Red Wings talk future at annual Detroit Economic Club luncheon
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – Before the Red Wings set flight for Denver to participate in this weekend’s NHL Stadium Series events, the team sat down with the Detroit Economic Club for their annual luncheon to discuss a number of topics.
During last year’s meeting, Ilitch Holdings, Inc. President and CEO Christopher Ilitch said a site was being prepared for construction on the new arena. This year, he provided an update on the project, which has made large strides since then.
“The bowl is taking shape as we speak,” Ilitch said. “We now have 9,500 tons of steel that are up so far, more on the way. The foundation work is underway with more than 200,000 square feet of retail, office and restaurant space that will be surrounding the arena that will give us that vibrant, urban experience we all crave.
“Over 95,000 hours and over 300 million dollars in contracts have gone to Detroit and Michigan-based companies.”
Ilitch also laid out some details of the new arena in comparison to Joe Louis Arena.
“A concourse up to three times the size of the concourse at Joe Louis Arena, a dynamic urban streetscape with tall glass ceilings, bustling with activity throughout the year,” Ilitch said. “More choices, more variety, five restaurants, seven clubs and overall 60-percent more concessions, a bigger bowl that can fit up to 11,000 people depending on the event, closer proximity to the action, great sightlines from everywhere.”
Photos by Michael caples/MiHockey
By fall, Ilitch expects the structure to have its roof, too. When it comes to the arena’s name, Ilitch told everyone to “stay tuned” and that it would be revealed “soon.”
Olympia Entertainment President and CEO Tom Wilson was not in attendance, as Ilitch said he was “scoping out some cool, new innovations for the arena.”
Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Mickey Redmond, an emcee for the luncheon along with Fox Sports Detroit play-by-play partner Ken Daniels, shared his excitement for the new building.
“After going through Olympia and then seeing The Joe and getting it started, all the bare walls and where it’s come from all these years, it’s pretty exciting for us to see everything take place and where we’re going with this new building.”
Redmond also led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to Muskegon native Justin Abdelkader, who turned 29 on Thursday.
Q & A a fun time for fans
The Red Wings players also participated in a question-and-answer session with the fans in attendance. Here are some of the highlights:
Abdelkader on his birthday and playing for the hometown team: “It’s special obviously, always dream growing up in Michigan playing for the Red Wings. I’m 29 years old and been with this organization, it’s been special for me.”
Sault Ste. Marie native Jeff Blashill on whether there have been any surprises in his first year as head coach: “Any time, in any job, you get surprised or challenged, there’s unique challenges every single year. I was in Grand Rapids three years, and each year was a unique challenge, so certainly there’s unique challenges you face and hopefully you grow from those, that you get better, that you continue to improve. That’s one thing we talk a lot about as a team; we just want to continue to get better and that’s no different as a coach. I think I look in the mirror every night, saying, ‘What did we do a good job of? What can we get better at?”
Blashill on coaching in Michigan, being a hometown coach: “It’s been pretty special. To be able to go through a bunch of the moves I’ve made coaching, my 9-year-old boy has lived in six homes in his nine years, so it’s lots of moves but they’ve all been in Midwest and most in Michigan, so as a person who was born in Detroit, grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, to spend as much time as I have in Michigan is great, to be able to stand here as the head coach of the Red Wings is an unbelievable thing. I was a big fan of the Red Wings growing up, lived with the disappointments up through ’95, excited in ’97 and all those things that happened after that, but the biggest thing about being the coach of the Red Wings though isn’t necessarily that I was fan growing up, it’s more the people involved in the organization – the Ilitch family, Ken Holland, the players – that’s been the greatest part, to work with such great people.”
Ken Holland on transition with Blashill: ”I went to Blash and I said, ‘Five teams have called and want to interview Blash.’ I had told Blash a year ago that he was the top of my list if [Mike Babcock] was gone, and I said there was two ways we could go about this thing. One, let you go interview and then if you don’t get a job, you can come back. Two, we’ll double your salary, there’s no interviews, you’ve got to stay in Grand Rapids for one more year and after that, if Mike is back as coach, we’ll let you pursue other opportunities. Blash said to me, ‘My dream job is to be the coach of the Detroit Red Wings. I’m prepared to wait one more year.’ Plus, as a coach, he felt one more year in the American Hockey League would be to his best benefit, so certainly as we went through last season, I knew that the next head coach was either going to be Mike Babcock or Jeff Blashill.”
Gustav Nyquist on the team’s biggest prankster and having his rims painted lime green: “I’m sure one of the players sent in that question. I suspect Nik Kronwall… I think the team knows [who changed his tires], too, so that’s all I’ve got to say about that. It’s all for fun, it was a good prank, but now I’m ready to get my tires back soon here. I actually repainted, I got pink for Valentine’s Day, so they’re pink now. It’s fun to park my car the grocery store. Biggest prankster on the team, I don’t know… a few of the older guys… We have a lot of fun, it’s all in good spirits.”
Riley Sheahan on giving back, his work with the Michigan Humane Society: “I think the guys do a good job at working with their respective charities, so I just thought I’d change to work with animals, do a little change-up and it’s been a lot of fun so far. It’s impressive the work those people put in and a lot of them are volunteers, too, so the effort they go through to protect the animals and things like that, it’s pretty inspiring. I got to adopt my own dog, she’s been a lot of fun. Just going back there, it’s tough to not come out with another dog.”
Andreas Athanasiou on who would win a race between Dylan Larkin, Darren Helm and himself: “We haven’t raced, but I think both of those guys can fly. I see them every day in practice, just try to keep up with them. I think it would be a close race, I think Dylan has the best time so we’ll have to give it to Dylan.”
Macomb native Danny DeKeyser on the new arena: “For me, it’s going to be great. Everybody loves being at The Joe, and there’s a lot of history there that we all see in the rafters and in the locker room there are some nice photos and plaques hanging up with all the history there, but I guess we’re just excited to have new updated facilities, a bigger weight room, bigger locker room, and just some other areas that are going to help us out and hopefully win us some more Stanley Cups. Practice arena, we won’t have to drive as far on days that they have other events going on at The Joe, and things of that nature. Those are the biggest things we’re excited for, along with the restaurants and some bars and that kind of thing.”
Grand Rapids native Luke Glendening on playing in his sixth outdoor game: “I have played in a ton. They’re all different, they’re all unique, they’ve all been a blast. Probably the Winter Classic at the Big House, being back in Ann Arbor for the game was real special, but each one was unique, each one was their own experience, and I’m looking forward to this next one.”
Tomas Tatar on playing video games while on the road: “We started playing a few video games on the road and actually me and Petr (Mrazek) started. The most annoying thing to me is, we included a few veteran guys to play with us, we taught them how to play and next thing you know, they’re beating us, so that’s the way it is. We usually play FIFA or PGA Tour has been real popular lately.”