well, we basically were limited on 1st round picks until 2013 when we stopped trading them and have turned most of them into NHL impact players(Larkin, Mantha) NHL regulars(Rasmussen, Zadina) or players that made the team and are projected to be impact NHL’ers(Seider, Raymond, Veleno). 7/9 1st rounders and all picked within the top 15 as players on an NHL roster I’d say is pretty god damn good. Our only real bust is Cholowski, Svech’s issues were 110% injury related. Kid can’t skate anymore. He’s got the size, high hockey IQ, physical, great shot, all the makings of an impact top 6 power forward..
Kid always had skating issues.
Two straight years of knee injuries made them worse.
But it wasn't 110 percent injury-related.
It was also Red Wings-related.
In 16-17 he went 20-31-51 as an AHL rookie.
In 17-18, he got a grand total of 14 games played at 8:49 a night.
He played 123 minutes that year.
Guys who played more included Scott Wilson, David Booth...
18-19 was a wash.
But in 18-19 he played just 4 games in Detroit for a grand total of 8:20.
Guys who played more:
Timashov, Gagner, Givani Smith, Brendan Perlini (1G in 39 games), Ehn (2 goals in 54 games), Erne (2 goals in 56 games), Hirose (3 goals in 25 games.
Think about this: In the span of just a few months months, the Red Wings went out and acquired the following wingers in Svechnikov's age range.
Kuffner. Hirose. Fabbri. Erne. Perlini. Timashov.
And all of those guys, when they first arrived, got a better look than Svechnikov did.
And, of course, then last year, they brought in Bobby Ryan.
And of course, Bobby Ryan, a 33-year-old declining guy, played far more minutes than Svechnikov did.
Mattias frickin' Brome played 2 full weeks on the top line with Dylan Larkin. He played 13:39 a night for 26 games.
Svech played 11:49 a night for 21 games.
So yeah... injuries and skating played a role.
But so did the Red Wings' piss poor development.
Something I'm not entirely sure has been corrected.