Under ordinary circumstances, the Detroit Red Wings would be on the ice Saturday in Traverse City for the first day of training camp.
But due to these extraordinary times, the seven teams that did not take part in the NHL’s restart, including the Red Wings, will go more than eight months without a game or an organized practice before the start of the 2020-21 season.
That is why those clubs are hoping for an assist from the league and players association.
“Ideally, us along with the other non-playoff teams would love and prefer to start a little bit early, get more time in together,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said in an interview on DetroitRedWings.com. “We’re optimistic that we’ll be able to work something out with the National Hockey League and the players association.”
Training camps for all 31 teams are scheduled to begin on Nov. 17 with the 2020-21 season tentatively slated for a Dec. 1 start. The Red Wings have not skated as a team since March 11, the day before the season was paused due to COVID-19.
Yzerman, appearing on “The Word on Woodward,” talked about the difficulty of assessing prospects and younger players without a normal off-season, which would have included development camp in late June and a prospects tournament in early September.
“The later start will affect every team, more so the teams that weren’t in the playoffs or played very few playoff games, and the fact we’ve been out since March, a little bit of unpredictability as to what to expect from our team,” Yzerman said. “There will be changes in our lineup. Are some of our younger players ready? Ultimately, we don’t really know because we won’t have a normal preseason, we won’t have had an opportunity to really assess them. Decisions will be made over a short period of time, so I think it makes it a little bit more difficult to know what to expect from our team starting off.”
This is why the Red Wings loaned several young players/prospects to European clubs: Filip Zadina (HK Ocelari Trinec) and Filip Hronek (Mountfield HK) are in the Czech Republic; Gustav Lindstrom (Almtuna), Filip Larsson (Almtuna) and Mathias Brome (Orebro HK) are in Sweden and Moritz Seider (Mannheim) is in Germany.
Yzerman was asked which prospects have a chance to earn roster spots. He ran down a list of players who spent most or all of last season with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.
“We had Gustav Lindstrom come up and play some games for us and do quite well,” Yzerman said. "Obviously, Moritz Seider, who is 19, played his first year of pro hockey and we’re pleased with the season he had. Givani Smith, who saw time last year; Michael Rasmussen, who had a lot of injuries, missed a lot of time last year; Dennis Cholowski was down there. We haven’t seen them since March, so curious to see once we get playing where they’re at. All these guys aren’t far off.
“Joe Veleno, as a junior-age player, did really well and finished strong and unfortunately the season ended prior to them getting into any playoff action, which we were really looking forward to seeing. They were all really excelling as the year went on. I mentioned those names just because they’re the closest. Potentially some of those, say one or two or more, could push for a spot on our team.”
As always, prospects will only be in Detroit if they are playing regularly.
“We want them playing regular and if they’re not going to play regular, I’d prefer them playing in the American League or back in junior or in their European leagues,” Yzerman said. “When they’re ready to play a regular shift and contribute in the NHL, that’s when we’ll bring them up.”
The AHL is planning to start on Dec. 4, but if fans are not allowed to attend games, will a league that is driven by gate receipts be able to play?
“There’s a lot of factors that go into the AHL returning to play next season,” Yzerman said. “Obviously, it’s our main development, it is our main source of all of our call-ups, so we’re hopeful that we’re in a position to restart and then we can make it work. Every league is working through all the complications that go with trying to restart in this pandemic. We’re hopeful we can get it done but there’s a lot of work to be done and some of the things are really out of our hands.”
In the meantime, Yzerman is glad to be watching playoff hockey.
“The level of play has been outstanding, so it just makes you yearn for wanting to get back to playing,” Yzerman said. “It’s my second year as general manager; we want to take a step forward and I’m anxious to continue with our rebuilding of our team and get back to playing.”
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