DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills has filed his later-evening notebook, discussing the happenings on Day 2 of the Red Wings’ 2025 training camp:
Much like Day 1, there was no shortage of enthusiasm expressed among the Detroit Red Wings on Day 2 of their 2025 Training Camp at Centre ICE Arena on Friday morning as it pertains to what the club can accomplish in the upcoming campaign.
“I think there’s a really good mix of everything up and down throughout the lineup,” goalie John Gibson said. “You come here, it’s really exciting. You have some of the highest skill players in the world, some really big guys on the team that can protect pucks and are hard in front of the net. It’s about making sure everyone is on the same page and playing together.”
That’s one of the main tasks for Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan and his staff in Traverse City – ensuring the players know what the standard is and the foundation that they’re going to keep building on.
“We had some goals set in regard to structure, and I believe we got that accomplished,” McLellan said. “Day 2 tends to be a little more ragged than Day 1. After Day 1, you feel it and you get up early then have to do it all over again. Sometimes, it’s ragged. The drills are designed to slow it down a little bit. We do a little more instruction, if you will.”
McLellan expanded on the topic of instilling structure, describing how that process is different at Training Camp compared to being in the midst of the regular season.
“We’re not going to skip a grade, if you will, right now,” McLellan said. “We’re going right back to the lower levels, going to figure out the basics and make sure we get caught up in all that type of stuff. Then, we’ll begin to tweak things. It’s always much easier to do when you have your team or you get down to real workable numbers. Right now, we’re working at the lower level of structure stuff…There will be some changes obviously. We have more time to implement stuff. Last year, we didn’t even talk about face-offs other than coverages, so we’ll have more time to put all of that stuff into play.”
