Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman spoke with Red Wings vice president of hockey operations Nicklas Lidstrom at training camp in Traverse City, and here’s a rough translation of their meeting:
Lidstrom back on the classic hockey ground
Sportbladet has met Detroit’s new vice president in Traverse City.
Traverse City. For 20 years, he himself was one of the Red Wings who toiled through tough training camps in Traverse City in Northern Michigan.
Now Nicklas Lidstrom stands on a bridge over the ice and inspects those fighting for a place on the team he himself led to four Stanley Cup championships.
“It’s very fun and inspiring to be back in the organization in this role,” says Detroit’s new vice president of hockey operations.
Traverse City in Northern Michigan, wedged into a scenic corner of the Grand Traverse Bay, is a classic hockey ground–not the least because the Detroit Red Wings have long held their annual training camp at the local hockey facility, Centre ICE Arena.
“We started coming here in the mid-90’s, and since then we’ve all come to camp here,” Nicklas Lidstrom tells us when we meet him in the drafty barn a few kilometers from the promenade in the center.
“It’s good to get away that way. If you’re at home, everyone goes home after the practice session. Here you hang out all the time and the team is welded together in a completely different way.”
It was a decade since Nicklas himself took part in the intensive exercises on the two rinks, but now he is back–as part of the team’s management.
The seven-time Norris Trophy winner, one of the greatest in the glorious history of the Red Wings, was appointed Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Red Wings in January, and as such, of course, he needs to be there during the final, crucial preparations for the upcoming NHL season.
Will also help the team and the new coach
“I’m mainly based in Sweden and follow our drafted guys, and also look at players who will be drafted,” he says, and continues:
“Now when I go over here, however, I work closely with GM Steve Yzerman and assistant GM Shawn Horcoff. I will also help the team more directly. We have a new coaching staff, headed by head coach Derek Lalonde, and I will be around them and have meetings, especially with the defensemen, and look at the details of the game.”
Is it cool?
“Yes, it feels exciting and inspiring to be back in hockey, and to participate in the management side. It’s a little different, you’re used to being on the ice and preparing for the new season, but there are still things I need to learn about how it works in the organization. But as I said, it is above all, a lot of fun.”
Eleven Swedes participate in the training camp
In terms of Swedish talent, “Lidas” has a lot to watch during the days in Traverse City, because the Red Wings are once again becoming a real Swedish team.
A total of eleven blue-and-yellow players are participating in this year’s camp: in addition to already-established players like Lucas Raymond, Oscar Sundqvist, Robert Hagg and Gustav Lindstrom, Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom, Albert Johansson, Pontus Andreasson, Victor Brattstrom and Marcus Limpar-Lantz are also present.
“Yes, we have drafted a lot of Swedish players in recent years. We have Theodor Niederbach and William Wallinder in Rogle as well, together with Marco Kasper from Austria. It’s fun and I Think those who are here have done well,” notes the now-52-year-old “Lidas.”
Already last week, several of the youngsters got to show what they’ve been up to during the team’s rookie camp, and above all Elmer Soderblom and Simon Edvinsson made an impression upon those who saw them in a number of games.
The tribute: Unbelievable talent
“Elmer has impressed. The first game he perhaps felt too small and didn’t really get into it, but the second and third games he was really good and dominated certain moments on the ice with his strength and ability to hold on to the puck,” praises the vice president.
And Edvinsson, then, who many hope will become a new “you?”
“Ha. Yes, he’s also done well. It’s just as well, that he has to get into the game over here. There’s less ice to work with, and you have less ice time, and need to make decisions a little faster. You can see that he needs to take those steps, but he has incredible talent, we’ve seen that.”
Before he, or anyone else, becomes as big as the former team captain with number 5 on his back, however, will be a while.
With numerous Red Wings fans who’ve gathered in Traverse City to follow the camp and see Nicklas behind the stands in Centre ICE Arena, it comes alive. Selfies are to be taken, autographs are to be secured and words of praise are spoken.
But if you are an eternal team icon, you are [used to it].
