NHL Draft 2011: Detroit Red Wings Trade out of the First Round

The Detroit Red Wings have traded their 24th overall pick to the Ottawa Senators for the Senators' 35th and 48th picks overall.

In what has turned out to be a wide-open first round with lots of picks coming out of the Swedish Leagues, one might wonder if Detroit simply did not see much in this draft or if they were comfortable moving down 11 picks to obtain another pick at 48th.

No one should second-guess Detroit moving down in the draft; after all, much of Detroit's current roster has been drafted in the third round or later.

Nick Lidstrom (third round, 53rd overall), Pavel Datsyuk (sixth round, 171st overall), Henrik Zetterberg (seventh round, 210th overall), are just examples of Detroit's late round gems.

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland has proven that he is more than capable of drafting late-round talent and working them into a highly successful organization.

It will be interesting to see if Holland can do it again and what tricks he has up his sleeve.

Red Wings fans have much to look forward to in the future because of other late round picks.

Jan Mursak (182nd overall, 2006), Teemu Pulkkinen (111st overall, 2010), Gustav Nyquist (121st overall, 2008) and Tomas Tatar (60th overall, 2009) are just some of the players that have Red Wings fans excited for the future.

Many fans of the NHL tend to write off the Red Wings each year as being too old and everything else that goes with being old.

But Detroit's tendency to blend veteran experience with youth and gradually easing in their younger players has proven to be an excellent system over the past decade.

It will be exciting to see how Detroit's draft picks this year pan out in the next three to five years.