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This morning the Detroit Red Wings' summer development camp begins in Traverse City and provides us with a reminder of the importance of player development within an organization for drafted players or undrafted free agents. The development of several players within the Red Wing organization was vital in the team overcoming 400+ man-games lost due to injury last season to secure a playoff berth for the 23rd consecutive season.
The club also benefitted from a timely move from the difficult Western Conference to the slightly easier Eastern Conference.
Nevertheless, the likes of Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening aided the Red Wings in being able to overcome several injuries to key veterans on the roster. Another key contributor was 21 year-old winger Tomas Jurco.
Playing a good chunk of his time in the NHL last season alongside Sheahan and Tatar, Jurco posted 8 goals and 7 assists in 36 games with the Red Wings. He also had 32 points in 32 games in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins, which was a significant improvement for him over his rookie professional campaign with the Griffins (14-14-28 in 74 games played).
In most NHL cities, the fanbase would be excited to see a young player like Jurco heading into the upcoming season. In Detroit unfortunately, the fanbase is more concerned with whether they will get to see him this season when the campaign begins on October 9th vs. the Boston Bruins.
Similar to Jurco, Gustav Nyquist had significant expectations last summer after a solid NHL debut with Detroit. Let's compare the numbers for Nyquist (prior to last season) with Jurco's current NHL numbers:
Nyquist - Regular Season: (40GP-4G-9A-13PTS) Playoffs: (18GP-2G-3A-5PTS)
Jurco - Regular Season (36GP-8G-7A-15PTS) Playoffs: (3GP-0G-0A-0PTS)
Similar to Nyquist, Jurco is waiver-exempt this upcoming season and as a result could provide Detroit with yet again a "convenient" option to send him down to Grand Rapids to commence the season.
Once Tomas Tatar re-signs with the Wings, their forward contingent will have 12 forwards pencilled in on one-way contracts:
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzen Nyquist-Weiss-Abdelkader Tatar-Sheahan-Helm Miller-Glendening-Andersson
That would leave five players essentially battling for two remaining forward spots given the current group: Jurco, Anthony Mantha, Tomas Nosek and the likely one-year returns of Daniel Alfredsson and yes, to most Red Wing fans chagrin, Daniel Cleary.
If Alfredsson returns, he is an automatic to get inserted into the lineup. Although Cleary is expected to sign a two-way contract, he will have to really impress to earn a roster spot. That being said, we have seen stranger things take place in Detroit. Most pundits expect Mantha and Nosek to begin the season in Grand Rapids, but Mantha in particular will likely earn a long look during training camp.
Unless there is a trade made in the coming couple of months (Joakim Andersson?), the likely scenario could result in Jurco beginning the year in the AHL, despite the declaration from Mike Babcock that "the kids" had earned their spot in the NHL and weren't going anywhere.
Plenty can change in the next 90+ days, but we will see soon enough whether that quote rings true come October 9th.
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mark.spizzirri@hockeybuzz.com