Red Wings not as interested in NHL Draft Lottery with no first-round pick

Detroit — The NHL Draft Lottery has been a major news story for the Red Wings in recent years but not this time.

The league’s lottery is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday and will be broadcast on ESPN, but the Wings may only have a passing interest in the proceedings.

They dealt their first-round draft pick this year at the trade deadline to the St. Louis Blues, along with prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov, for defenseman Justin Faulk. The Wings were in position to make the playoffs at the time and Faulk, who has one year left on his contract, upgraded the lineup, with term on his contract.

But the Wings collapsed in the season's final weeks and missed the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season.

GM Steve Yzerman traded away the Red Wings' first-round pick in this year's draft at the trade deadline.

So now, they're without a first-round pick, which is slotted currently at 15th. But general manager Steve Yzerman said trading and drafting are the two main routes for teams to improve these days, as free agent classes get progressively thinner.

"Obviously we used a first-round pick and a good prospect to acquire a defenseman that helps us for the foreseeable future,” Yzerman said. "Free agency, with a 32-team league and the salary cap going up, teams in the past weren’t able to re-sign their free agents. (But) they’re all getting re-signed, so that free-agent market is thinner.

"Ultimately, you're drafting or looking at really trading to do that."

There is no chance of the draft pick jumping into the No. 1 overall spot. Picks 12-16 can only move up 10 spots — so two through six — and the Blues only have a 1.1% chance to jump to No. 5 overall.

The lottery will determine the order of selection for the top 16 picks in the first round, which will take place June 26 and 27 in Buffalo, New York.

The Wings have a pick in the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, along with Calgary's seventh-round pick (acquired in a trade of picks last year). The Wings' fourth-round pick was sent to Ottawa at the deadline for forward David Perron.

Grand Rapids splits first two games of playoff series

The Wings' minor league affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins opened their AHL divisional semifinal series with a split of two games in Manitoba.

The series returns to Grand Rapids for Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 4 on Friday, with Game 5 on Saturday, if necessary.

The intriguing news to come out of the weekend was the decision of Griffins coach Dan Watson to start goaltender Michal Postava, rather than former first-round pick Sebastian Cossa.

Postava, an undrafted free agent from Czechia, stopped 52 of the 53 shots in the two games, including 30 saves Sunday in a 2-0 victory over Manitoba. The Moose defeated the Griffins on Saturday, 1-0.

"He (Postava) is incredible," said forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who had a power-play goal and an assist Sunday. "We never have to think about him making a mistake and if he does, it's all good anyways. We're really happy to have him on our team and Cossa."

Said Watson: "He (Postava) is our backbone right now. He made another breakaway save. He made a couple of sprawling saves when they go east-west with quick shots. He's really confident in himself. We're really confident in him in the net. He's playing extremely well right now."

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

@tkulfan

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Wings not as interested in NHL Draft Lottery with no first-round pick