Red Wings prospect Givani Smith penned a new installment of his “Taking Flight” blog on DetroitRedWings.com, discussing the ways in which Detroit and Grand Rapids’ going-on-nine-month-long offseason has affected him:
Whether I’m in Canada or the U.S., I have stayed in contact with the Wings. Dan Cleary calls me, Shawn Horcoff calls me and Ben Simon, the head coach in Grand Rapids, he calls me and we just talk. Our conversations, they’re pretty generic. With Ben Simon, we just talk about what’s new, what’s new with myself, with him, what has he heard between the ongoing season and how we’re going to start the season or anything. With Horcs and Clears, it’s just more like catching up on things and making sure I’m still doing the right program and on step to achieve my goals that I want to achieve.
During this extended break, my training, if anything I’ve been able to do it better. With all this time, I’ve learned to realize that there’s many different styles and different ways to do things, to get things done. Through all this time, I’ve been learning and spending my time wisely and just trying to get better as a person, as a player, and also just learning new skills. I also do watch what I eat. I don’t count my calories, but I watch what I put into my body because whatever I put into my body, that’s how I’m going to feel. As I said earlier, my routine is pretty routine. A typical day for me would be I’d wake up, head to training for about two to three hours and then just come back, relax and hang out with my brothers back at home, study, and then pretty much repeat the whole process.
I think a guy like Givani is needed on the Wings Roster… IF… he can provide a little offense, be a Net Front pain and send a message to some middle weight Brawlers. That in itself would be a difficult skill set. As for the Heavy Weights, there are not many around that can provide more than removing opponents teeth.
Do the Wings need a Heavy Weight and how do they find someone that can also skate and be safe on the hockey side to have him play in the bottom six?
This is not a new issue but with a very young team, it might be an issue. For now, I guess trying to see if Givani can be an NHL player, is a 1st step.
I don’t think that the Wings need a heavyweight by any stretch of the imagination, but Smith earning his way onto the team as a 3rd or 4th line winger would help. It’s all about Smith’s self-and-team-directed development right now.