TRAVERSE CITY -- A lot has changed for the Detroit Red Wings since the team lost to Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals.
There's the Marian Hossa saga. His departure from the Red Wings to rival Chicago, the possible cap-circumventing contract the BlackHawks gave him and the discovery of a shoulder injury that threatens at least part of his season.
There's Jiri Hudler's sudden defection from the NHL to play in Russia.
Then there's something that Red Wings fans aren't used to -- Detroit doing little in free agency.
The upcoming year will bring more changes, including a shortened training camp visit to Traverse City.
The long and short of it
There are a couple reasons camp is so short this year.
First, this is an Olympic year, which forces the NHL to start the season about a week earlier than normal because of the layoff for the Games.
Secondly, the Red Wings open the regular season in Sweden, adding a little mileage to their travel itinerary.
Training camp director Pete Correia said he expects camp will be back to its normal duration next year.
Players take their physicals today with camp starting Sunday and finishing Tuesday evening.
Capped out
Detroit's relative lack of activity in free agency was due to two factors -- the salary cap and the organization's wealth of young talent in the minors.
The team signed Hossa last year to a one-year commitment. Detroit didn't have the cap room this year to keep Hossa and re-sign Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
"Obviously, it's a big impact," Detroit general manager Ken Holland said. "(Hossa) is a star player. We knew we were going to lose players. We won the Cup in 2008 and we were $5 million below the salary cap and the cap went from 50 to 57 (million) and suddenly we had $12 million.
"The team we had last year ... we're never going to have another team with that offensive potential. That's not what the cap is about. It's about spreading the wealth throughout all 30 teams. But we've got a good team. We're not going to score as much, but I think we're going to be better defensively."
The forwards the Wings lost in the off-season -- Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Hudler and Tomas Kopecky -- weren't exactly known for their defensive prowess, but they combined for 88 goals and 187 points. Hossa was a +27, but the other three combined for a dead even +/- rating.
"Red Wings fans have been use to the Detroit Red Wings accumulating players," Holland said. "When we played Nashville in 2004, I think our payroll was 70 (million dollars) and theirs was 20 or 25 -- it was almost triple theirs. We come into this year and there's going to be 23 or 24 teams that are going to spend almost exactly what we spend. This is a league now that is about drafting, developing and identifying five or six or seven players that are the core of your team."
For Detroit, those players are Zetterberg, Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart and Brian Rafalski, Holland said.
The Red Wings are over the salary cap by almost a million dollars, although it remains to be seen what will happen with Andreas Lilja and his $1.25 million cap number. Lilja suffered a concussion in a fight Feb. 28 with Nashville's Shea Weber, and has had symptoms since. Holland said test results for Lilja -- which are due back soon -- will help to determine if he can participate in camp.
"He's starting to feel better," Holland said. "But he's had a concussion basically since February, so I'm sure the doctors are going to want him to be symptom-free. I'm not sure you can be healthy for a week and say, 'We're going to send you out there.'"
New faces
Despite cap restrictions, the Wings were able to sign some veteran players to replace those lost in free agency. Two newcomers are actually former Red Wings -- Todd Bertuzzi and Jason Williams.
"Williams and Bertuzzi, we know them," Holland said. "So we know what we're getting. They bring different dimensions. In Williams' case, he can play the right point on the power play like Mikael Samuelsson did. Bertuzzi brings size. I think they can both give us 15 goals."
Williams has averaged 17 goals over his last four NHL seasons, including 19 last year as he split time between Atlanta and Columbus.
Bertuzzi has 29 in the last two seasons, but has only reached 25 in a season once since his monster 46-goal campaign in 2002-03.
The Wings also added forward Patrick Eaves, a four-year NHL veteran who is still only 25.
Eaves was a Hobey Baker finalist at Boston College and burst into the NHL with a 20-goal rookie season in only 58 games for Ottawa, but since has notched only 25 goals in three years. He was bought out of his contract and released by the Carolina Hurricanes after last season and signed with Detroit. Detroit is hoping he can turn his career around much like Samuelsson and Daniel Cleary did once they signed with the Wings.
"We're hoping he gets the wheels back again here in Detroit," Holland said.
Holland said Bertuzzi was not brought in just to give the team an enforcer to protect its talented forwards.
"I think we're going to lack an enforcer every year, to tell you the truth," Holland said. "We always come up with, 'Do you want a skill player or a one-dimensional, three-minute guy?' I'm not a one-dimensional, three-minute kind of guy. Ultimately, we like to roll four lines, and the minute you put one guy on the line that can't play, you're down to three lines.
"I don't know that Bert's going to fight, but he's certainly big and strong on the puck."
Young guns
While Detroit battled a series of injuries during the postseason, younger players were called on and inserted into the lineup -- and became battle-tested in the pressure cooker of the playoffs.
Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Jonathan Ericsson and Ville Leino combined for 18 playoff points and each had a positive +/- rating, led by Ericsson's +9.
Helm scored four playoff goals, including a game-winner, after not finding the net in 16 games in a Wings' uniform during the regular season.
Holland said the Game 7 loss to Pittsburgh left him down, but also optimistic.
"Incredibly disappointed when you get one game from a Stanley Cup," Holland said. "But at the same time, for me I'm in that locker room every day and to see ... how banged up our team was and what a great job our young kids did with that. We could have easily lost in the Anaheim series. Then you go into Chicago and in five games, Ericsson is out and Datsyuk's out and Lidstrom's out and Rafalski's playing hurt ... they left it on the ice. They had no more to give. I'd like to play the (Pittsburgh) series healthy, but that's not hockey."
Goalie-go-'round
Detroit also lost backup goaltender Ty Conklin to the St. Louis Blues and will replace him with Jimmy Howard.
Conklin stepped in when starter Chris Osgood struggled, winning 14 times in 19 appearances from December to February.
Howard signed a three-year deal last year, the first year of which was a two-way contract. The next two are one-way contracts, meaning he will be a Red Wing.
"We really signed Conklin to do two things: One, to be deeper in goal, and also to give Jimmy Howard another year to develop," Holland said.
Howard is 1-5-0 in eight scattered appearances with the Red Wings, but has never had a goals-against average higher than 2.83 in four season with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
"If we keep a 33-year-old goalie, Conklin, instead of a 25-year-old Howard, we wake up in two years and Chris Osgood is 38 and Ty Conklin is 35 and we haven't developed any goalies, we're in big trouble," Holland said. "We can't go out on the free-agent market and just sign. We signed Zetterberg for a long time, Franzen, (Valteri) Filppula, Lidstrom. We don't have much money (to use) in goal."
"All of our coaches, general managers, we all feel good about Jimmy Howard," Holland said.
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