From Jeff Marek’s blog Upon Further Review:
But perhaps we’ve already seen the effects of the Wings success across the league. And it may not be at the draft table, but rather in overage, undrafted European players. (Interestingly, as common NHL wisdom dictates you hang on to your first-round picks, since Ken Holland took over in Detroit, the Red Wings have held on to exactly four first rounders, and only one of which, Niklas Kronwall, played for the team this season).
Read his Marek’s entire entry here.
Marek makes many good points in this article. Mainly that the NHL is a copycat league and that the league will now look to exactly how the Red Wings do their business. Aside from their tremendous drafting, their free-agent European signings have been imperative to their success. As Marek points out, it seems the NHL has already begun to emulate the Red Wings model.
