The big news was Holland trading down in the first round from 16 to 20 and Pavel Datsyuk's cap hit, to ARI for a 2nd round pick and the rights to Joe Vitale($1,116,666) who is LTIR with a mushy lid, I believe.
Many were shocked at the apparent low payment by Detroit to rid themselves of Datsyuk's cap hit. The move gives ARI the ability to save $7.5M in cash if they don't want to spend to the salary floor, which is huge for a team bleeding cash. Can you imagine being ARI's GM and saying to the owner "Well I could have saved you $7.5M cash but they didn't want to give us a prospect". People were saying that ARI had Detroit bent over...not exactly with that cash savings available to ARI. They had huge incentive here to make a fair deal and they were ideal trading partners for this, so kudos to both GMs for making it happen.
Missing out on the guy available at 16, Jakob Chychrun, was big but that was the price to make the move.
Summary on the picks from WIIM:
http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2016/6 ... and-tradesQuote:
20th overall - Dennis Cholowski, defenseman
Committed to St. Cloud State University, Cholowski is considered to be a very cerebral defender who skates extremely well. Tyler Wright noted that his skating abilities were the reason Detroit liked him at 20th. While it’s a bit of a stretch, I think he’s a great prospect who is going to be playing with one of the country’s best developmental programs.
46th overall - Givani Smith, forward
Givani Smith played for one of the worst OHL teams in recent history in Guelph, yet he stuck it out and managed to show that he can be an impact player. He’s got size, intensity, athleticism, and a good attitude towards his craft. He could pan out to be a great bottom-six winger one day.
53rd overall - Filip Hronek, defenseman
Hronek is a solid two-way defenseman with offensive upside due to his ability to make extremely soft passes. He’s a bit small, so it’ll be a summer full of weight room sessions. You’d like to see him shoot the puck more, but he’s more of a setup defenseman. If he can add muscle, that will help him round out his game and become a possible middle-pairing defender.
107th overall - Alfons Malmstrom, defenseman
Admittedly, I have no idea about this guy. I tried to do some digging to get information or scouting notes on him, but I came up empty-handed. This is a Hakan Andersson pick, so, seeing that we know nothing about him, he’s probably a future all-star.
137th overall - Jordan Sambrook, defenseman
This was a great pick. Sambrook is a dynamic, shifty defenseman who played all situations for the Erie Otters. He reads plays well, has a solid pivot, and can skate with the best of them. He played third-pair for the Otters, but they were quite a deep team. He has a lot of raw skill that can make him a high-upside player, the one knock on him would be his habit of sluggish puck retrieval.
167th overall - Filip Larsson, goaltender
Another goaltender? Wow! Another goaltender. Larsson is a good pick, he didn’t have a great year despite helping his team win silver at the U18 WJC, but he’s a low-risk high-reward pick.
197th overall - Mattias Elfstrom, center/left-wing
Elfrom makes the second forward picked (or the third if you want to consider the Sadowy trade as part of this draft strategy). A tall kid already over 190 pounds, most of what we have on him is that he's got jets that surprise defenders and forces them to back off. He's obviously very raw still, but you can take a chance here in the 7th round.