The Free Press’s Helene St. James focuses upon Simon Edvinsson this morning, discussing the Red Wings’ hope that the 6’6,” 209-pound defenseman differentiates himself from his competitors over the course of the Red Wings’ 8-game exhibition season:
“They are not going to think that you are a young guy and we don’t go as hard on him as veterans,” Edvinsson said. “I need to be harder than the veterans, I think. That’s one thing [Moritz] Seider has built really well and he’s really good at. I think he’s playing a kind of hard game that I want to develop. A lot of things that he does, I try to do as well.”
In addition to Seider, Edvinsson has leaned on Gustav Lindstrom, who has been his defense partner at camp, and on veteran Ben Chiarot, a newcomer to the Wings with nearly 500 NHL games to his credit. Lalonde described Chiarot as “an everyday guy who comes out to practice hard,” and Edvinsson already has picked up on the benefits of having such a role model as a teammate. One guy that I talk a lot with right now, Ben Chiarot has helped me with some stuff, and Olli Määttä has helped me on the ice,” Edvinsson said. “Dylan Larkin, too.
“The guys are on me, Larkin especially, to be harder, to win my one-on-ones, because I have a pretty big body, pretty long reach. To be more aggressive is what I need to be better at. If I work on that, feel comfortable about that, I am going to build my confidence from that. I want to earn my spot, I don’t want to have it given because of hype. I want to really feel that I can play my game in that league and against these players. That’s what I try to develop every day here.”
Yzerman has advised Edvinsson to just play his game and enjoy the experience of continuing his development stateside. Another supporting voice is that of Raymond, a fellow Swede who went through everything Edvinsson is going through last September.
“I remember how tough it was for me coming over here, everything is new, it’s a lot of new coaching, it’s new players,” Raymond said. “So I’m just trying to be a helping hand and help him out as much as possible.”
Continued; Michigan Sports Now also posted a video report from training camp this morning, though it’s not embeddable.
