The familiar tournament in Northern Michigan will have a pared-down look to it this year.
The Dallas Stars are headed back to Traverse City for the yearly prospect tournament, where their prospects have been showcasing their skills to Traverse City for decades, even winning the championship back in 2008 when Jamie Benn was on the roster.
The tournament can be a fun way for fans who have been missing hockey for the last several months to get a look at a good majority of the prospects playing together. The only time these athletes have spent together is at development camp, but a challenge against different teams is always better for training than an inter-squad scrimmage. It gives the players a chance to prove themselves one last time before training camp, where it becomes much more cutthroat. While the coaching staff already have a good sense of the player's skills and what direction they need to be headed, there are Cinderella stories that have come out of the prospect tournament.
In 2015, Mattias Janmark was all but headed to Sweden after the Traverse City tournament, but his play earned him a chance at training camp, where he later ended up making the NHL roster for Dallas.
The Traverse City tournament has slowly dwindled over the years. What used to be an eight-team tournament has slowly lost it's participants recently. Last year, the tournament had four teams playing: the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Stars. This year, the only teams participating are Detroit and Dallas.
Per centreice.orgTeams cited rising costs as one of the reasons they stopped attending the tournament. Putting a whole team up in a summer tourist destination town proved to be more and more expensive, and other teams have now formed their own tournaments in new locations. Last year the St Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild played a new tournament in Minnesota, which the Blues stated was more cost effective for them.
It's possible the Stars consider other destinations for next year's tournament, if they feel that getting more exposure for their prospects is necessary. This year, the dates are set for September 14 and 15. The roster has not yet been announced.
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