Embed from Getty Images April 19, 2019, Steve Yzerman returned to the Detroit Red Wings organization. The only organization he knew during his 20 year Hall of Fame career. When he fielded questions from the media right after accepting the general manager position, Yzerman was asked what his first order of business would be. His answer, “To assess the entire organization and go from there.”
Steve Yzerman’s assessments have become crystal clear. Clearly we was not happy with the current state of the Detroit Red Wings defense. Friday nights first round of the NHL draft saw Yzerman and his scouting department begin to overhaul and reshape the defense.
Starting with first round draft pick Moritz Seider, The Red Wings would continue to add defense. With the first of three second round draft picks Detroit picked Finnish defensemen Antti Tuomisto. standing 6′ 4″ he is the same size as Moritz Seider.
Tuomisto, is fast he has a powerful stride he reaches top speed quickly with his above average acceleration. Tuomisto is hard to knock off the puck. He absolutely needs to add upper body strength to improve leverage.
Red Wings fans will be happy Antti Tuomisto is an offensive defensemen. He is nasty on the forecheck and is a very good passer, allowing him to quarterback the power play. He needs to polish his defensive skills up a bit. Once he adds some muscle Tuomisto will be very dangerous in the dirty areas. He excels at blocking shots.
With the next second round pick, Detroit went offense. Robert Mastrosimone. In Mastrosimone the Red Wings get a left wing/ center who is a good not great skater. Robert does possess a explosive first step and acceleration. He has some rough aspects to his game that need to be refined.
What Mastrosimone is, is a sniper. He has an above average heavy wrist shot and excellent release. He has very good stick handling ability and is dangerous one on one. His defensive game needs to be more consistent.
With they’re third and final second round draft pick, The Detroit Red Wings selected a prospects I am very high on. Going defense for the third time in the first four draft picks, Detroit picked Albert Johansson.
Albert Johansson is shorter than both Moritz Seider and Antti Tuomisto. Johansson stands an even 6′ 0″. Albert becomes the Detroit Red Wings best skating defensive prospect. Great speed, great acceleration combined with the ability to pivot crisply allows Albert to transition quickly from defense to offense and vice versa.
Johansson has great stickhandling control has has very good vision up the ice. He is very good at avoiding defenders in the offensive end while above average passing sets up teammates very well.
He possesses a nice slap shot but needs to clean up on accuracy. Johansson’s defensive game is stellar. He has great gap-control and is hard to beat one on one. He is very good at poke check and stealing the puck. He also needs to clean up containing opposing forwards.
All and all the Detroit Red Wings had a very solid second round. The defense is in better shape for years to come.
