The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her usual early-morning column today, discussing the “fit” and hopes of one J.T. Comper as he joins the Red Wings for a playoff push:
“There are a lot of attractive parts about playing for the Red Wings,” Compher said Sunday. “I think that at the end of the day was my conversation with Steve and hearing about the direction of the Wings and what he was trying to build. He’s done it before. He has experience, not only as a player, but in management. I really believed in what he’s doing with the team and the sort of people they want to bring in. You want to have a great team on the ice and good guys in the locker room. I know what sort of room I’m getting myself into.”
It doesn’t hurt that the room includes two friends in fellow former Michigan teammates Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp, both of whom Compher talked to in the week leading up to free agency.
“There’s a lot that attracted me to be a Red Wing,” Compher said. “First of all playing at Michigan and growing up in Chicago, both things things helped me see the great legacy and tradition the Detroit Red Wings have. I have a lot of respect for the organization. I had some really good talks with Steve and the coaching staff and what they are trying to build and how they are trying to build it. In terms of this year and the future, it sounds like a great place to play hockey. On the other side of it, I do have good friends on the team, and I’m excited to get on the ice with those guys as well. “But overall it was the direction of the team, the desire to win. I could hear it in their voice. That’s what you want as a player, a chance to build and try to win a championship.”
Continued; here’s hoping, Mr. Compher.
