Chicago — Defensemen are prized commodities around the NHL these days.
If a team really wants to acquire one, it will pay through the nose, either with an elite young forward — like Tampa’s Jonathan Drouin going to Montreal — or multiple early-round draft picks — like Calgary sent to the New York Islanders for Travis Hamonic.
Going into this past weekend’s Entry Draft, the Red Wings were intent on drafting defensemen.
They wanted to get as many as they could out of their 11 total picks to cultivate and develop them over the next few years.