Red Wings To Get Young Forwards Calle Jarnkrok, Teemu Pulkkinen And Tomas Jurco Signed By Deadline

The Detroit Red Wings had a disappointing end to their 2011-12 campaign, but are confident in their organization moving forward. They've been one of the NHL's best teams for a very long time and they'll do their best to get better this offseason same as any other. One thing the Red Wings have done well, despite being dealt a tough hand in that regard, is draft.

Picking up young players at their position in the draft is exceedingly difficult. The NHL Draft is full of players who may not contribute for several years with talent gaps all over the place. That being said, the Red Wings are pretty happy with some of the players picked up over the last two drafts.

According to MLive.com, Detroit Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said the team will come to terms with forwards Calle Jarnkrok, Teemu Pulkkinen and Tomas Jurco prior to the June 1 deadline for giving those players their first NHL contract.

"We're very happy,'' Nill said. "They all have high-end offensive skills. You need 2-3 players to become better than you projected. That's what (Henrik) Zetterberg and (Pavel) Datsyuk did. We're fortunate Zetterberg and Datsyuk came along. We're still looking for the next wave of talent.''

As it stands, all three players will likely play elsewhere next season and not make the final Red Wings roster - with Jarnkrok and Pulkkinen playing in Europe and Jurco playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins. The former two are unable to play for Grand Rapids in 2012-13. The piece from MLive does highlight some other aspects of the players - guys that the Red Wings certainly hope will become the next Zetterbergs and Datsyuks of the league.