After 'a hard year,' Detroit Red Wings eager to start training camp

Here we are, the last week in December, and talking about Detroit Red Wings training camp.

Given 2020 has been defined by a pandemic, it cannot recede into memory fast enough. The Wings’ last memory of playing dates 10 months to March 10. At last they are preparing for a new season, a 56-game schedule against seven opponents, COVID-19 permitting.

Training camp is usually a mix of scrimmages, workouts and video sessions that spans some three weeks, culminating in a slate of exhibition games that means nothing in the standings but a great deal for fresh and young faces competing or jobs.

This season, the Wings are looking at two weeks of practices and no preseason. As one of the seven teams that was not included in the playoff bubble, the Wings get an extra three days to prepare.

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“We’re basically serving two purposes here at camp, once we get started,” coach Jeff Blashill said Monday. “Number one is to get ourselves as ready as humanly possible for Game One as a team, and number two is figuring out which guys are earning what ice time.”

General manager Steve Yzerman made multiple changes to the roster that capped a 31st place finish last season with a 17-49-5 record. He added fresh faces in forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov, defensemen Marc Staal, Jon Merrill and Troy Stecher, and goaltender Thomas Greiss.

“We are going to have scrimmages and we’re going to have great evaluation on those in order to make those decisions on who is earning power play time, who is earning 5-on-5 ice time, who is earning spots on the team,” Blashill said. “All those things are going to have to be figured out in that two-week period, and then we also have to make sure our group is ready, the group that is going to play Game One.”

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Rosters will be expanded from 21 to 23 players, and teams are being allowed to carry a taxi squad from four to six players. Given the uncertainty surrounding the American Hockey League being able to operate — considering it is a league that relies on fan attendance — having extra players on standby is vital.

“With the potential of guys getting ill with COVID and/or the contract tracing where you can have multiple guys out on short notice, you have players who can jump into those spot,” Blashill said. “I think the taxi squad is more of a necessity and I think we, like the other 30 teams, are going to try to use it to the best of our ability to make sure that it’s seamless when guys step into play.”

Teams have to carry at least three goaltenders. Greiss and Jonathan Bernier project to share the majority of games, with Kevin Boyle appearing to have the early lead as the third string. Calvin Pickard was loaned to a team in Austria and “will come back at some point,” Blashill said.

Pickard was one of numerous players the Wings loaned to teams in Europe once it became clear the pandemic would postpone professional hockey in North America. Filip Hronek and Michael Rasmussen already have returned to Detroit. The only players who won’t be at camp are Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno, who in order to be loaned to teams in the Swedish Hockey League, had to be allowed to stay there for the entire season.

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Other players, including Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha, have been skating in the practice facility inside Little Caesars Arena since the ice was put in the last weekend in November.

There has not been a formal Wings practice since March 11, the day before the NHL shut down the 2019-20 season. At that point, nobody foresaw it would be nearly a year before they would gather again.

“It was a hard year to go through, but with this 10-month pause, I think I have a pretty good perspective,” Blashill said. “It certainly gives you a chance to reset your perspective.

“ We are pretty fortunate we get a chance to coach in the NHL, we get a chance to play in the NHL – let’s make sure we cherish every moment of it.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings eager to start training camp after 'a hard year'