Yzerman Explains Why Red Wings Left Traverse City

“Training camp is just shorter,” Yzerman said. “With things so shortened, a compressed camp, a compressed preseason, it’s just that we want to try something different. We think this will be the best, more efficient use of our time to just remain here in Detroit at LCA.”

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Both the training camp and the traditional Red Wings NHL rookie tournament are being relocated to Little Caesars Arena and the adjacent BELFOR Training Center. The rookie tourney will be held from September 12-15. Joining the Red Wings in this event will be rookie teams from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Not only are the Red Wings relocating the club’s training camp, but it will be taking on a much different look. The players who have no shot of making the NHL roster will not be getting an invitation to the NHL camp.

“It’ll be a little bit smaller training camp, probably with fewer bodies at camp and fewer days,” Yzerman said. “We just thought it made sense and was more practical to do it at home this year.”

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Yzerman isn’t ruling out the possibility of going back to Traverse City at some point.

“It’s something we’d revisit in the future, because obviously going up to Traverse City was very attractive,” Yzerman said. “And everyone – players, the staff – we all looked forward to it for a lot of reasons.

“The facilities were great, the camaraderie was great. A tremendous experience I will explore in the future.”

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