2014 NHL Draft: Red Wings select Dominic Turgeon, son of NHLer Pierre

By @MichaelCaples –

PHILADELPHIA – The Red Wings kicked off Day 2 of the NHL Draft by picking a player with quite the hockey pedigree.

Detroit selected Dominic Turgeon, son of former NHL star Pierre Turgeon, at No. 63 overall in the third round of today’s draft.

Turgeon, who is also the nephew of Sylvain Turgeon, currently plays for the WHL’s Portland franchise. Last season, he recorded 31 points while playing to a +18 rating.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Turgeon said today. “Something that I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid, going into the NHL entry draft. It’s been unbelievable.”

The Red Wings traded up 13 spots to land Turgeon, giving their original third-round pick and their third-round pick in 2015 to Columbus.

“I knew [the Wings] were interested but at the time they didn’t have a pick around there so I wasn’t too sure,” Turgeon said. “But it feels really good.”

Turgeon also said that he knows first-round pick Dylan Larkin from both playing against him and playing with him at Team USA events. Larkin is the only Wings prospect Turgeon knows personally.

“I have been [to Detroit] a few times for hockey tournaments when I was younger,” Turgeon said. “I played against Belle Tire a lot because I was playing for the Colorado Thurnderbirds at the time, where I’m living currently.”

As far as father-son comparisons go, Turgeon said there are some big differences.

“I guess we’re pretty different,” the Wings’ pick said. “He was a highly offensive player in the NHL. I feel that right now my game is very strong defensively. But I feel as time goes on my offensive game is going to really jump.”

He’s expecting to increase his offensive output with Portland next year, however.

“I feel like with the players that we had through the years I was put in a certain role, maybe limited me a little bit, but as time goes on I feel like my offensive game is going to be very big and it’s going to come.”