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Almqvist has a sense of wonder »

Adam Almqvist has a skill the Detroit Red Wings covet. Not only does he have it, but from what they've seen, it's off the charts. "Hockey sense," said Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson, who scouted Almqvist heavily. "Great hockey sense. If it all came down to hockey sense, he probably would have been a first-round pick. Almqvist's sense of wonder »

2009 RED WINGS DRAFT TRACKER
RD	NO	POS	NAME	TEAM	STATS
1	29	TRADED TO TAMPA BAY
DETAILS: Detroit traded its first-round pick (29th overall) to Tampa Bay for the 32nd pick (second round) and 75th pick (third round).
2	32	C/RW	Landon Ferraro	Red Deer (WHL)	68-37-18-55-99
ANALYSIS: The son of former NHLer Ray Ferraro is a tenacious, two-way worker who goes into traffic and wins faceoff. He was ranked by most publications as a first-round pick. "That boy can skate," one scout said. "He has good hockey sense and he knows how to play the game."
2	60	C/RW	Tomas Tatar	Zvolen (SVK)	48-7-8-15-20
ANALYSIS: The skilled 5-foot-11, 176-pound forward was a regular in the Slovak ExtraLiga and lit up the world junior championship at Christmas with seven goals among 11 points in seven games. "He's got great skill and a great thinking hockey player's mind," said NHL.com analyst Craig Button.
3	75	LW/RW	Andrej Nestrasil	Victoriaville (QMJHL)	66-22-35-57-67
ANALYSIS: The Czech Republic native came to North America in his draft year and adjusted well to the QMJHL with Victoriaville. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder showcased good skill and a willingness to play physical, but Central Scouting suggests he needs to step up his skating and defensive play.
3	90	D	Gleason Fournier	Rimouski (QMJHL)	66-3-25-28-64
ANALYSIS: Fournier is a slight 6-foot, 176-pound offensive defenseman who was a teammate of Red Wings prospect Sebastien Piche with the Memorial Cup host Rimouski Oceanic. He's a pick not unlike Brendan Smith. As he gets bigger, he could emerge as a big point-producer in the QMJHL.
5	150	D	Nick Jensen	Green Bay (USHL)	52-5-17-22-27
ANALYSIS: Jensen is a long-term project with good all-around skills similar to last year's selection of Max Nicastro. He led the USHL with a plus-34 on the best team in the league. The 6-foot-1, 187-pound native of Rogers, Minn., will spend another year in the USHL before heading to St. Cloud State in 2010-11.
6	180	RW	Mitchell Callahan	Kelowna (WHL)	70-14-13-27-188
ANALYSIS: The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder finished third in the WHL with 188 penalty minutes en route to the Memorial Cup final with Kelowna. He plays a robust style, drops the gloves in a heartbeat and produced 27 points along the way. He'll get more ice time in 2009-10 and how he responds will be telling.
7	210	D	Adam Almqvist	HV-71 (Swe-J20)	41-8-28-36-44
ANALYSIS: As they so often do, the Red Wings mine Sweden for their final pick of the draft, grabbing the 5-foot-10, 169-pound Almqvist from HV-71. He was the highest-scoring defenseman in Sweden's under-20 league at nearly a point per game and is an undersized pick in the Logan Pyett mold.

BRUCE MacLEOD'S Macomb Daily Blogs

Hossa's pricetag | Wednesday, July 1 3:20 pm
The one-year deal between the Red Wings and Marian Hossa cost the player much more than it did the franchise. ... More »

• Ryno to return | Saturday, June 27 4:17 pm
• Nill's thoughts on the 2009 draft | Saturday, June 27 3:45 pm
• Finally, a Swede | Saturday, June 27 1:49 pm
• Sixth-round pick a right wing | Saturday, June 27 1:07 pm
• Wings take another D-man in fifth round | Saturday, June 27 12:35 pm
• Odds and ends | Saturday, June 27 12:13 pm

» More of Bruce MacLeod's Macomb Daily Blogs »

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» More stories from Red Wings Central »