Red Wings director of player development Dan Cleary spoke with the media at the conclusion of Detroit’s annual Summer Development Camp this morning, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan took note of some of Cleary’s remarks regarding the purpose of the 4-day event:
The Wings’ concluded their four-day development camp Thursday for recent draft picks and invited undrafted, unsigned free agents.
Daniel Cleary, the Wings’ director of player development, viewed the event as successful, and most of all, educational.
The Wings stress to the players they are not evaluated. But Cleary feels it can difficult to get that point across.
“(General manager) Steve (Yzerman) comes out of the gate and says this is not an evaluation and we try to stress that, but we know what these kids are like,” Cleary said. “They’re stressing about what their numbers (various timed tasks) are, they want to show well. That’s the nature of being an athlete and you want to produce and perform.
“But it is what it is. At the end of the day, it really is an educational camp that we try to give them everything we can. Hopefully they absorb as much as they can because we have great people here.”
Continued (paywall)
