The Traverse City Record-Eagle’s Andrew Rosenthal welcomes us to Friday morning with a set of notes from Red Wings training camp:
The Detroit Red Wings kicked off their annual training camp Thursday morning at Centre ICE in Traverse City.
The stands were not exactly full, but fans from the area got an up close and personal look at the faces of a franchise in rebuilding mode. That included 11 draft picks from 2021, defenseman Nick Leddy acquired in a trade with the New York Islanders; then young stars-to-be like Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno.
Seider was paired with Leddy in defensive line rushes.
“Moritz has a chance to be a really good player,” Blashill said. “How good and how quickly, we’ll see.”
Fans are asking the same questions, particularly when Seider — the sixth-overall pick from the 2019 NHL draft — will get a chance on the ice at Little Caesars Arena this season. He spent last year with the Swedish team of Rögle and did not play in the NHL Prospect Tournament last weekend.
“I played with him in Grand Rapids, and it just seems like he’s gotten better every time,” defenseman Michael Rasmussen said. “He’s just improved a lot during the summer. I can tell he’s gotten stronger. He’s worked real hard, so it’s great to see him. He’s a heck of a player.”
Among other team notes, Blashill said the hope is for Jakub Vrána to fly to the U.S. Friday. The Czech Republic native was acquired via trade with Washington in April but missed the start of training camp because of visa issues.
