Seider, who the Red Wings took sixth overall with an eyebrow raising selection.

“As a staff, I thought we identified this as being a pretty deep draft defensively,” Red Wings director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright said. “I don’t think we’re quite in a position where we have to start really picking by position. It just happened to be that defence were kind of heavy in this draft.”

In the second round, the Red Wings added 6-4, 193-pound Finnish defenceman Antti Tuomisto.

With the team’s third pick in the second round, Detroit added Swedish defenceman Albert Johansson. American defenceman Cooper Moore was taken in the fourth round and defenceman Gustav Berglund in the sixth.

Winger Robert Mastrosimone, the second of three picks in the second round, was Detroit’s first forward selected. He played in the United States Hockey League along with centre Ethan Phillips, who was taken in the fourth round. Both are headed to Boston University and will get time to develop.

Right wing Albin Grewe, who was taken in the third round, was the first of two Swedish forwards taken by the Red Wings along with right winger Elmer Soderblom, who was taken in the sixth round.

“Really, I’m pleased with how it played out,” Yzerman said.

Detroit got another small, but dynamic, forward in Russian Kirill Tyutyayev with its first of two picks in the seventh round and closed the draft out by taking goalie Carter Gylander. The Alberta native is headed to Colgate University.

The prospects will be on display today when Detroit opens a fiveday development camp at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena.