Every team in a rebuild needs to sign vets to plug into the roster untiil the kids are ready. That is understandable.
Yzerman joined for the 2019 draft. For their opening day roster, only Seider, Raymond, and Edvinsson made it out of rd 1, with Johannsen as well from rd 2.
Question is how close are those other kids from rounds 2-3, if at all? Because you can't just rely soley on first rounders coming out of a rebuild.
Well if we go by what's been drafted since 2019 (taking into account Veleno and Berggren is from 2018) and players through that time either on the team or with a chance getting there:
2019:
Moritz Seider (1st, on the team, 1st D-man)
Albert Johansson (
2nd round, on the team getting looks now, bottom four d-man), Elmer Soderblom (6th round, got matches in 2022-23 season, potential potato up and down lineup).
2020:
Lucas Raymond (1st,
on the team, top line winger), William Wallinder (2nd round, possible addition bottom four d-man, now in AHL).
2021:
Simon Edvinsson (1st,
on the team), Sebastian Cossa (1st, projected starting goalie, in AHL), Shai Buium (2nd, potential bottom four d-man), Carter Mazur (3rd round, possible addition middle six winger), Redmond Savage (4th round, possible 3rd/4th line centerman, now in University).
2022: Marco Kasper (1st, middle six center/winger, potential top six upside, close to team, in AHL now), Dylan James (2nd round, potential middle six forward, in University right now), Dmitri Buchelnikov (2nd round, potential top six winger, in KHL now point per game), Amadeus Lombardi (4th round, potential middle six forward, currently AHL).
2023: Nate Danielson (1st, top six center potential, middle six center projected, in AHL now), Axel Sandin-Pellikka (2nd round, Top four PP D-man projected, potential top pair, in SHL contender now), Trey Augustine (2nd round, projected starting goalie, in University now), Brady Cleveland (2nd round, potential bottom four d-man, in University now), Jesse Kiiskinen (3rd round by NSH, potential middle six winger, now in Liiga almost point per game).
2024: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (1st, projected middle six winger, top six potential, in SHL contender now), Max Plante (2nd round, projected middle six forward, now in University), Ondrej Becher (3rd round, potential middle six winger, now in WHL).
Other potentials:
Liam Dower-Nilsson (5h round, 2021), Noah Dower-Nilsson (3rd round, 2023), Antti Tuomisto (2nd round, 2019, currently in AHL).