I posted my final impressions from the Red Wings’ prospect tournament in the form of Detroit’s 6-5 loss to Toronto yesterday afternoon/evening, and, as the prospects take the day off to teach some Blair Elementary School kids how to play hockey today, it’s important to mention the following:
Now that the prospect tournament is over, the players re-set and attempt to make an impression and impact over the course of training camp and the exhibition season.
For the Red Wings’ prospects, that includes “not falling off the face of the earth.” By that, I mean that there are always prospects who use their “runway” provided by the prospect tournament to excel in training camp, and there are always players (both draft picks and free agent try-outs) whose play drops off significantly when the NHL players come to town.
Sometimes they rebound from getting lost in the shuffle of 50+ players participating in training camp; sometimes they’re never to be seen from again, even in an era where the line between prospect tournament try-outs’ skill levels and the skill levels of the Red Wings’ own draft picks has become narrower and narrower.
I’m not just interested to see how William Wallinder, Antti Tuomisto, Marco Kasper, Elmer Soderblom, Cross Hanas and Sebastian Cossa do during training camp; I’m also going to be keeping an eye on the free agent try-outs who made hay, like Nic Sima, Jackson DeSouza and Lukas Matecha. We’ll see which players “rise to the top,” and which players just plain old fall off in terms of their pace of play.
Again, the prospect tournament and training camp are not the be-all-end-all, but they begin to establish a “pecking order” for the Red Wings’ prospects, especially given that the Grand Rapids Griffins’ coaching staff and Toledo Walleye’s coaching staff are both at least partially new from the head coach on down this upcoming season.
From the Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted Riley Sawchuk to the Kaspers, Soderbloms and Wallinders of the world, the Red Wings’ prospects are looking to earn AHL spots on a crowded Grand Rapids Griffins roster, and it’s not going to be easy for all of them to succeed.
It all starts (again) on Thursday.
