Some news and notes regarding Jiri Hudler. Rumors are abound based on reports from Russia that Hudler has signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Hudler's agent, Pavel Marsoun, states per the reports the deal would last for two years, but also confirms that negotiations will continue with the Red Wings.

UPDATE (11:58 ET): Link to TSN article indicating it's a done deal, 1 year for $2 million.

Hudler signs with Dynamo Moscow

Very interesting!!!

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Unfortunately, my schedule will not allow me to take in any of the action at the Joe Louis Arena this week as the Red Wings hold their annual summer development camp for prospects. George James Malik of MLive.com provides an extensive review of his visit on Tuesday and some discussions he had with Thomas McCollum, Tomas Tatar and Jordan Pearce.

Here's this year's roster, with the players whose teams are listed attending as try-outs:

Goaltenders:
36 Jordan Pearce G
38 Thomas McCollum G

Defensemen:
2 Brandon Gentile D, Michigan State University
41 Travis Ehrhardt D, Portland WHL, Manitoba AHL
44 Evan Case D, Ferris State
45 Chad Langlais D, Michigan
49 Brian Lashoff D
50 Brendan Smith D
56 Bryan Rufenach D
57 Max Nicastro D
54 Gleason Fournier D
58 Sebastien Piche
60 Nick Jensen D

Forwards:
4 Kyle Verbeek, F, Lincoln USHL
15 Anthony Ciarulo, F, Michigan
17 Derek Roehl, F, Western Michigan
32 Andy Miele, F, Miami University
39 Vince Stratte, F, no commitment
47 Mitchell Callahan F
48 Mike Connolly F, Minnesota-Duluth
53 Unnamed
59 Nick Oslund F
61 Landon Ferraro F
62 Brent Raedeke F
63 Jesper Samuelsson F
64 Gustav Nyquist F
65 Julien Cayer F
66 Travis Novak F, St. Cloud State
67 Tomas Tatar F
68 Andrej Nestrasil F
70 Ray Kaunisto, Northern Michigan University
71 Stephen Johnston F
72 Unnamed

The Detroit Red Wings' "strength and conditioning" prospect camp got underway on Tuesday monring at Joe Louis Arena, with a different cast--and enough returning players to inform the camp "rookies" what's in store for them. The timeline of the players' on-ice activities remains the same as last summer's camp:

From 8:20-8:30, the players warm up;

From 8:30-9:15, the "red" or "white" team's skaters work with skill development coach Thomas Storm, while the other team warms up the goaltenders, per the instructions of Red Wings goaltending coach Jim Bedard;

From 9:15-9:45, give or take five minutes, Cranbrook-Kingswood coach Andy Weidenbach instructs both the "red" and "white" teams in power skating, while Bedard works on one-on-one bases with his goaltenders, emphasizing lateral mobility and positioning;

The players receive a short break from 9:45-9:55 as Al Sobotka resurfaces the ice;

From 10-11 AM, Grand Rapids Griffins coach Curt Fraser, Griffins assistant coach Jim Paek, and Red Wings director of player development Jiri Fischer take over as the "red" and "white" squads take part in drills of ever-increasing complexity and intensity;

And from 11-11:30, the players take part in a 20-minute scrimmage, with stopped time and score kept on the scoreboard.

After that, the players have to deal with the annoying media types (and change out of their gear) from 11:40 to about 12, they get a 90-or-so minute lunch break, and by 2:15, they're working out under the guidance of Wings trainer Piet Van Zant, who instructs the players in both on-ice fitness and off-ice nutrition.

By the time the players get back to their hotel rooms at 4 or 5 PM, they're pretty tuckered out as they've put in three hours of on-ice work and another two-to-three of off-ice work, and still have to take part in team activities (expect to see a gaggle of 18-to-22-year-olds in Mike Ilitch's suite for Wednesday and Friday's Tiger games) in the evening, and then they're up at 7 AM to go to eat breakfast, go the rink, and get their gear on, with Paul Boyer outfitting the 32 players--and the NCAA-eligible players have to give their gear back at the end of the week, too.

The tone this summer has changed somewhat, in large part because at this time last year, Paek and Fischer ran the camp. Between the larger group of Red Wings brass in the crowd for the first day (Red Wings GM Ken Holland, assistant VP Steve Yzerman--the man still casts a distinctive shadow, I tell you what--assistant coach Brad McCrimmon, pro scout Pat Verbeek, and at least three or four gentlemen who I couldn't name) and the fact that the players know that, should they work their way onto Detroit's 50-man roster, Mr. Curt Fraser is the man they have to win over first...

There's a little more urgency. Perhaps moreso because the players know that not only have the Wings experienced a substantial roster turnover this summer, but also because Brian Lashoff, Brent Raedeke, and Travis Ehrhardt took part in the prospect camp and prospect tournament (with Ehrhardt playing in the latter), and Ehrhardt became the fifth free agent in attendance (Sebastien Piche and Jordan Pearce are the others) to garner contracts for working hard with the Wings' eyes upon them.
The players got into town on Monday for fitness testing and an initial address from Holland, but Tuesday's session is a "getting to know you" and "getting to know how things work" day as much as anything else. This year's draft picks and the new invitees skate around Joe Louis Arena while occasionally looking up at the banners or around to make sure they are where they are...

And, for the skaters, anyway, working with Tomas Storm initially begets looks of puzzlement. Storm instructs his players in the kinds of the skate-on-your-left-skate while-holding-your-stick-and-deking-the-puc with-your-right-hand-a-quarter-down-the-stick style drills that very specifically need to be done slowly to both build muscle memory and simply register as slightly more efficient, if unorthodox, ways of keeping the puck on your stick.

At the other end of the ice, Bedard's shooting drills don't lack complexity...Maybe a better word is lacking "perplexity." Shots from the half boards become passes from players at the tops of the faceoff dots to the next players in line, who skate in at 45-degree angles, with more passes, a higher pace, and varying lengths of space away from the net--and players going in on the goaltenders--challenging McCollum and Pearce...

As Storm began to switch from near pirouette drills to wide, low puck dekes at the very end of a player's reach, then switching to holding their stick eight inches down the shaft as they pushed off with one leg and attempted to not smoosh their knee into their top hand while they swept the puck from side to side. It got more complicated from there, after the 9 AM water break, with switching from foot to foot--and stick from hand to hand--while Bedard had shooters charging out from behind the net, putting passes to the slot, shooting, retrieving rebounds, and finishing tighter and tighter into the crease, attempting to back goaltenders into the net.

The scary part is that both Storm and Bedard make it only more complicated for their charges from there. I can't really say that anybody in particular stood out because the vast majority of the players and goaltenders involved were probably on the ice for the first time since April, or, in the cases of a few like McCollum, May. Pearce told me that, to some extent, it's a big relief to get back onto the ice after two or three months of dry-land training, but the amount of brainpower involved in completing Storm and Bedard's drills challenged everybody, goaltenders included.

As a goaltender, watching Pearce work is...different. As polished a hybrid goaltender as McCollum can be, Pearce is 23, and with age and experience comes the kind of polish to technique that you can see McCollum working on. Both players are 6'1" and weigh about 200 lbs., but Pearce looked much bigger because he "got out of the blue paint" more regularly and kept his hands a little further in front of him. The fact that Pearce kept his Notre Dame pads on, while McCollum had received a visit from the Vaughn representative and a new set of Vaughn 7700 leg pads and a 7700 catch glove after using Reebok for his entire junior career didn't help, but he got better as the morning went on.

The players received their first substantial water break at 9:15, and Weidenbach took possession of the skaters for the following half an hour. He spent the majority of his first 30 minutes with the players emphasizing the same sorts of skating drills that Storm did, minus the puck--trying to push off while keeping your feet under you, pushing off with one foot while extending the other as far as one comfortably can, shifting from "regular" strides to extended strides from blueline to blueline, forcing players to keep their torsos completely upright while pushing off, skating the "defenseman's C" stride while going forward...I could go on, but the further he goes along, the more he emphasizes players working on their edge technique so that they don't lose momentum while turning--or, preferably, gain it. Brendan Smith, Landon Ferraro, Julien Cayer, and Sebastien Piche, all naturally gifted skaters, tended to lead the drills.

At the other end of the ice, Bedard focused on skating drills as well, taking over a faceoff dot and first having McCollum and Pearce use short, chippy strides to skate from one side of the circle to the other, forward, backward, and then in a "T," skating right to the dot, forward to the top of the circle, back to the dot, and then right, left, etc., shifting their strides to short gliding (so that they don't Fleury slide all the way past the net) push-offs.

While all of that sounds technical, by the 9:45 mid-practice water break and 10-or-so minute skate off the ice to change undershirts and sit down for a bit so that Zambonis could resurface the ice, everybody needed a little sit-down time. Jesper Samuelsson and Julien Cayer stood out in the skating drills very simply because they're much stronger, and while the free agent trio of Lashoff, Raedeke, and Ehrhardt all looked very speedy, Mitchell Callahan exhibited quite a bit of jump as well.

At 10:05, a little later than usual, Max Nicastro skated onto the ice as the players slowly but surely found their way down the tunnel and back onto the benches, and Nicastro stands out immediately for both his ability to skate and his heads-up play with the puck. He's big (6'3"), can be physical, and simply has that sort of calmness about him that makes defenders stand out.

The players took a few laps until Curt Fraser set things up at about 10:10, and the intensity went from 8 to 11, with Fraser barking at his players to pick up the pace as Paek and Fischer (no slouches themselves in the intensity department) served as intermediaries. Blueline-to-blueline sprints gave way to pass-and-retrieve drills with two players skating in on goaltenders--and in blueline-in drills, Pearce's tendency to squeeze his glove elbow into his armpit to stifle pucks and stop rebounds by bringing them into his body reveals a bit of a five hole, while McCollum's slightly more compact butterfly exhibits no holes, but opens up the corners of the net on occasion--and I started watching the "new guys."

Everything you've read about Andrej Nestrasil being a "big," "fast," "strong" player is true. Strong on his skates. Good shot. Moxie...

And Tomas Tatar has moxie in spades. What he doesn't have in size and strength, he makes up for in his desire to go to the net and chase that hard snap shot right into the goaltender, jabbing and jamming away at the puck the whole time.

Landon Ferraro's skating stride looks nothing like his father's--he skates wide and low, with a tendency to unleash hard and similarly low wrist shots, and he doesn't lose an ounce of speed when the puck's on his stick.

Again, Mitchell Callahan displayed a surprising amount of foot speed and good hands. At 170-something pounds, the 5'11" sparkplug needs to get bigger and stronger, but his reputation for dropping the gloves at a moment's notice takes away from the fact that he's plain old skilled.
Gleason Fournier looked most comfortable with his sometimes-partner on the Rimouski Oceanic, Sebastien Piche, both of whom look very comfortable skating fast and doing so while keeping their heads up and looking to make plays. Both can be overpowered by hard-charging opponents at times, Fournier in particular, but both look like puck-possession defensemen.

Nick Jensen looked a little out of place at times, but he also had a case of the "first days." Bigger than he looks, he plays a simple, efficient, and physical game.

Anyway...Fraser's drills slowly but surely increased in complexity, to the point that players skating backward through center ice on the "red" team had to look out for the "white" team's players doing the same drill, and when breakout drills involved two defenders passing blueline to blueline to three skaters who would skate toward the net, and players started to cheat toward the puck...

Fraser stopped the drill to make sure that at least somebody stopped at the net instead of skating past it. When three five players skated into the zone to receive a convenient turnover from Jim Paek, and again, three forwards skated in in a straight line perpendicular to the puck...Fraser stopped the drill again, and he patiently asked the third forward to stay back in case the puck snuck past the first forecheckers. When the defenders skated parallel to each other as Paek rimmed the puck around the boards, again, with the drills at their zenith in terms of complexity and intensity...Fraser just calmly stopped the drill and emphasized puck support, having a defender back at the blueline so that they wouldn't fall prey to a dump-out.

Put simply, after giving his players twenty minutes' worth of barking orders to pick up the pace, he knew when to slow things down, and even stop them, to plant the seeds of positional play leading to puck possession hockey, getting away from the dump-and-chase style many of the prospects employ on their respective teams to instill the "Red Wings' way."

After adding some hitting to the drills--and Gustav Nyquist and Jesper Samuelsson looking far more than a year older because of their increased strength--the players gathered on their benches at 10:50 for a dry scrape, and the day's on-ice portion ended with a 20-minute scrimmage, with stopped time...

Which the "white" team won 2-0 because dump-and-chase met a lack of cohesion and defenders getting caught cheating on plays. It was sloppy at times, and while guys didn't give up hits, Mike Connolly and Samuelsson scored on scrambly plays because the players were still getting to know each other, and they plain old tired. Which you expect on the first day.

After practice finished at 11:30, I spoke to several players, but in the interests of getting an hour or two of sleep before I head to the rink on Wednesday morning, I'll lead off with the Thomas McCollum, Tomas Tatar, who did an excellent job of bearing with multiple interviewers despite his discomfort with the English language, and Jordan Pearce:

Thomas McCollum:

Question: I was wondering what your impressions are the second time around? Do you feel a little more ready for this stuff?

Thomas McCollum: I feel a lot better coming in this year, kind of knew what to expect, so you know how to prepare yourself a little bit better.

Question: And have you guys talked to the first-timers about what's in store in terms of both the on-ice stuff and off-ice stuff?

McCollum: Yeah, they did a lot of asking questions yesterday, and we tried to let them know what's going to happen, and gave them a preview of what's to come.

Question: What are you trying to work on this year specifically, in terms of getting ready for the professional game?

McCollum: I think just my skating, you know it's the one thing you can always improve on, and it's a faster game in the AHL than the OHL, so I'm really trying to bear down on that, work staying outside [of the crease] and challenging, and work on my quickness back to the net.

Question: In terms of getting ready for the AHL, what are the expectations in terms of having you and Pearce battle for the second spot behind Larsson?

McCollum: Yeah, I think that's just gonna happen, so you try to push yourself every day, try to do the best I can do, I expect him to do the same, and we'll see who comes out on top?

Question: What do you feel you learned during your long playoff run with Brampton?

McCollum: We learned how to deal with the grind. The regular OHL season's pretty tough, but the playoffs is a whole new experience, everything's at a much quicker pace, so you really have to focus to dig deep, find a way to play and be intense every day to find a way to win.

Question: Did you manage to keep attending your college courses going even though you got traded?

McCollum: Uh, yeah, I had to drop one of the classes I was registered in, but I managed to stay in the other one and I did pretty well.

Question: And in terms of the gear, are you switching to Vaughn or are you just trying it out?

McCollum: Um, I'm just trying it out, I've never used Vaughn equipment before, so I was given some stuff and it can't hurt to try, I'll see how it goes and how I like it.

Question: In working with Bedard, is he basically still focusing on the leg quickness drills, side to side? First it looked like you were taking small steps and then being real explosive coming out of the crease and gliding side to side...

McCollum: Definitely, skating's always something you can improve on, and just being sure to get out of the crease, and working on going out from the post out high, making sure you get out to challenge well, and moving side to side to make sure you improve on your quickness.

Tomas Tatar:

Question: How are your impressions of the first day? What do you think so far?

Tomas Tatar: Good...It's good, very good, very hard on ice, very good, it's hard work, and I like that. There's more physical, benching, push ups, wind work, it's good after ice, training, working out.

Question: Working with Tomas Storm and Weidenbach, what are you learning, in terms of their slow drills?

Tatar: Yeah, it's very good because it's, Slovak players, not...Not learn first power skating, or skills, Tomas Storm and other coach, it's good to learn power skating and good drills.

Question: What are you anticipating in terms of off-ice work?

Tatar: Off ice? We do work...I work weights, and night I work on off-ice work.

Question: Do you want to work on your physical strength?

Tatar: Yeah, maybe physical strength, or run.

Question: And what do you hope to accomplish this week?

Tatar: Accomplish?

Question: What are your goals?

Tatar: Goals?

Question: What do you hope to do?

Tatar: I don't understand.

Question: That's OK. For the whole week, what do you want to learn?

Tatar: For whole week, I want to learn power skating, and physical game,
and shooting, going to net with the puck.

Question: Anything about nutrition, eating?

Tatar: Yeah, I learn to eat good things.

Question: And next year, are you going to Kitchener?

Tatar: I want to go to Canada, because I have contract two years, in Zvolen, but between argument are clubs [in Slovakia].

Jordan Pearce:

Question: I was wondering what your impressions are, of the first day?

Jordan Pearce: It's just good to get back on the ice. You know, it's tough when you're a hockey player, you want to skate every day and want to play every day, but in the summer it's hard to do that, but it's good to get back out there and be out on the ice for once instead of being in the weight room.

Question: A little too much dryland training?

Pearce: Too much dryland training, and you know it's hard to mimic what you're doing out there, and instead you're running a treadmill instead of going out there skating.

Question: In terms of working with Jim Bedard, what are you focusing on?

Pearce: Uh, it's working on fine-tuning my game. I think once everyone gets to this point, it's just a matter of fine-tuning your game and trying to make yourself that much better as you move up.

Question: Anything in terms of foot speed, quickness?

Pearce: Just a little bit of quickness, a little bit of staying out to the top of the crease, staying out.

Question: Coming out of college hockey, what are you expecting in terms of coming to Grand Rapids and competing for a back-up spot, there's a lot of games, twice as many...

Pearce: Uh, yeah, I mean, you play seventy games versus 40 or 30 in college, there's a lot more practice, a lot more kind of down time than there is in the pros, they're playing games every week, on the weekend, there's a lot of a faster pace, and, uh, games are more exciting but they're also tiring, so I'll try to stay focused, and when you play 70 games it's tough to be on top of your game every game, with college it's easier because you take a break in the middle of the week, and then you've got to get ready to play two games and that's it, versus pro, you play so many games that you're going to have your off games, you know it's going to happen, and you've got to move on when it does happen.

Question: And in terms of this week, what are your goals given that it's going to be a bit of a grind?

Pearce: Um, it's just to go out here and have fun and work hard. You know, there's only so much you can really do in a week to improve that much better, but it's good to get out here, back on the ice, and see what little things you can pick up and go into the next two months saying, "Okay, this is what I'm going to have to work on," and you're not going to see huge changes this week, but to be able to pick up things and be able to fine-tune and be ready for the season.

Question: And in terms of your long-term goals, I'm guessing this is two years, and if it works, play in the NHL, and if not, go to medical school?

Pearce: Um, you know, right now it's a matter of giving it what I've got, and seeing how long I can play hockey for, so if it's two years or fifteen years, hopefully, either way, you know, I'd like to go into medicine, but beyond that, I'm not going to give the short end to hockey, that's for sure..

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Here is the official news release from the Red Wings regarding some solid depth signings to add to the Griffins roster in 2009-2010.


PRESS RELEASE

RED WINGS AGREE TO TERMS WITH THREE PLAYERS

...Newbury And Williams Ink One-Year Deals; Ehrhardt Receives Three-Year Entry Level Deal …



Detroit... The Detroit Red Wings announced today that the club has agreed to terms with three players. Center Kris Newbury and right wing Jeremy Williams were signed to one-year, two-way contracts. Defenseman Travis Ehrhardt received a three-year entry level deal. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of each contract were not disclosed.



Newbury, 27, spent the past six seasons in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ organization. Originally a fifth round selection (139th overall) of the San Jose Sharks in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, he has appeared in 44 NHL games during his career (all with Toronto) registering six points (3-3—6) and 60 PIM. The Brampton, Ontario native played in 33 games with the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies in 2008-09, finishing with 29 points (6-23—29) and 72 PIM.



Williams, 25, was originally a seventh round pick (220th overall) of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He has appeared in 31 NHL games for Toronto over five seasons, posting 11 points (9-2—11) and six PIM. The Regina, Saskatchewan native played in 11 games for the Maple Leafs in 2008-09 registering five goals and two assists. He also appeared in 46 games for the Toronto Marlies last season finishing with 40 points (27-13—40).



Ehrhardt, 20, played in 68 games for the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League in 2008-09. He finished the season with 37 points (9-28—37) and 109 PIM. Ehrhardt also appeared in three games for the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.


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