2018 NHL Draft: Report card grades for every team

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadians pose for a picture of the 2018 NHL draft on June 22, 2018 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images /

Detroit Red Wings – A

First Round Pick: Filip Zadina (RW) (6), Joe Veleno (C) (30)

I’m so conflicted. My inner Avalanche fan is telling me that I must dislike everything the Red Wings do from 1995 until the end of time. But my reasonable hockey mind is telling me that Detroit knocked it out of the park in the first round. I love Filip Zadina. When asked what he brings to Detroit, he said, “I bring the goals.” He’s going to score 200 goals in his first season. 150 of them will come against Ottawa, Montreal and Phoenix. The Red Wings need to find a way to acquire Travis Zajac so they can have the ZZZ line of Zadina, Zajac and Zetterberg. This is legitimately the only thing I have ever wanted in my life. On top of getting the third best player in the draft at number six, they got Joe Veleno at 30th. Many had Veleno as a lottery pick, with few thinking he would slip past number 20. His top-end talent is questionable, but watch Detroit turn him into the Canadian Pavel Datysuk.

Other Notable Picks: Jonatan Berggren (RW) (33), Ryan O’Reilly (RW) (98)

No surprise, Detroit went with a Swede in the second round. Berggren is an all-around talent and a dynamic scorer. He’s a player that could have gone in the first round based on talent and probably should have, if certain teams didn’t reach earlier in the draft. They also weren’t going to make the mistake of passing on Ryan O’Reilly a second time.

The Red Wings killed it. Let’s just move on before my Avs followers kill me.

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