There’s something that the Detroit Red Wings would like to make abundantly clear about their development camp that gets underway Friday in Traverse City, Mich., and it’s right there in the title.
This week’s work has nothing to do with player assessment.
“Actually when I’ve given the opening camp speech, I start out by saying this is not an evaluation camp,… Detroit assistant GM Ryan Martin emphasized. “It’s an educational process and to us the chance to get these kids in one location and teach them the importance of off-ice habits, training and what little on-ice stuff we do that’s really sort of secondary.…
The players, many of whom will be living on their own soon for the very first time, are offered advice in such areas as nutrition, and simple stuff you might take for granted such as how to shop for groceries and pay your bills.
Life skills are what they are teaching here. Hockey skills are secondary.
“To us, it’s really not an evaluation camp,… Martin said. “That comes in the fall. We want them to feel like they’re in an environment where they’re not being evaluated. It’s a teaching tool.…
For a significant number of the players who will be at the camp, it’s their first taste of pro life and an indoctrination in all things Red Wing.
“I know some teams are big into the team building stuff,… Martin said. “I don’t know that we’ve placed a ton of emphasis on that, but certainly (it’s about) welcoming them to the organization. There’s certainly some nerves on their part, so you want to make them feel comfortable with the other players they’ve been drafted with and the other players they’re going to develop with in our system.…
Martin went as far as to suggest that to sit down and critique each player’s performance at this stage of the game would be almost a pointless exercise.
“It’s tough,… Martin said. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s summer hockey, if it’s because of the age difference, what the reasoning is, but it hasn’t proven to be a great evaluation tool and we don’t want to use it as such.…
Staying As The Farm The Wings announced Thursday that they had reached a five-year deal to maintain the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins as their top farm club.
The pact will maintain the working agreement between the Wings and Griffins, the current Calder Cup champions, through the 2021-22 AHL season.
Martin will continue to serve as GM of the Griffins.
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer