DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings will compete among a field of eight NHL teams when they host the 2017 NHL Prospect Tournament at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich., from Friday, Sept. 8 to Tuesday, Sept. 12. Held in northern Michigan for the 19th season, the eight-team tournament is comprised of the Red Wings, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. Tickets for the tournament are still available for $10 per day, which covers four games, exclusively at Centre Ice Arena or online at www.centreice.org.
Twenty-six of the 35 players who skated for the Red Wings during the 2016-17 season are alumni of the NHL prospect tournament: Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi, Mitch Callahan, Jared Coreau, Jonathan Ericsson, Darren Helm, Jimmy Howard, Tomas Jurco, Niklas Kronwall, Dylan Larkin, Brian Lashoff, Anthony Mantha, Alexey Marchenko, Petr Mrazek, Tomas Nosek, Gustav Nyquist, Xavier Ouellet, Dan Renouf, Robbie Russo, Riley Sheahan, Brendan Smith, Ryan Sproul, Evgeny Svechnikov, Tomas Tatar and Henrik Zetterberg. Since the tournament’s inception, a total of 500 skaters and 52 goaltenders have gone on to skate in at least one NHL game.
The tournament will divide the participating teams into two four-team divisions: the Gordie Howe Division (Carolina, Chicago, Detroit and NY Rangers) and the Ted Lindsay Division (Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota and St. Louis). Teams will play each opponent in their division in a round-robin format before a crossover on the final day of the tournament, capped off with the first-place finishers in each division meeting for the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup on Tuesday, Sept. 12. The tournament’s championship trophy was renamed in 2015 in honor of Wuest (pronounced WEEST), known for his work on the website CapGeek.com as well as his exclusive coverage and statistical archiving of the NHL Prospect Tournament on RedWingsCentral.com, spanning back to the inaugural tournament in 1998. Wuest passed away in March 2015 after succumbing to a two-year battle with colon cancer.
Carolina returns to Traverse City as defending tournament champions, having defeated the Red Wings in the final game in 2016. The Red Wings have made it to the championship game two seasons in a row and in three of the past four seasons, winning their first and only tournament title in 2013. A complete tournament schedule can be found below. The Red Wings will release a finalized roster at a later date.
STREAMING: All games of the 2017 NHL Prospect Tournament will stream live on FOX Sports Go and DetroitRedWings.com. Users in the United States can download the FOX Sports Go app and stream every game of the tournament for free, regardless of cable or satellite provider. All games will also be carried live on DetroitRedWings.com with no geographic restrictions. Red Wings games will feature the play-by-play commentary of Red Wings radio broadcaster Ken Kal.
2017 NHL PROSPECT TOURNAMENT
TRAVERSE CITY, MI – SEPTEMBER 8-12, 2017
GORDIE HOWE DIVISION TED LINDSAY DIVISION
Carolina Columbus
Chicago Dallas
Detroit Minnesota
NY Rangers St. Louis
Friday, September 8 DAVID’S RINK WEST RINK
8:30-9:15 a.m. Columbus Dallas
9:30-10:15 a.m. St. Louis Minnesota
10:30-11:15 a.m. Chicago NY Rangers
11:30-12:15 p.m. Carolina Detroit
HOME VISITOR RINK
3:30 p.m. Columbus vs. Dallas David’s
4:00 p.m. St. Louis vs. Minnesota West
7:00 p.m. Chicago vs. NY Rangers David’s
7:30 p.m. Detroit vs. Carolina West
Saturday, September 9 DAVID’S RINK WEST RINK
8:30-9:15 a.m. NY Rangers Carolina
9:30-10:15 a.m. Chicago Detroit
10:30-11:15 a.m. Dallas St. Louis
11:30-12:15 p.m. Minnesota Columbus
HOME VISITOR RINK
3:30 p.m. Carolina vs. NY Rangers David’s
4:00 p.m. Chicago vs. Detroit West
7:00 p.m. Dallas vs. St. Louis David’s
7:30 p.m. Minnesota vs. Columbus West
Sunday, September 10 DAVID’S RINK WEST RINK
9:30-10:30 a.m. NY Rangers Carolina
10:45-11:45 a.m. Chicago Detroit
12:00 -1:00 p.m. Dallas St. Louis
1:15-2:15 p.m. Minnesota Columbus
Monday, September 11 DAVID’S RINK WEST RINK
8:30-9:15 a.m. St. Louis Columbus
9:30-10:15 a.m. Dallas Minnesota
10:30-11:15 a.m. Chicago Carolina
11:30-12:15 p.m. NY Rangers Detroit
HOME VISI RINK
3:00 p.m. St. Louis vs. Columbus David’s
3:30 p.m. Dallas vs. Minnesota West
6:30 p.m. Carolina vs. Chicago David’s
7:00 p.m. NY Rangers vs. Detroit West
Tuesday, September 12 DAVID’S RINK WEST RINK
10:00-10:45 a.m. 2nd Lindsay 2nd Howe
11:00-11:45 a.m. 1st Howe 1st Lindsay
HOME VISITOR RINK
3:00 p.m. 7th place game 4th Lindsay vs. 4th Howe David’s
3:30 p.m. 5th place game 3rd Howe vs. 3rd Lindsay West
6:30 p.m. 3rd place game 2nd Lindsay vs. 2nd Howe David’s
7:00 p.m. Championship Game 1st Howe vs. 1st Lindsay West