In addition to my audio files from the first day of the Wings’ summer development camp, there are videos available from:
A. Michigan Hockey…
Which posted videos of Dennis Cholowski…
Of Shawn Horcoff…
What prospects went through on Monday: “Just a meeting yesterday. They’re going to be here all week long, so they got a lay of the land. Dinner and a meeting with them last night, just a little bit of a talk of what to expect this week. Ken (general manager Holland) has a great speech where he outlines what it takes to be a pro, not just a pro, but what it takes to be a Detroit Red Wing. Talked a little bit about the history, a little bit about the facility and how things are changing down here.”
On what the first day entailed: “First group was here 7 a.m. and they’re done at 4, so today is a long day with testing and physicals and all that. On top of that, one group of defensemen and forwards will go for (power play), more skill work, while the other ones, we brought in a video skill work guy to do some work with the guys on showing video on how offense is created at the NHL level. I think it takes some of these guys a long time. We want to expedite that curve. We want to show them early and get them thinking about what they’re going to need to do at the NHL level in order to produce offense and on top of that we got some dryland stick-handling, sort of stuff they can do to improve their skill level away from the rink.”
On 2016 top pick Dennis Cholowski: “He’s got a good work ethic, he really put the work in last summer and obviously improved in the season. He’s back again, putting the work in. He wants to make the team, he wants to knock a guy out of the box. We look at him in something like this as an older, more veteran guy. His weight is up, his strength is up, it’s still early in the summer and there’s lot of work to be done, but he looks good as of now.”
Update #2: Here’s St. James on Veleno:
“I don’t think I was a 30th pick,” Veleno said Tuesday, on what was the first day of the Wings’ development camp. It’s a five-day orientation that touches on practices, the gym, video, nutrition and cooking.
“I think I could have gone a lot earlier, in my opinion, but I was lucky enough to fall to a historic, great organization in Detroit,” Veleno said. “But for sure it motivates me even more to be better than all those players that went ahead of me and turn out to be the best player in that draft.”
If Veleno and Zadina turn these perceived slights into career achievements, the Wings will benefit. Zadina, who’d been projected to go as high as third, was passed over by Montreal, Ottawa and Arizona. Friday night in Dallas, that didn’t sit well with him, and prompted this beauty: “I was telling my agent, if they will pass on me, I’m going to fill their nets with pucks,” Zadina said. “I want to prove to Detroit that they make a pretty good decision.”
So in their version of vengeance, Veleno is feeding Zadina the pucks that fill the nets against the Canadiens, Senators and Coyotes?
“I think I am going to help him do that,” Veleno said. “Our types of games are different – he is more of a scorer, and I’m more of a passer, so hopefully I can help him with that. But I mean, for any player who slides in the draft, obviously it kind of gets to you a little bit and you want to kind of shove it to the other teams that passed you.
