On the Clock: Detroit Red Wings: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft

by Helene St. James

A singular, transcendent talent can change the fortunes of a hockey team instantly. Each year, NHL teams approach the draft with this knowledge, hoping that luck will be on their side and that their extensive scouting and analysis will pay off.

In On the Detroit Red Wings , Helene St. James explores the fascinating, rollercoaster history of the Red Wings at the draft, including franchise legends like Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, and Pavel Datsyuk.

Readers will go behind the scenes with top decision-makers as they evaluate, deliberate, and ultimately make the picks they hope will tip the fate of their franchise toward success.

From seemingly surefire first-rounders to surprising late selections, this is a must-read for Red Wings faithful and hockey fans eager for a glimpse at how teams are built.

Genres: Hockey, Sports, Nonfiction

344 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big Detroit Red Wings fan- they're the team of my youth. This book was good. The premise was excellent but the writing and execution was mediocre. The author repeats and repeats and repeats information way too often... sometimes word for word. She will write about one player and then include that same info in another chapter about how it relates to a different player, a different situation or whatnot. Its poor journalism. This book gets 5 stars for the idea and layout- but i knocked it down a star because of lazy writing. Sorry Helene, but don't be in such a hurry to churn out books... I know you can do better.

[Joel Haas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure who this book is for.

If you are a Wings fan who came of age after the early 2010s, it is a repetitive, disjointed history lesson, lacking intrigue, history, or well-written hockey points of view.

If you are a Wings fan who remembers the four most-recent Cup-winning teams, there is little-to-no incisiveness in rehashing the events that you already know well.

If you like hockey and are not specifically a Wings fan, you will find dozens of the same descriptions and anecdotes repeated without actually finding out almost anything about being "behind the scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft."

And if you are not a hockey fan, I don't know what would draw you to this book.

This collection of thoughts on the Red Wings is just a series of meandering profiles telling the same things about a collection of players who wore the Winged Wheel. I was very disappointed. St. James does know how to write, how to write well, and about the Wings. Unfortunately, it just was not done all that well in this text.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters each look at a different aspect of Detroit's draft history. However there is a lot of repeating, and it focuses on only a few main topics (1989, Yzerman, Datsyuk and Zetterberg). Earlier drafts are not really touched on, and looking at more of the weaker drafts and why things didn't work would have been nice. The book also had a lot of grammatical and spelling issues, which was a little concerning.

[Kyle Youngblood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite repetitive at times over certain chapters. Interesting, but like many sports books written about one team, often rehashes previously mentioned content.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ideal gift - especially for someone (like me) who has run out of good holiday ideas - for the big Red Wings fan in the family.

[Brent Vogel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Redundant, nothing Earth shattering or new. Must have been rushed as there are many elementary grammatical and spelling errors