DETROIT, October 7, 2020 – The Detroit Red Wings today drafted 11 players during the second day of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. With three selections in the second round, the Red Wings chose defenseman William Wallinder (32nd overall), center Theodor Niederbach (51st overall) and left wing Cross Hanas (55th overall) and then selected defensemen Donovan Sebrango (63rd overall) and Eemil Viro (70th overall) with a pair of third-round picks. Detroit also had two selections in the fourth round and took right wing Sam Stange (97th overall) and goaltender Jan Bednar (107th overall), before adding defenseman Alex Cotton (132nd overall) in the fifth round. To cap off their 12-player draft class, the Red Wings selected defenseman Kyle Aucoin (156th overall) in the sixth round and right wing Kienan Draper (187th overall) and center Chase Bradley (203rd overall) in the seventh round.
The Red Wings began the day with nine selections but made four trades during the second day of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Detroit first added two additional picks in trades with Los Angeles and Minnesota. The Red Wings traded the 45th overall choice (Brock Faber) to the Kings for 51st overall (Theodor Niederbach) and an additional fourth-round choice (97th overall – Sam Stange) and sent the 65th pick (Daemon Hunt) to the Wild for 70th overall (Eemil Viro) and an extra fifth-round selection (132nd overall – Alex Cotton). Later, the Red Wings traded the first pick in the fifth round (125th overall – Jesper Vikman) to the Vegas Golden Knights for a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. The Red Wings also picked up an extra pick in the seventh round, acquiring the 203rd overall selection from St. Louis in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
Detroit kicked off the second day of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft with the first pick of the second round (32nd overall), selecting defenseman William Wallinder. Wallinder, a 6-foot-4, 191-pound defenseman, has started the 2020-21 campaign with MODO in the Swedish Allsvenskan, the country’s second-highest professional league. In 2019-20, Wallinder split time between MODO’s men’s team and junior team, picking up two assists and two penalty minutes in 18 Allsvenskan games in his first taste of pro hockey, along with 24 points (5-19-24) and 16 penalty minutes in 37 games with MODO’s under-20 team to lead the club’s defensemen in scoring. The 18-year-old left-shot defenseman has spent parts of the last four seasons playing in MODO’s junior system, logging 25 points (5-20-25) and 18 penalty minutes in 39 games for the top junior team and 38 points (15-23-38) and 47 penalty minutes in 56 games at the under-18 level. The Solleftea, Sweden, native also represented his country at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he won a bronze medal as a teammate of Lucas Raymond, who was selected by the Red Wings with the fourth-overall pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
The Red Wings stayed in Sweden for their next pick, drafting center Theodor Niederbach (51st overall), who is a fellow teammate of Lucas Raymond and 2019 Red Wings draft picks Elmer Soderblom and Gustav Berglund. Niederbach is currently tied for second in scoring in the top Swedish junior league, racking up 15 points (3-12-15) in his first nine games for 2020-21. After missing the entire 2018-19 season due to a knee injury, the 5-foot-11, 172-pound forward spent his draft-eligible campaign between Frolunda’s under-18 and under-20 teams, racking up 21 points (11-10-21) and 31 penalty minutes in 14 games in the under-18 team and 48 points (15-33-48) and 12 penalty minutes in 40 games for the under-20 team, where he finished fourth on the team in goals, second in assists and third in points. A native of Bjasta, Sweden, Niderbach was named the best forward of the under-16 league prior to his injury and led the league in all offensive categories with 73 points (38-35-73) in 30 games for KB65 HK.
With their third pick in the second round, Detroit chose left wing Cross Hanas (55th overall), who has spent the last two years with the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks. In 60 games during the 2019-20 season, the 6-foot-1, 167-pound winger ranked among Winterhawks leaders with 22 goals (3rd), 27 assists (6th), 49 points (6th), a plus-20 rating (9th) and 42 penalty minutes (6th). Hanas has totaled 127 appearances in Portland since 2018-19, totaling 71 points (30-41-71), a plus-22 rating and 102 penalty minutes. Prior to making the jump to major junior hockey, the Highland Village, Texas, native developed in the Dallas Stars youth hockey organization, where he scored at a point-per-game pace with 36 points (17-19-36) in 36 games in his final season with the program in 2017-18. Hanas made his debut with the U.S. national team by skating in four games during the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he tied for second in team scoring with three points (1-2-3) in four games.
To start the third round, the Red Wings selected defenseman Donovan Sebrango (63rd overall), a 6-foot-1, 189-pound defenseman who hails from Kingston, Ontario. Sebrango has spent the last two seasons with the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, where he ranked second among the team’s defensemen and 10th overall on the team with 30 points (6-24-30) and 33 penalty minutes in 56 games in 2019-20. Sebrango has appeared in 118 career OHL games over the past two seasons, posting 56 points (13-43-56) and 87 penalty minutes. Sebrango has twice represented Canada on the international stage, picking up two assists and four penalty minutes in five games at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and taking a silver medal at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup after chipping in two assists and two penalty minutes in five games.
Seven picks later, Detroit selected Finnish defenseman Eemil Viro (70th overall) who plays professionally for TPS of the SM-Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. Viro has appeared in two games for TPS so far in 2020-21 after making his professional debut in 2019-20 by skating in 29 games with TPS as a 17-year-old, picking up three assists and eight penalty minutes. The 6-foot, 165-pound blueliner also notched six points (1-5-6) and 14 penalty minutes in 15 games for TPS’ under-20 team and shows career totals of seven points (1-6-7) in 19 games at that level, along with 20 points (7-13-20) in 43 games in the under-18 league and 49 points (16-33-49) in 39 games on the under-16 circuit, all for TPS. The Vantaa, Finland, native also has a pair of international appearances on his resume, earning a silver medal at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and making three appearances at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Detroit’s next selection came in the fourth round, where it selected right wing Sam Stange at 97th overall. A 19-year-old who was first draft-eligible in 2019, Stange emerged as one of the top first-year players in the United States Hockey League, recording 45 points (26-19-45) in 48 games between the Sioux City Musketeers and Sioux Falls Stampede to earn a spot on the USHL Third All-Star Team. He tied for fifth in the league in goals and tied for 16th in overall league scoring, finishing as Sioux City’s leading scorer before a late-season trade to Sioux Falls. A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the 6-foot, 200-pound forward played high school hockey in his home state and amassed 181 points (83-98-181) in 95 games over four seasons at Eau Claire North High School, finishing his senior year as the 2019 Wisconsin State Player of the Year in addition to Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Division 1 Player of the Year honors as a multi-sport athlete. Stange recently started at the University of Wisconsin, where he’ll skate for the Badgers this fall.
The Red Wings tabbed a goaltender with their next pick, drafting Jan Bednar (107th overall) with their second pick in the fourth round. Bednar is among the youngest goalies to ever play in the Czech Extraliga, the highest professional league in his native Czech Republic, debuting at the age of 16 and posting a 2-8-0 record, 2.73 goals-against average and 0.917 save percentage in 10 games with HC Karlovy Vary to capture Rookie of the Year honors in 2018-19. The 6-foot-4, 196-pound netminder spent the entire 2019-20 in the professional ranks, splitting time between HC Karlovy Vary – where he recorded his first professional shutout as a 17-year-old – and HC Banik Sokolov in second-tier Czech Republic, where he played in 24 games and posted a 3.26 goals-against average and 0.873 save percentage. The Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, native also represented his country three times at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. Bednar is slated to spend the 2020-21 season with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after he was selected second overall in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
In the fifth round, the Red Wings selected defenseman Alex Cotton (132nd overall), who enjoyed a breakout season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in 2019-20 after going undrafted in 2019, improving from 11 points (2-9-11) in 54 games as a WHL rookie to 67 points (20-47-67) in 63 games last season to lead all WHL defensemen in scoring and earn a spot on the WHL Second All-Star Team. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound blueliner also ranked among team leaders with 20 goals (T3rd), 47 assists (T1st), 67 points (3rd), 198 shots (2nd), seven power-play goals (T3rd) and four game-winning goals (T2nd). A native of Langley, British Columbia, Cotton developed at the Yale Hockey Academy prior to making the major junior ranks, pacing all defensemen in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League with 54 points (11-43-54) in 32 games in 2017-18.
Detroit began the sixth round of the draft by selecting defenseman Kyle Aucoin (156th overall), who skated in 48 games with the United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm in 2019-20 and chipped in 13 points (2-11-13) and 22 penalty minutes as a rookie. The 5-foot-10, 164-pound defenseman was named the USHL Scholar-Athlete of the Year and 2020 USHL All-Academic Team member and is committed to Harvard University for 2021-22. The Ottawa, Ontario, native played for the Chicago Mission AAA youth hockey organization prior to jumping to the USHL, where he was coached by his father, Adrian Aucoin, who played in 1,108 NHL games with Vancouver, Tampa Bay, the NY Islanders, Chicago, Calgary, Phoenix and Columbus between 1994-13.
In the final round of the draft, Wings selected right wing Kienan Draper (187th overall), the son of longtime Red Wings center and current director of amateur scouting Kris Draper. Kienan, 18, who is set to spend the 2020-21 season with the Chilliwack Chiefs in the British Columbia Hockey League and is committed to Miami University for 2021-22. Draper spent the 2019-20 season at St. Andrew’s College in the Canadian high school ranks, where he registered 51 points (26-25-51) in 56 games. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound forward and Detroit native is a product of the Little Caesars AAA Hockey Club who also had stints with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks and U.S. National Team Development Program’s under-17 team during the 2018-19 season.
After trading back into the seventh round, Detroit’s final pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft was center Chase Bradley (203rd overall), who spent the 2019-20 campaign with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, tallying 19 points (7-12-19), a plus-16 rating and 77 penalty minutes in 34 games for the team, improving on four points (3-1-4) in 37 contests with Omaha as a USHL rookie in 2018-19. A St. Louis, Missouri, native and 5-foot-11, 180-pound forward, Bradley was traded to the Sioux City Musketeers in March and is expected to spend one more season in the USHL prior to enrolling at Northeastern University for 2021-22.
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