TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. - Was hockey life under Mike Babcock beginning to get stale for veteran Red Wings players?
While they haven’t used those exact words during the first couple of days of training camp here in picturesque northern Michigan, that’s the vibe you get from some of the comments that have come out in recent days as the Jeff Blashill era kicks off for the Wings.
To be fair, there was no bashing of Babs - why would there be for a bench boss who had led Detroit to 10 consecutive playoff appearances, two trips to the final and a Stanley Cup title - but the embracement of a new coaching regime certainly is evident throughout the Centre Ice Arena, the Wings training camp home in Traverse City.