CHICAGO — Judging an NHL draft in the hours after it concludes is a bit like raving about a college football recruiting class on signing day only to see it fall well short of expectations years later. And for the same reason.



Evaluating 17- and 18-year-old kids is hard.



It’s quite possible we will look back at this year’s Red Wings draft class as the one that pumped needed youth into the system and jumpstarted the path back to Stanley Cup contention. The 11 players drafted by the Red Wings in Chicago are now being handed over to Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff, who is emerging as one of the most important figures in the Detroit front office. He’s an outside voice, which is important to avoid an echo chamber. He’s also respected in hockey, viewed as a former player with a very strong chance of climbing the executive food chain fairly quickly.



His first job though, is to make sure this class develops into one...