This year’s training camp consists of a very short stay in Traverse City for the Red Wings’ organization. In previous seasons, when Detroit’s prospect tournament was a hopping 8-team event, the Wings would set up camp in Traverse City for a full two weeks.
This year, between the two “Prospect Games” taking place in Frisco, Texas and the Red vs. White Game taking place in Grand Rapids, the Wings will only spend three days skating at Centre ICE Arena.
The “Prospect Games” will shift back to Traverse City next year, but for now, the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s James Cook reports that Centre ICE will make the best of what it’s got this fall…
And Cook also reports that the Red Wings will take part in an intra-squad scrimmage each day:
The Red Wings practice and scrimmage from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day Thursday-Saturday. Scrimmages returning helps lessen the sting of the Red & White Game moving to Grand Rapids for a year. Former head coach Jeff Blashill did away with scrimmages as part of training camp during his tenure.
“It’s almost like a Prospect Tournament,” training camp director Tom Rodes said. “You have guys battling for a job. They get to showcase themselves more than in drills.”
The Red Wings moved their Development Camp from Traverse City to Detroit in 2018, and general manager Steve Yzerman has indicated the Prospect Showcase — previously known as the Prospect Tournament when as many as eight teams converged on Traverse City for a week — will alternate between Dallas and Traverse City, unless they can find more franchises to participate in more of a tournament setting.
“We’re looking for more teams,” Rodes said. “It seems like since Covid, more teams are looking to stay closer to home.”
Put bluntly, the teams that saw what Detroit had going in Traverse City wanted a piece of the action for themselves, and they got a little cheap, too, in terms of the expense of flying their prospects to Traverse City to stay for a week, so teams have chosen to stay closer to home for the most part. That being said, I believe that 22 or 23 of the NHL’s 32 teams have some sort of prospect vs. prospect tournament these days.
Also, regarding the Red & White Game:
Rodes said Yzerman committed to Grand Rapids hosting the Red & White Game when he took over as general manager, and he was told the move was a one-year occurrence. This year’s Red & White Game is slated for 3 p.m. Sunday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, home of the Red Wings’ top minor-league affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
FYI:
Tickets for training camp — available at www.mynorthtickets.com/organizations/centre-ice — are $22.94 after fees for the Thursday and Friday sessions and $33.65 after fees for Saturday. All tickets are general admission.
