Khan in the morning: Dan Cleary discusses the ‘why’s’ of the summer development camp

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted his customary morning column today, and in his morning missive, Khan discusses the reasons why the Red Wings are holding their first summer development camp since 2019:

Development camp for Detroit Red Wings prospects is akin to summer school on ice. It’s about educating young players, not evaluating them.

Close to 40 prospects – mostly draft picks from the past two years and undrafted free agents – took the ice Sunday at the Belfor Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena for the start of the five-day camp.

They will learn all aspects of the Red Wings way

“We talk about how we want the culture of this team to be, the work ethic, the character, how we treat each other,” Daniel Cleary, the team’s assistant director of player development, said. “In terms of the education purposes, they work out with Rob (head strength coach Campbell). They see how to work out, proper technique, what our pros are doing. We’re going to have our skills guys here, our skating coaches here.

“We also teach them about all the recovery things we have. This is a good time where you should rest, or this is a good time where you need to go cold and hot. Whatever the recovery calls for. Lisa McDowell (team nutritionist) is really important. These kids are only starting to learn what to eat, how to eat, how to cook, when to eat it. That’s an important aspect. We have one of our sports psychologists here talking to the kids. The mental side of it is huge. Some of these kids didn’t play hockey last year (due to the pandemic). That takes a grind on you. So, it’s all interesting information. Try to give them as much as you can and even if they just take a little bit here, a little bit there, that’s what this camp’s for.”

Continued

HSJ in the morning, part 2: regarding Ville Husso

Recently acquired Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso spoke with the Wings’ media corps yesterday afternoon, and the Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a second early-morning column which discusses Husso’s “fit” with his new team:

Ville Husso was vacationing in Florida when he turned on the NHL draft. Then his phone rang and he found out he had been traded.

“I’m very happy to join the Detroit Red Wings — historic team, 11 Stanley Cups, I think that tells a lot,” Husso said Sunday following the trade. “I kind of knew that I would not stay in St. Louis. I was ready for it and excited, and am really happy right now.”

General manager Steve Yzerman sent the Wings’ third-round pick in the ’22 draft to the Blues, and then signed the goalie for three years and $14.25 million. The trade addressed the need for a partner for Alex Nedeljkovic, and did so before what is expected to be a very competitive goaltending market opens when NHL free agency begins Wednesday.

New head coach Derek Lalonde sounded excited, telling the Free Press: “It feels like Ville is going this way with his development and I think we’re going to get him at a really good time,” Lalonde said. “Those two will share the net. It will be good experience for both of them.”

Continued (paywall)

HSJ in the morning, part 1: coach Lalonde on ‘Resetting’ Filip Zadina

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted two morning columns today. In her first column, St. James spoke with new Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde regarding a necessary reset for Filip Zadina:

When a player with high expectations underachieves, common thinking is that a change of scenery may offer a chance to reboot.

In Filip Zadina’s case, the change of scenery isn’t location but elocution: It’ll be the voice of new Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde who tries to find out if there’s more to Zadina than he has shown in three disappointing seasons.

“Each kid has a different ‘why,’ what makes them tick,” Lalonde told the Free Press. “The beauty of a coaching change is, it’s a new voice and a fresh start. No matter what, everyone will have a fresh start. Sometimes just a reset is healthy for a guy like that.”

“A reset will be start for him, and then it will be my job to get the most out of him,” Lalonde said. “It starts with building some trust, ad then to try to get the most out of him.”

Lalonde, hired June 30, hasn’t had much time to study video yet, but the 2021 pandemic-impacted schedule meant he has seen a great deal of Zadina while an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Zadina has been at his most productive against Lalonde’s former team: In 14 career games against the Lightning, Zadina has a goal and eight assists. (He’s played 12 times against the Columbus Blue Jackets and only has one point, and has four points in 12 games against the Florida Panthers). 

“I’ve seen him play a ton, but I haven’t done enough on video yet, and that’s on my to-do list,” Lalonde said. “I want to get a little better feel for all the players.”

Continued (paywall)

Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2022 summer development camp

The Detroit Red Wings’ first summer development camp since 2019–some three summers later–got underway at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center today, July 10th, 2022.

While assistant director of player development Dan Cleary is right in suggesting that this is not an evaluation camp–that’s what the prospect tournament is for…

I can tell you that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, assistant GM Shawn Horcoff, Cleary, who’s an assistant director of player development, associate director of player personnel Jiri Fischer and members of the Red Wings’ coaching and scouting staffs were closely watching the players engage in skating tests from the executive suite which overlooks the ice at BELFOR.

The executives are all here. pic.twitter.com/uwfH4c5Sed— George Malik (@georgemalik) July 10, 2022

Continue reading Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2022 summer development camp

Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Hoppe has an inkling as to what Pavel Datsyuk’s going to do next

It’s hard to get reliable news out of Russia these days, hockey stuff included, but the rumors have been circulating that one Pavel Datsyuk is going to retire from professional hockey later this summer.

Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe ended up getting a scoop as to the former Red Wings forward’s next career move while Hoppe spoke with Buffalo Sabres director of amateur scouting Jerry Forton regarding Sabres prospect and 74th overall draft pick Viktor Neuchev.

Neuchev played for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, Datsyuk’s hometown KHL team, this past season:

Forton said Neuchev’s organization also appealed to the Sabres. He said Detroit Red Wings legend Pavel Datsyuk, who retired in June after ending his career in Russia, will be taking over as Yekaterinburg’s head of development.

“(He) has already had his hands on some of these players, so that’s very appealing to us,” Forton said. “We think he’s in a very good development spot right now.”

Continued; Datsyuk has always enjoyed coaching kids, so this career move would make a lot of sense for him.

Allen’s notebook: Edvinsson, Wallinder, Niederbach have passport troubles

The Red Wings’ 2022 summer development camp got underway on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center without some of the team’s most notable prospects in Simon Edvinsson, William Wallinder and Theodor Niederbach. As Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes in his Sunday camp notebook, there’s a good reason why the three Swedes were not in attendance:

“[Edvinsson] still doesn’t have his passport back from the consulate in Sweden,” said Dan Cleary, Detroit’s Director of Player Development. “He’s just been tied up with that but as soon as he has it he’s coming.”

Team Sweden had Edvinsson[‘s passport] because he is supposed to play with the team at the delayed World Junior Championships. Edvinsson will stay in Detroit and go to the August tournament from here.

Two other Swedish players, William Wallinder and Theodor Niederbach, has similar problems.

“They’re hoping to arrive later this evening and be on the ice tomorrow,” Cleary said.

The delayed didn’t diminish the enthusiasm for the development camp which didn’t happen the past two years because of COVID-19.

“We haven’t seen a lot of these kids in a couple of years,” Cleary said. “It was great to see some of these guys.

Allen’s notebook continues, discussing some of the camaraderie at camp, as well as the noticeable improvements made by Carter Mazur, Shai Buium and Cooper Moore…

Duff discusses Marco Kasper’s attributes as development camp begins

Wearing #92, the Red Wings’ 8th overall draft pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, one Marco Kasper, hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center (i.e. the practice rink) this morning with lots of promise and potential in the mix.

The Red Wings’ summer development camp is an educational one, as Daniel Cleary told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan today, so the various skating tests that the players engaged in (with Kasper starting most of the drills) are designed to give players a “baseline” assessment as to where they are compared to NHL players.

The off-ice portion of today’s activities included a media relations course, but you probably know by now that Kasper, who’s headed back to Rogle BK of the SHL this upcoming season, is polished in speaking with the press in both German and Swedish.

Anyway, it was good to see Kasper skate today…

Continue reading Duff discusses Marco Kasper’s attributes as development camp begins

National Post’s Traikos suggests that the Red Wings, Senators and Sabres might leapfrog Boston, links Palat to Detroit

The National Post’s Michael Traikos is a Toronto-based columnist, so he has a good feel for the Maple Leafs’ Atlantic Division rivals. Traikos suggests that three up-and-coming teams–the Red Wings, Senators and Sabres–are probably going to be very aggressive in the free agency marketplace (starting on July 13th) in order to make up the ground on the Beasts of the Atlantic:

Forget about Toronto. Or Edmonton. Or any of the favourites to win the Stanley Cup.

After acquiring Alex DeBrincat from Chicago in a trade for Ottawa’s seventh-overall pick, the word coming out of the last week’s draft was that the Senators were also lining up to try to sign Claude Giroux to feed passes to the two-time 40-goal scorer. 

Detroit, which traded for St. Louis goalie Ville Husso, is now reportedly looking at Tampa Bay pending free agent winger Ondrej Palat, whom GM Steve Yzerman and new head coach Derek Lalonde both know well from their time with the Lightning.

New Jersey, which traded for Washington goalie Vitek Vanecek, and Philadelphia, which traded for Carolina defenceman Tony DeAngelo, are both reportedly trying to pry Johnny Gaudreau out of Calgary. If that doesn’t materialize, both will probably turn their attention to Nazem Kadri. Or Evander Kane.

And though they might not be considered the frontrunners, expect Buffalo, which had a trade in place for Ottawa’s Matt Murray, to join the bidding war for goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell.

Between the Montreal Canadiens’ struggles and the fact that the Boston Bruins are in flux, Traikos believes that one of the Wings, Sabres or Senators could attempt to usurp a playoff spot as Toronto, Tampa Bay and Florida battle for Eastern Conference supremacy while facing salary cap issues. He says this about the Red Wings’ potential:

Continue reading National Post’s Traikos suggests that the Red Wings, Senators and Sabres might leapfrog Boston, links Palat to Detroit

Kulfan’s notebook: Cleary emphasizes that the Red Wings’ development camp is about educating prospects

Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary spoke with the media regarding the purpose of the Wings’ first summer development camp in three years on Sunday.

While the Red Wings did test the players’ skating on Sunday, and they will work on educating players regarding on-ice skill development, working out properly, learning how to rest and recuperate, engaging in best nutritional practices and learning to deal with the media, both social and otherwise…

Cleary made sure to point out that the Red Wings’ brass is in attendance to help educate their prospects, and not overly focus on evaluating them–which is what the fall prospect tournament is for–as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“This is not an evaluation one bit,” Cleary said Sunday, after Day 1 of the camp. “This is an education and enjoy it, get to meet all these guys you haven’t seen. Take whatever information we’re giving you and ask questions. That’s strictly it.”

There was various on-ice testing done Sunday, but it was done mostly to have baseline numbers to compare with the past, and in the future. The testing isn’t done to compare against other players.

“We tested them today, but this is strictly testing to let them know ‘Hey, this is where the pro level is at and this is where you’re at’,” Cleary said. “You’re 18, 19 years old, but there’s not evaluation at all. We’re doing skills, skating, we have vision training, some fun things to do and then, on Thursday, we’ll do a small three-on-three tournament. That’s really it.”

Instilling what the culture of the Wings’ organization, said Cleary, along with the work ethic and character are also key aspects of the week. As in previous camps, and while working with young players in the Wings organization, Cleary has found today’s young athletes receptive to coaching.

“It’s a different athlete,” Cleary said. “Today’s young person, you really have to adapt to them, they have a different mindset, I feel, but a good mindset. We’ve had great kids to work with and some kids who are way more mature at 18 or 19 year old, and we’ve had some, maybe, who weren’t as mature as others. But I’ve never had a kid who has been hard to deal with. They’ve all been terrific.”

Kulfan continues, discussing several topics, and if you missed Cleary’s presser, here it is:

Khan, Kulfan discuss Ville Husso’s comments regarding joining the Red Wings

Updated at 6:54 PM: New Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso spoke with the media for the first time as a Red Wing on Sunday, and you can watch his press conference on YouTube.

MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Husso’s comments regarding an inconsistent but promising 2021-2022 season played in St. Louis, as well as Husso’s remarks about coming to Detroit in a draft-day trade:

Husso had a strong second NHL season (25-7-6, 2.56 goals-against average, .919 save percentage), tying for seventh in Vezina Trophy voting as the league’s top goalie (one third-place vote)

The Red Wings hope Husso plays more like he did the first half of the season (2.03 GAA, .935 save percentage) than the second half and playoffs (3.23 GAA, .901 save percentage). After posting a shutout in his playoff debut against Minnesota, the remainder of the postseason was a struggle (1-5, 4.29 GAA, .869 save percentage).

“The last year was a really good start and unfortunately I got COVOD and was out for three weeks,” Husso said. “Next year I need to be on the level I played that long part of last season. My next goal is to be on that level every single night.”

Husso was going to test the unrestricted free agent marketplace before his trade to Detroit, but he chose to ink a 3-year contract with the Red Wings instead:

“I’m very happy to join the Detroit Red Wings, a historic team, 11 Stanley Cups,” Husso said.

He enters a room with some familiar faces. Yzerman since becoming Red Wings GM has made three trades with the Blues, acquiring Robby Fabbri in 2019 and, at this year’s deadline, sending Nick Leddy to St. Louis for Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Walman.

“They (three former teammates) said good things about Detroit and the fans and everything. I’m looking forward to that,” Husso said. “I’m a pretty easygoing guy, so hopefully all the guys like me, and I think it will be fine.”

Khan continues

Update: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan also took note of Husso’s remarks

Continue reading Khan, Kulfan discuss Ville Husso’s comments regarding joining the Red Wings