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Prospects given homework; Green staying put |
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As the Detroit Red Wings concluded their annual development camp on Saturday, each of the prospects in attendance was sent on their way with a detailed homework assignment designed to both address their flaws and increase their strengths.
“We went through the exit meetings yesterday and kind of went through all that with them,” Detroit’s director of player development Shawn Horcoff told Detroitredwings.com. “We’ll be in touch. It’s Dan (Cleary) and my jobs now to – which we’ve already started – structure their summer and just give them all the information we can to let them know what we think they need to do to improve in order to make that next step.”
Depending upon the player, each message was different. Even top prospects such as right wing Filip Zadina, selected sixth overall in last week’s NHL entry draft, was informed to build up his strength. Others, like forward Jack Adams, who’s headed back to Union College, was encouraged to ramp up his skating ability.
“There’s obviously players that are at different stages in their career, whether that’s getting ready for junior, whether that’s getting ready for the AHL, or whether that’s getting ready to make a legit shot at trying to make the big club,” Horcoff said. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Naturally, with all of their future on display in front of an adoring public of Red Wings fans, the hype can easily get out of control. It’s a natural occurrence among fans to assume that those on their way up are better than those already there, simply because they haven’t seen enough of these young players to have their weaknesses exposed. And playing against their peer groups as opposed to full-time pros, many are going to appear to be closer to being ready for the big-time than they truly are.
Regardless, Horcoff didn’t feel that hype was an entirely bad thing for these kids to experience.
“Why not?” he said. “I think it’s great. They’re good players. You should get excited. We’re excited. The fans should be excited.
“Now that doesn’t mean they’re going to go out right away as 18 year olds and dominant the league. It’s the best league in the world for a reason. We just have make sure we’re directing them toward doing the right things and all that should take care of itself.”
Green Signs
As was anticipated, defenseman Mike Green opted to eschew unrestricted free agency and has agreed to terms with the Wings on a two-year deal worth $10.75 million, with an AAV of $5.375 million.
It’s also expected that the Wings will announce on Sunday that they’ve agreed to terms with UFA goaltender Jonathan Bernier on a three-year deal with an AAV of $3 million. The team is continuing to talk with two other UFAs, both of them former Wings - left wing Thomas Vanek and center Valtteri Filppula.
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