The Detroit Free Press’s Helene St. James checked in with Red Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin recently, discussing the state of the Red Wings’ prospect pool. According to Martin, the Red Wings are still in offseason mode, which means that their contact with their prospects remains limited…
Teams are subject to offseason rules and can’t monitor players, but some staff can have contact with them.
“You can’t tell them what to do, but our development people have been in touch with our players and they’re in good spots training,” Martin said. “If they don’t have access to something they need, we help them, at their expense.”
And St. James reports that the Red Wings’ current crop of overseas-loaned prospects will likely remain capped at six (Filip Hronek, Filip Zadina, Moritz Seider, Gustav Lindstrom, Filip Larsson and Mattias Brome):
Martin did not anticipate any more Wings players being loaned overseas. There had been talk of Joe Veleno joining fellow 2018 first-round pick Zadina in the Czech Republic, but Veleno is enjoying his training in the Montreal area.
“I think Joe is having a phenomenal offseason,” Martin said. “He likes where he is and he sees the advances he is making, so I don’t think he wants to go anywhere else.”
St. James continues (paywall); she also speaks with Martin regarding the possibility that NHL, AHL and ECHL teams might return to play with a reduced capacity format:
“Certainly the NHL has the financial means to sustain itself on less of a fan base. Minor leagues do not. That’s another piece of the puzzle. We’re going to have to work through that.”
