In Steve Yzerman’s post-deadline news conference, the Red Wings’ GM said, “In all honesty, I think they’re (Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators) ahead of us with their group. Having said that, they’ve probably been drafting higher and longer than we have so I expect them to be ahead of us.”
The Sabres have missed the playoffs for 11 straight years and have drafted defensemen Owen Power (Michigan) and Rasmus Dahlen first overall. The Senators have gone five years without a playoff berth and are led by center Tim Stutzle, who was drafted one spot ahead of Lucas Raymond of the Red Wings.
“Both of those teams are looking pretty good,” Kulfan said on the podcast. “Without a question, they’ve been drafting up high for a long time and are probably going to get better. And as he mentioned, Montreal will probably be a factor down the line. They can load up on some more good, solid players.
“It’s a very tough division. Toronto isn’t going anywhere for the next couple of years, the Bruins just seem to reload and Tampa’s nucleus is getting older but they’re still good. So you can see where the Red Wings are going to have a difficult time moving up. A lot of these draft choices are going to have to come through.”
Here are highlights from episode 86 of The Detroit News/Detroit Red Wings podcast.
1:00 Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek, Jakub Vrana, Oskar Sundqvist traded
2:50 Steve Yzerman on selling at the deadline
7:40 Riley Sawchuk interview
21:50 Sabres, Senators gain ground
26:25 Dylan Larkin on new contract extension