Yes, Jeff Blashill was a bit nervous as he skated out on to the ice surface in Traverse City Friday for his first official workout as coach of the Detroit Red Wings, but he insisted that was nothing unusual.
“Every new job I’ve taken, whether it was in junior, college, the American League, here, pretty much every single season you have a little bit of butterflies, you have a little bit of nerves in the sense you want to be as prepared as possible and you want to have covered as much as you can,… Blashill said after training camp got underway. “It’s almost impossible to have everything covered, you’re going to have some stumbling blocks as we did today but you have to be able to react. But I certainly was excited to get it going and it was fun to get to get rolling.…
The only concerns for Blashill as he stepped in as the first new coach of the Wings since Mike Babcock, his predecessor, did likewise in 2005, were on-ice issues – poor ice conditions on one of the two surfaces at Center I.C.E. Arena and a collision during a drill between veteran forward Darren Helm and rookie forward Jerome Verrier that left the latter with a broken right leg. Helm, meanwhile, will go through concussion protocol before being allowed to return to the ice.
Otherwise, Blashill felt his first day as an NHL head coach was business as usual.
“I’ve run training camps at the American League level, I’ve been part of this as an assistant,… Blashill said. “When you run a training camp at the American League level a lot of it is the same. You have one more team (at the NHL level), so that’s a little bit different.
“It felt good. We had some things, with the injury and the ice (bad at one rink that) didn’t go our way. That’s part of life. “We’ll have lots of challenges as we go forward and I thought we did a good job of just adjusting and moving on.…
Blashill’s familiarity with the Wings and for the most part, their familiarity with him as a former Detroit assistant and the coach of their AHL farm club in Grand Rapids the past three seasons are making the transition go more smoothly than it normally would in the case of a new coach taking the reins.
“We were focused on breakouts, neutral-zone transitions and entries,… Blashill said of his Day One goals. “But I think more importantly it was just coming out and doing it right every single time. This is a group, especially with the guys that have been on the Red Wings, they do it right, they’ve done that for a long time, they’re going to continue that.
“The one challenge you have in camp is you have some guys that haven’t done the drills. You have some guys that aren’t used to the pace, used to the speed at which we practice.
“It’s just an adjustment as you move on.…
Injury Updates Verrier’s camp is certainly done, while it’s unlikely that Helm will play again before camp breaks on Tuesday.
“I think with concussion protocol I guess we’d say day to day but it’s probably a little bit longer than that,… Blashill said of Helm.
Meanwhile, veteran forward Daniel Cleary was the only player who didn’t take the ice Friday.
“He was not available today,… Blashill said. “He had a little issue as well with his leg that kind of creeped up yesterday.…
Kids Look All Right Rookie pros Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin turned heads right off the bat, both scoring during the first training-camp scrimmage.
“It’s good to see,… Blashill said. Those are two real good players. We’d like as much competition, as many guys within our system to have the opportunity to be NHL players. Those are two guys we think have the potential to be real good NHL players, so that’s a positive for sure.…
Since both skated in Detroit’s prospect tournament last week, it gives them a head start on some of the veterans.
“It helps,… Blashill said. “Having played in the prospects tournament is an advantage for the young guys moving in here because the fact that not only have they been skating, you can’t replicate the intensity that was in that prospect tournament.
“It definitely gives them a little jump start.…
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