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July 14, 2005Training camp is a go for TCWings should be back at Centre ICEByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Game on. Preliminary planning is under way for the Detroit Red Wings to hold training camp back in Traverse City, now that the lockout is apparently over with an agreement reached between the league and the player's union. "(Centre ICE director) Terry (Marchand) told me today the phone is jumping off the hook at the rink," training camp director Pete Correia said. "I don't think the fans are going to abandon hockey - certainly not Detroit fans." Correia said training camp - which was canceled last year after the lockout began - could be slated for Sept. 11, with the prospects camp a week before. No dates are set in stone yet because the upcoming winter Olympics could alter the timing and/or duration of the seven-day camp. "It could make it shorter, it could go away," Correia said, "but I doubt that will happen." Ironically, plans were already in motion for the training camp board to meet, even before news of the agreement broke. "Our camp committee has their first meeting (today)," Marchand said. Correia said it was lucky timing, as he talked to Red Wings general manager Ken Holland a few weeks ago and Holland told him things were going pretty well with the Collective Bargaining Agreement talks. St. Louis Blues right wing Dallas Drake, who lives in Traverse City, said it was imperative that the players get back on the ice. "The game needed it," Drake said. "For the game to grow we needed to get back on the ice this season. "A lot of people are saying there's a better deal out there, but I'm not sure there was." Drake kept in shape by practicing several times a week with the Traverse City West hockey team last winter. "I'm glad it's finally done," Drake said. "It's been a long year." Drake, 36, is under contract for one more year with the Blues. "I talked to our general manager (Larry Pleau) a couple weeks ago, so I have a good idea of when we'll have camp," Drake said. "From what I understand the camps aren't going to be much different than before - mid or late September. "There's a lot of things in the deal we don't know about yet - pensions and stuff like that. We'll find out in the next week." The cap woes the Detroit Red Wings may encounter don't seem to be nearly as big a problem for Drake's Blues, who finished second to the Wings in the Central Division of the Western Conference. "From a cap standpoint, we're way under it," Drake said. However, Blues All-Star defenseman Chris Pronger isn't under contract and will almost assuredly command big bucks. One Blues teammate who could be affected is forward Keith Tkachuk, who signed a 4-year, $40 million contract in 2002. The new agreement is rumored to contain a provision limiting teams to spending no more than 20 percent of their cap money on any one player. At an average of $10 million a season, Tkachuk is well above the estimated $7.5 million individual limit.
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