7/26 Notes

.... The Wings announced their training camp schedule today. Camp will take place in Traverse City at the Centre ICE facility and will begin on September 6th with the rookie tournament. The main camp will begin on September 12th and will conclude on September 18th with the Red and White game at the State Fairgrounds. Below is the schedule:

September 6 Rookie Tournament TBD September 7 Rookie Tournament TBD September 8 Rookie Tournament TBD September 9 Rookie Tournament TBD September 10 Rookie Tournament TBD September 13 Main Camp TBD September 14 Main Camp TBD September 15 Main Camp TBD September 16 Main Camp TBD September 17 Main Camp TBD September 18 Red vs. White Game (State Fairgrounds) @ 5:00 p.m.

I wish we could cover camp better but with each one of us attending college this year, we won't be able to do much other than rely on the papers. .... The Wings also announced their 9-game exhibition schedule for this season today. They will open the pre-season at home against the Tampa Bay Lightening on September 19th at 7:30 and will wrap it up on October 1st in Toronto at 7:00. Below is the complete pre-season schedule:

September 19: Tampa Bay @ 7:30 September 21: Colorado @ 7:30 September 22: at Columbus @ 7:00 September 23: at Dallas @ 7:30 September 25: Dallas @ 5:00 September 27: at Colorado @ 7:00 September 28: Columbus @ 7:30 September 30: Toronto @ 7:30 October 1 at: Toronto @ 7:00

Not a bad set of games. It will be interesting to see how those teams look when the Wings face them, after this crazy shortened summer is over. It's also interesting that they'll face the Leafs twice in the pre-season but not at all in the regular season. How ridiculous. I'm willing to give the division rivalries thing a chance but the NHL is incredibly stupid to ignore rivalries that already exist between teams such as the Wings and the Bruins, Habs and Leafs (the three Original Six teams we won't see this year). Those games are always special to watch and the League should be capitalizing on them, not ignoring them. As someone with a deep appreciation for history, it sickens me to see the NHL toss it out the window so cavalierly. UPDATE 7/26 7:34 pm (Brian) Bad news in on Datsyuk. Datsyuk's agent, Gary Greenstein, says that Pavel is entertaining a significant offer from Moscow Dynamo:

"My client is one of the best players in the NHL. He deserves a great deal. Both Pavel and I would like him to stay in Detroit and finish his career there. But it's a business. Now Detroit has to make a move."

Not exactly the most encouraging thing to hear. My guess is the Wings are offering Pavs something in the neighborhood of $1.5-2 million, and he's asking $3 million or more. And if Bykov can net $1 million tax-free in Russia, it hurts to think what Pavel has been offered...