On Dominic Turgeon’s recovery and readiness to battle for an NHL job

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff spoke with Red Wings prospect Dominic Turgeon regarding his recovery from a blood clot in his arm and surgery to both fix the clot and resect a rib. Turgeon is fully healthy and aiming to earn a spot on the Wings’ roster this season, as he told Kulfan

“My mindset is to come to (training) camp and be strong,” Turgeon said. “Being a strong two-way player, being good on faceoffs, good on the penalty kill, and also provide offense. I’m just going to play the best hockey I can.”

Turgeon felt he progressed in Grand Rapids last season, his second in the American League.

“Made a leap from year one in G.R.,” said Turgeon, whose father Pierre was a long-time NHL player. “My main focus coming into the year was providing more offense. I felt I did that and overall it was a great year.

And Duff:

“I was on blood thinners for three months, so I had no contact until I got off those, Turgeon said. “I slowly started training after six weeks or so, just riding the bike a little bit, a little bit of body exercises and then slowly week after week got into doing weights.

“It definitely was scary. I didn’t know much of it at the time, but stuff happens in life. Thankfully, the recovery went well.”

Turgeon, 22, the son of former NHL star Pierre Turgeon, got into five games with Detroit last season, and that first taste of the show only left him craving more.

“Yeah, obviously it was a dream to be in the National League,” Turgeon said. “To get a taste of it, you definitely get that drive and want to be back there. Having that motivation, especially throughout summer time, is a big help.”

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.