The Red Wings made that trek up to Traverse City Thursday, had their physicals today (Friday) and begin workouts on Saturday.
Going into this year’s camp there have been plenty of changes and additions made to the team during the off-season. For instance Kris Draper is now retired. The former Grind Line member goes into 2011 as a special assistant to GM Ken Holland. Longtime goaltender Chris Osgood, like his good friend Draper has also retired and will assist goaltending coach Jim Bedard this upcoming season. Veteran defenseman Brian Rafalski also retired this past off-season while other veterans like Mike Modano and Ruslan Salei were not offered contracts. Ruslan Salei as you all know was killed last week along with former Wings defenseman Brad McCrimmon and goalie prospect Stafan Liv in a tragic plane crash in Russia.
With all that said there are plenty of questions and roster battles heading into this seasons training camp.
- It was announced this week that newcomer Ian White will pair with Nicklas Lidstrom during training camp and throughout the preseason. How will these two work together going forward?
- Jakub Kindl will once again be fighting for the sixth defensive spot this season. Last year he was in a battle with Ruslan Salei while this season it seems like he will be up against newcomer Mike Commodore and the team’s top prospect in Brendan Smith.
- Speaking of Brendan Smith does he have a real shot at cracking the starting lineup this year? Ken Holland seemed to think so during the off-season and I personally think he has a good chance too.
- What about the second power play? Who takes the point on that? Will the Wings go with Niklas Kronwall or maybe Jonathan Ericsson? Or could this be given to one of the forwards?
- What about the final 14th forward spot? Rookie Corey Emmerton could certainly grab this position. You also can’t count out one time highly touted prospect Fabian Brunnstrom. Ansar Khan of Mlive.com also believes that Ryan Johnson and Chris Conner could also be in the mix.
Re: Mlive.com
