2012 Red Wings NHL Draft Recap

The much faster paced rounds 2 through 7 were completed today, and the Red Wings drafted a total of 9 players. They addressed an organizational need for young talent on the blue line by drafting 5 defensemen. They also added 4 new forwards to the mix. Let’s look at the picks in the order they were chosen.

RW – Martin Frk
2nd Round – 49th Overall
QMJHL – Halifax – 6′ 0″ – 193 lbs.
34GP – 16G – 13A – 29PTS – 41PIM – -9
The Wings went with a Czech for their first pick in this year’s draft, and it looks like they got a good one. Frk is a good-sized kid that loves to score goals. He’s highly skilled and has a good shot. He missed the first 3 months of last season with a concussion, so that slowed him down a bit. Hopefully he bounces back next season with a ton of offensive output.

G – Jake Paterson
3rd Round – 80th Overall
OHL – Saginaw – 6′ 2″ – 183 lbs.
42GP – 18W – 18L – 3OTL – 3.42GAA – .905SV% – 1SO
The Wings made this pick to address the lack of goaltending depth in their system. Thomas McCollum once looked to be a blue chip goaltending prospect, but he has struggled mightily in the pro game. After him, there is hot prospect Petr Mrazek and Jordan Pearce, who will probably peak at the AHL level. So how about I actually talk about this pick? Paterson had a pretty average year on a pretty average Saginaw Spirit team. He is big, though. One thing to like about him is that he had to win the number 1 job on his team, and he succeeded. I’m not sure about this one. We’ll keep an eye on him, of course.

C/LW – Andreas Athanasiou
4th Round – 110th Overall
OHL – London – 6′ 0″ – 179 lbs.
63GP – 22G – 15A – 37PTS – 22PIM – +22
The Wings went with speed for their 4th round pick. Andreas Athanasiou is one of the fastest skaters in junior hockey. He was on OHL champion London Knights team, which is always a good thing. You like kids with experience in big games. You like kids that WIN in big games even more. He has some upside, but he needs to start producing to become a solid prospect.

D – Michael McKee
5th Round – 140th Overall
USHL – Lincoln – 6′ 4″ – 232 lbs.
59GP – 2G – 17A – 19PTS – 237PIM – +7
Now, this is my favorite pick of the draft for the Wings. Michael McKee is really big and really mean. There is not much of this in the Wings system (one of those guys is Richard Nedomlel, who they picked in last year’s draft). You don’t see a lot of 6′ 4″ kids that have already packed on 232 lbs. of weight when they’re draft age. You’re not going to get offense from him, but guys like this make your team very difficult to play against. He will be playing at Western Michigan University next year.

D – James De Haas
6th Round – 170th Overall
OJHL – Toronto – 6′ 2″ – 197 lbs.
45GP – 10G – 19A – 29PTS – 32PIM
I can’t really find much about De Haas. He looks to be a decent-sized defenseman that provides some offense. The Wings love mobile defensemen.

C/LW – Rasmus Bodin
7th Round – 200th Overall
Swe-J-18 – Ostersunds – 6′ 6″ – 207 lbs.
29GP – 9G – 17A – 26PTS – 94PIM – +12
Ah, the final pick of the draft for the Wings. This is the Hakan Andersson pick. Rasmus Bodin is a big, big boy at 6′ 6″. He put up some points in the Swedish junior leagues and racked up almost 100 PIMs. This kid might end up being a big time sleeper. He’ll be playing in the HV71 organization in Sweden next season, so hopefully he puts up some points and puts on some weight.