Who was Detroit's last great Draft Pick out of Canada?

[FMichael]

If Primeau is considered great, so is larkin.

Larkin's father is from Toronto - so DBoss is half-Canadian

On a more serious note...Yzerman, Osgood, Primeau (who later brought us Shanahan), and could even throw in Martin Lapointe.

 

[HoweFan]

I watched a you tube video on Joe Murphy a few months ago. Great story. He had his problems but seems to be rid of the alcohol. He was in Kenora Ontario I believe at the time. Living on the streets I think. Sounded like everyone there liked him. Mentally he still has his problems but a great guy. Really pulling for him

 

[GarlicbreadTB]

Sebastian Cossa hopefully.

 

[DoMakc]

Imagine winning 4 Stanley Cups, first coming 14 years since the last great pick out of Canada. How awful.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I think our NA drafting has been noticeably better since the departure of Tyler Wright. I am not too concerned about anything we did prior to 2015 because 1) we were a playoff team, 2) we had different priorities, and 3) we had different leadership.

I think the tandem of Cossa/Augustine is one of the best (if not the best) young goalie tandems in the world. Cossa is one of the best goalies in the AHL, and Augustine is one of the best goalies in the NCAA. I mean full stop, I feel like either of those is hard to debate. Cossa has all the physical tools to be an elite goaltender. Augustine is one of the more technically consistent goalies you will find, especially for someone his age. That combo should give us a quality starter and might also give us our back-up for years to come. I am excited and encouraged by both the picking of those players as well as their development.

Danielson has faced some adversity this year but has all the tools to be a middle 6 center that is extremely hard to play against. He has a lot of similarities as Kasper, and I would not be surprised at all if he looks better when you drop him into the highest level. I think he has a lot of the traits you would want in a young center and I expect him to be impactful for us at the NHL level.

Plante is the one I feel like you really need to be more excited about. What he just did as a true freshman in college hockey was phenomenal. He has the upside to be a high end playmaker on the wing, which we could really use. Outside of Kane/Raymond, I don't know we have a lot of guys who can drive play from the wing, and Plante can do that 100%.

Lombardi has 27 pts in 35 games and Mazur has 15 pts in 20 games this year for Grand Rapids. I like both of these guys quite a bit. I think Mazur is your swiss army knife that can play anywhere in the lineup, and Lombardi is a + puck possession player.

So yeah as a whole, I feel good about the NA scouting since Yzerman took over and we moved on from Wright. I think the decisions of when to select a NA player or not with the top pick have been good decisions, and I think more recently we have done a good job scouting from the USNTDP, which has been one of my bigger criticisms. I think a few years from now we will see 3-4 forwards from NA we drafted in the lineup and at least 1 goalie. Given that we have not exhausted that many picks on NA players, I think that would be a pretty reasonably job well done by our scouts.

Thanks. I like the guys you have mentioned and I've said as much in their prospect threads. The problem is there aren't any guys who really make you think you got someone who can be a true difference maker at the NHL level. None of these guys are pushing their way into the conversation on a team that is crying out for skill and quality.

Part of that may be due to how the DRW tend to handle prospects, but the vibe you get from those who cover the team and talk to the organization is that none of these guys are making the case for playing in Detroit yet. That should concern you given the one good prospect we've drafted out of North America in the past decade turned pro after his D+1 season (Dylan Larkin).

Max Bultman is the absolute best in this regard, and I'll use his latest article on the organization's top prospects to guide what I say below.

Of the group, I think there's a real shot that Augustine is a plus goalie, if not a very good starting NHL netminder. He's been in two very good programs with the USNTDP and MSU. The concerning thing is he's dominated college hockey, yet his path is apparently contingent on what happens with Cossa next year. Yzerman is not going to push a goalie, and the fact he has two goalies (Talbot and Mrazek) next season suggests Cossa will spend another year in GR and as a call up, which would mean Augustine would spend another season in East Lansing.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it also indicates he's not pushing his way into the conversation on a team where goaltending has been a major weakness for nearly a decade.

I'll also agree that Plante's start is very impressive. Given how little I expected due to Minnesota-Duluth's boring style of hockey, I was very pleasantly surprised. Max Bultman thinks he's a top 9 playmaker, which is nice but again not a game changer. His D+2 season is going to be huge in this regard as far as rating him as a prospect. If there is an expectation for him to turn pro after his sophomore season it would be a great sign.

So while I do hope our NA scouting has improved, there's nothing to suggest they have drafted a great player who can provide the skill and quality Dylan Larkin provided very shortly after his draft year. That should be the measuring stick, although I will admit it is a bit unfair to d-men and goalies.

Then there are the other guys they've drafted in the first three rounds since 2020 when Wright was gone.

2020:

• Cross Hanas (2nd round): not even listed in Bultman's top 12 prospects
• Donovan Sebrango (3rd round): looks like an AHL'er in his D+4 year

2021:

• Shai Buiuum (2nd round): I like him, but destined to spend his D+4 year in GR
• Carter Mazur (3rd round): Nice depth guy

2022

• Dylan James (2nd round): 0.58 PPG guy at a very good NCAA program during his 3rd season

2023

• Andrew Gibson (2nd round): 24 pts over 54 games this season
• Brady Cleveland (2nd round): Pretty sure you hated this pick

Add it all up and what do you have?

• The guys drafted out of NA 3-5 years ago are mostly just guys with the hope Lombardi can turn into solid 3rd line scoring depth.
• The guys drafted 1-2 years ago still have that new draft pick smell, and the hope is they will be the ones to live up to their draft hype.

As I said in my previous post, I do not believe the Red Wings can win a Cup if they continue to fail at drafting quality players from the single biggest talent pool in the world. The clock is ticking as we likely only have 4-5 more years of prime Larkin.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Draper and Yzerman take the time to go to Europe and see these high end picks as well. Your first round pick is never done without the GM and Director of Scouting. I love Hakan, but I think people simplify this to fit a narrative too often.

Seider, Raymond, Edvinsson etc. are guys our entire organization was over the moon with during the process.

If you want to be pedantic, that's a life choice I guess. But the European contingent is surfacing the guys they think are best and then getting feedback from the NA guys.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Imagine winning 4 Stanley Cups, first coming 14 years since the last great pick out of Canada. How awful.

Imagine a league where there isn't a salary cap and you can force s**t teams to trade you guys like Brendan Shanahan, Domink Hasek and Chris Chelios.

 

[Frk It]

Thanks. I like the guys you have mentioned and I've said as much in their prospect threads. The problem is there aren't any guys who really make you think you got someone who can be a true difference maker at the NHL level. None of these guys are pushing their way into the conversation on a team that is crying out for skill and quality.

Part of that may be due to how the DRW tend to handle prospects, but the vibe you get from those who cover the team and talk to the organization is that none of these guys are making the case for playing in Detroit yet. That should concern you given the one good prospect we've drafted out of North America in the past decade turned pro after his D+1 season (Dylan Larkin).

Max Bultman is the absolute best in this regard, and I'll use his latest article on the organization's top prospects to guide what I say below.

Of the group, I think there's a real shot that Augustine is a plus goalie, if not a very good starting NHL netminder. He's been in two very good programs with the USNTDP and MSU. The concerning thing is he's dominated college hockey, yet his path is apparently contingent on what happens with Cossa next year. Yzerman is not going to push a goalie, and the fact he has two goalies (Talbot and Mrazek) next season suggests Cossa will spend another year in GR and as a call up, which would mean Augustine would spend another season in East Lansing.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it also indicates he's not pushing his way into the conversation on a team where goaltending has been a major weakness for nearly a decade.

I'll also agree that Plante's start is very impressive. Given how little I expected due to Minnesota-Duluth's boring style of hockey, I was very pleasantly surprised. Max Bultman thinks he's a top 9 playmaker, which is nice but again not a game changer. His D+2 season is going to be huge in this regard as far as rating him as a prospect. If there is an expectation for him to turn pro after his sophomore season it would be a great sign.

So while I do hope our NA scouting has improved, there's nothing to suggest they have drafted a great player who can provide the skill and quality Dylan Larkin provided very shortly after his draft year. That should be the measuring stick, although I will admit it is a bit unfair to d-men and goalies.

Then there are the other guys they've drafted in the first three rounds since 2020 when Wright was gone.

2020:

• Cross Hanas (2nd round): not even listed in Bultman's top 12 prospects
• Donovan Sebrango (3rd round): looks like an AHL'er in his D+4 year

2021:

• Shai Buiuum (2nd round): I like him, but destined to spend his D+4 year in GR
• Carter Mazur (3rd round): Nice depth guy

2022

• Dylan James (2nd round): 0.58 PPG guy at a very good NCAA program during his 3rd season

2023

• Andrew Gibson (2nd round): 24 pts over 54 games this season
• Brady Cleveland (2nd round): Pretty sure you hated this pick

Add it all up and what do you have?

• The guys drafted out of NA 3-5 years ago are mostly just guys with the hope Lombardi can turn into solid 3rd line scoring depth.
• The guys drafted 1-2 years ago still have that new draft pick smell, and the hope is they will be the ones to live up to their draft hype.

As I said in my previous post, I do not believe the Red Wings can win a Cup if they continue to fail at drafting quality players from the single biggest talent pool in the world. The clock is ticking as we likely only have 4-5 more years of prime Larkin.

Yeah, I guess it depends on what Danielson/Cossa/Augustine/Lombardi/Mazur become, which is still TBD. I think you will have 2-3 forwards in the top 9 from NA and potentially both your goalies from NA.

So relative to the draft picks they have exhausted, I would call that a good/solid job. Not nearly as concerning as what we were getting from NA prior to Yzerman, IMO.

But I do not think they have been amazing or infallible or anything like that. I think the Cleveland pick was outright terrible. I liked a number of players better than Dylan James in 2022.

If I were to have a concern it would be that we have not drafted more players from the OHL/WHL. I think the last few years there have been a lot of really good options from the OHL/WHL available to us in the first 2 rounds and we seem to pass on these guys more than I think we should.

But all in all, I am not that concerned with the NA scouting overall with this current front office. I was concerned with our USNTDP scouting after the Cleveland pick, but the Augustine/Plante picks gave me some confidence that we might have some competent scouts that watch that team.

As far as your last point, I think we will fail if we don't draft enough good players, and I don't care where they are from. So I guess we will just agree to disagree on that. If we were spending a whole bunch of 1st rounders on NA players that sucked, I think your point would be a lot more valid. But that hasn't really been the case for the most part. I think we have picked our spots pretty well the last 4-5 years with our picks in most cases.

 

[Pavels Dog]

When you consider it is the most talent-ladened geographic location on the planet, yes. Yes it is.

It's also the most well scouted geographic location on the planet, potentially making it harder to make good value picks. If they were Canadian, odds are Raymond, Seider and Edvinsson would all have been gone by the time we made our picks.

 

[Oddbob]

Riley Sheahan. His points-per-tinky winky are unmatched.

Nobody goes 0 for 80 any better.

 

[rbartnik]

Since 2010, just because it's a nice round number... Canadians we missed on that fit your criteria:

• Braden Point

... that's it. That's the whole list. Everyone else in the league missed out on him, too.

 

[PelagicJoe]

Nobody goes 0 for 80 any better.

What a waste of a first round pick. He sucked like most of our 2010s Holland era picks

 

[Run the Jewels]

What a waste of a first round pick. He sucked like most of our 2010s Holland era picks

As expected, zero good faith arguments from those who either want to bury their heads in the sand or defend the status quo. Wish I could say I'm surprised, but I've been here long enough to know how things go.

 

[better Red than Dead]

Technically Graves was not drafted, he was signed

 

[Run the Jewels]

Welp, Trey Augustine's rep as a big time goalie in pressure situations takes a hit: .810 SV% as Sparty gets bounced from the tourney. The B1G as a whole looks badly overrated based on admittedly very limited data - a one game playoff series.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Technically Graves was not drafted, he was signed

I thought Graves was drafted in the second round? I know Adam Oates was a free agent signing as he was not drafted.

 

[better Red than Dead]

Technically Graves was not drafted, he was signed

Actually, my bad, I stand corrected I was thinking of Adam Oates, not Graves

 

[better Red than Dead]

I thought Graves was drafted in the second round? I know Adam Oates was a free agent signing as he was not drafted.

Yes, he was, my bad was thinking of Adam Oates

 

[Frk It]

Of the group, I think there's a real shot that Augustine is a plus goalie, if not a very good starting NHL netminder. He's been in two very good programs with the USNTDP and MSU. The concerning thing is he's dominated college hockey, yet his path is apparently contingent on what happens with Cossa next year. Yzerman is not going to push a goalie, and the fact he has two goalies (Talbot and Mrazek) next season suggests Cossa will spend another year in GR and as a call up, which would mean Augustine would spend another season in East Lansing.

Why do we think Cossa is not going to get a decent amount of NHL games next year?

Talbot and Mrzaek are journeyman goalies in their 30's. Talbot will be 38 by the start of next season.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Why do we think Cossa is not going to get a decent amount of NHL games next year?

Talbot and Mrzaek are journeyman goalies in their 30's. Talbot will be 38 by the start of next season.

I guess there's a chance Talbot retires after this season, but both Talbot and Mrazek are providing average goaltending and are signed for next season. This is an improvement over the awful goaltending Detroit has received over the past few seasons, so there should be no rush with regard to Cossa or Augustine. Neither of them had dominant AHL or NCAA seasons this year.

I'm sure Cossa will get some call ups, but he'll get next season as the #1 in Grand Rapids while Augustine spends another season at MSU.

 

[TKB]

If you're talking truly great, then it's Yzerman.

It's also worth noting the Wings haven't had:

a 1st overall pick since Joe Murphy in 1986
a 2nd overall pick since Marcel Dionne in 1971(!!)
a 3rd overall pick since Keith Primeau in 1990
the previous #4 overall pick before Raymond was Yzerman in 1983
a 5th overall pick since Rick Lapointe in 1975


I haven't gone into the "Red Wings Downfall" thread in a while but the top answer should be what I've listed above. It's difficult to rebuild when you've had one single pick in the top 5 in 35 years.

My thought was Adam Graves.

And do yourself a favor - if you haven't yet ventured into the Yzerman/Red Wings main board threads - JUST SAY NO.

You'll thank me later.

 

[Frk It]

I guess there's a chance Talbot retires after this season, but both Talbot and Mrazek are providing average goaltending and are signed for next season. This is an improvement over the awful goaltending Detroit has received over the past few seasons, so there should be no rush with regard to Cossa or Augustine. Neither of them had dominant AHL or NCAA seasons this year.

I'm sure Cossa will get some call ups, but he'll get next season as the #1 in Grand Rapids while Augustine spends another season at MSU.

Guess it depends what you mean by "dominant". Cossa was 10th in GAA and 11th in SV% this year.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Guess it depends what you mean by "dominant". Cossa was 10th in GAA and 11th in SV% this year.

I don't think Cossa is going to be put in a challenging situation next season when we have two goalies capable of meeting the league average for quality starts. If Talbot retires that could change, but I expect Yzerman to take a page out of Ken Holland's playbook and let Cossa ripen in Grand Rapids next season. You've followed the Red Wings for a long time, I'm not sure why this is a difficult concept to grasp.

What if Yzerman pencils in Cossa as a starter next season and he ends up s**tting the bed? Have we seen this movie before? Ville Husso was flat out bad in 2022-23 and 2023-24. James Reimer was horrific in 2024-25. What if the Red Wings did what you suggested when the Mrazek trade was announced, and instead rolled with a 38 year old Talbot and a rookie who ended up s**tting himself on a nightly basis? What if Talbot gets injured? As you point out, he'll be 38. What then?

I get that you think Cossa is ready, but if you're wrong it fortunately means absolutely nothing. If Yzerman is wrong, it sets the team back with yet another playoff miss. Surely you can understand the stakes here, yeah?

I've said I think the reason they traded for Mrazek is because Alex Lyon, who has provided replacement level quality, looks like he's told Yzerman he's gonna take a run at free agency this summer. So Yzerman locked in a similar quality goalie who is under contract for one more season. He has two very average NHL goalies signed for next season which allows Cossa to spend one more year in GR and Augustine one more year in East Lansing. If they need to bring Cossa up they can and probably will, but I don't think they're pencilling him in and expecting 30ish starts from him.

The goalie situation is pretty much a clean slate in 2026-27 when Cossa will be 24. He'll have three seasons of AHL play, with hopefully next season featuring Cossa getting 60ish starts as the true #1. That will give us a much better feel for his trajectory.

You may not like that, but I suspect that's the plan. Cossa is going to be brought along slowly due to the fact the Red Wings have two average NHL level goalies signed for next season.

 

[newfy]

I haven't seen USA 4 nations cup Larkin, maybe the Canadian version came back?

Hes a dual citizen, count him

 

[19 for president]

There aren't really that many great Canadians currently in the NHL. Good sure but not great.

Lets look at the 4 Nations roster from the recent best on best tourney I could find 8 true star types and 5 definite borderlines (especially Bennett solid player but he's a 40-50pt guy).

I eliminated the guys I wouldn't rate as at least a borderline stars (using peaks not current level):

Team Canada Roster At 4 Nations Face-Off 2025
Forwards

• Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers (4th OA)
• Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (1 OA)
• Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (1 OA)
• Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins (71st OA)
• Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs (4th)
• Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (1st)
• Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning (79th)
• Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers (2nd)
• Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights (178th)
• Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning (159 OA)
• Travis Knoecny, Philadelphia Flyers (24th)

Defensemen

• Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2nd)
• Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche (6th)

So 7 top 5s, 8 top 10s, and 5 lower than top 10, and this was from a best on best tournament; where I had to a decent chunk of more average guys. Only Marchand and Point are really for sure "star" guys from that beyond top 10 group (and I mean at their peak, obviously not now for Marchand)

If you expand it to top 50 scorers in the NHL you get the additional Canadians.

Additional Top Scorers:
Mark Scheifele (7th OA)
Nick Suzuki (13th OA)
Matt Duchene (3rd OA)
Dylan Strome (3rd OA)
John Tavares (1st OA)
Robert Thomas (20th OA)
Wyatt Johnston (23rd OA)

I'll give you that our 2017 draft was lousy but in that we still picked a Canadian in Ras over other Canadians Suzuki and Thomas.

Most Canadian Stars are in top 10 and mostly top 5 picks. If you eliminate those guys have another 8 steals in the entire NHL

Even if I push it and add Bouchard and Morrisey since they are top 10 in dman scoring that adds a 13th OA and a 10th OA. So that makes 9 star Canadian steals and again I think a lot of these guys are well below what your standard is.

In the 90s and early 00s the Wings simply had no draft capital because they traded it or it was low round. They went where other teams weren't and it lead to a large influx of great Euros.

In the last 15 years it started with again not great draft capital and now that we have started to get better draft capital we seem to be an era where there is a lack of overall Canadian Talent. McDavid, Marner, Makar, and MacKinnon are as good as most years but the quality of that depth below them doesn't seem to touch those 90s and even to some extent early Crosby era.