2 weeks Ago By BY BRENDAN QUEALY [email protected]
TRAVERSE CITY — Most look forward to a long summer vacation. Not JT Compher. The 29-year-old center for the Detroit Red Wings saw a lot of the postseason when he played for the Colorado Avalanche, but Compher and the rest of the Red Wings fell heartbreakingly short of the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker at the end of the season.
"Last summer was too long. Definitely don't want to do that again," Compher said. "It was definitely a longer summer.
I didn't really like it, to be honest. I want to play hockey. I'm more than willing to train for however long I have to train.
I want to be playing playoff hockey." And Compher is far from the only one on the roster with playoff aspirations as Detroit wrapped up the second day of training camp at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City on Friday. "The intensity is maybe a little bit higher.
We're all focused on reaching that goal, getting better, playing more as a team," second-year Red Wing Alex Debrincat said. "We all have that bitter taste in our mouth from last year. .
.. Every time you're out there, do whatever you can for the team and we'll win some games.
" Shaking off the disappointment of getting so close to the postseason but still being in the same spot as the worst team in the NHL — at home — was no easy task after last season. "It's one of those things that sticks with you through the whole offseason," Debrincat said. "Guys started training early and working to get back and feel good for this year.
At the end of the season, I wasn't necessarily ready to stop playing hockey. All of us are ready to go. We're ready to be here and excited to be back as a team.
" That team again includes Debrincat's former Chicago Blackhawks teammate, Patrick Kane. "We were talking most of the summer, and he didn't necessarily know what he was going to do," Debrincat said about Kane, who re-signed with the Red Wings at the end of June. "At the end of the day, he liked playing here.
He loved the fans. He loved the team. Just loved being a Red Wing.
Him coming back was huge for our team." Debrincat said Kane is a "big part of the team" with his leadership and adds another element on offense. "He's taught me so much, on the ice and off the ice," Debrincat said.
"How to act like a pro. How to treat your body like a pro. He creates so much, so you try to take some of that and put it in your own game.
" Debrincat said that is no easy feat given Kane's talent and skill, but it does give him confidence in the depth the Red Wings have on offense. "All of us are looking to grow," Debrincat said. "We've got a lot of good players.
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If we go through a slump, we've got other guys who can step up and put the puck in the net. Hopefully, we'll be ready to play and score some goals." The Red Wings brought another Stanley Cup champion on board with the addition of Vladimir Tarasenko.
Head coach Derek Lalonde said Tarasenko has already proven to be a great addition. "I love the questions. There's questions with substance," Lalonde said.
"He's talking about some of our structure within in our forecheck and reads within our forecheck. ..
. The exciting thing about (Tarsenko) is not just that he's won a couple Stanley Cups, I think he's evolved in playing a right way — complementing winning hockey." Compher said Tarasenko and Kane have been key through the early part of training camp.
"There's definitely some familiarity there," Compher said of Tarasenko. "I played against him all the time when I was in Colorado and he was in St. Louis.
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Him and (Kane) are so skilled. They know what they want, which is super easy to play with. That's what camp is about, learning each other's tendencies.
You want to get as much familiarity with guys as possible." The hope is that familiarity will translate into success in the regular season as no one wants a rerun of the 2023-24 finale. "It was rough," Compher said.
"With the battle we gave it at the end of the year, it's tough to come up short. The whole room felt it. The coaching staff, management, we know the fans felt it.
" Debrincat said that "fuels our fire for this season." "Everyone wants to make that next step and make the playoffs and that goal of the Stanley Cup," Debrincat said. "We can look back and see a lot of areas we can improve on and learn from.
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Going into this year, guys are really focused." Lalonde has seen the growth from last year and said the postseason miss has helped that. "You get a little taste of winning, what it looks like, what it takes — that's something you grow and build on," Lalonde said.
"The last two days of camp have been good and productive. They've been driven from our veterans and out core." Compher has been impressed, too, by what he's seen.
"The focus has been really good to start," Compher said. "It's been very high-paced. The details have been pretty sharp for the first two days of training camp.
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It's good to see the guys ready to go right from the start of camp." The final day of regular training camp at Centre Ice begins at 8:15 a.m.
Saturday with the annual Red & White Game to follow at noon Sunday..
