The Red Wings’ prospects engaged in their last full day of practicing on Friday, with Team Howe taking part in the dreaded skating test in front of what is a Holiday Weekend’s worth of jam-packed stands at the BELFOR Training Center.
The players were absolutely gassed after completing 3 circuits of the rink after 3, 2, and then 1 minute’s worth of rest, so I was only able to nab a couple of players during their media availability:
Patrik Rybar hasn’t participated in the Wings’ team drills, but the 24-year-old unrestricted free agent signing is a big part of the Wings’ future, so the media horde gathered around Rybar…and found that his English is terrible. Rybar did his best to fumble through an interview in which he talked about signing with Detroit and his goaltending idols, but that was as much as we could squeeze out of him:
Lane Zablocki had a rough WHL season, bouncing around between 3 teams, and I wanted to speak with Zablocki regarding the fact that he needs to differentiate himself from the Wings’ litany of defensively-minded, speedy wingers…so we discussed said topics, we talked about the fitness testing that the players engaged in, and chatted up off ice seminars:
And Luke Morgan is here essentially to “warm up” as the University of Michigan-transferred forward was red-shirted this past season in order to transfer from Lake Superior State to U of M, so I tried to get an interview from a different perspective. Morgan isn’t here to fight for a job, but he is here to learn and listen and grow, and he discussed the structure of the camp and what he’s learned thus far:
