This week was different if you were a Detroit Red Wing. Not because the NHL had decided to loosen up on its new rules or because Steve Yzerman had announced he wouldn’t be playing for Team Canada, but because the players had one of their “Dad, Male Family Member or Mentor” join them for the week on a road trip.

What started as a thought by Mike Babcock (the Wing’s coach) as a way for him to get to know his players better turned out to be a huge success for the team as a bonding experience. Not just the players, but the coaches and support staff had their mentor at Monday’s home game against the Pens and then they all hit the road for the Red Wing’s trip to Atlanta, Florida and Tampa Bay. As noted by the Detroit Free Press,

“the visitors participated in all aspects of the day-to-day grind of being a pro hockey player, from the red-eye flights to the strategy meetings to getting to the rink early for a pregame skate [and finally] to checking into a hotel in the wee hours of the morning.”

Even Babcock had to admit that it was an amazing experience for him telling a story about how he spoke with Steve Yzerman’s Dad who told him about moving across Canada and Steve’s minor league hockey career and of course what it was like from a parent’s perspective to watch your son be the captain of a team that wins the Stanley Cup. As the coach said, “How do you get that? Steve ain’t going to tell me that. It was phenomenal for me to lisen to that.”

Of course it wasn’t just the coach that was thrilled with the expeience, funny enough Mathieu Schneider’s father was skeptical about the trip at first, but ended up summing up the experience nicely when he said “I don’t know if I belong there. But it’s really worked out well. Of course, if you win some games, that’s frosting on the cake.”

The point of the trip was so Babcock could get to know his players better, and I can tell that was accomplished, but the fact that the Wings did this - in today’s NHL where teams are still looking to scrape every dollar together- says a lot about how classy the franchise and specifically owner Mike Ilitch is. Not only is it a class move, but Ilitch also has to know it was a smart business move as well. Players are starting to think twice about what team they want to play for in this new salary cap era. They are going to the team that has the best chance of winning for sure, but look around the league at who the next free agents will be, McCabe, Chara, Redden, these are guys who will want to play for an organization that not only can pay them, but is also a great place to play. A trip like the one the Red Wings organized certainly can’t hurt in that capacity.

Christy at Behind the Jersey has covered this story nicely as well - you can find that here.