Taking Flight - From the 'Q' to the 'D'

The Red Wings drafted Joe Veleno in the first round, 30th overall, in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-1, 191-pound center is one of four Red Wings prospects writing a blog for our Taking Flight blog series, which chronicles the ups and downs of each player as they work their way to becoming Red Wings. During the 2018-19 season, Veleno played for the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Last season (2019-20), was Veleno's first season as a pro, playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit's American Hockey League affiliate. Here is his 10th blog entry of 'From the Q to the D.'

• https://www.nhl.com/player/joseph-veleno-8480813

From the 'Q' to the 'D' - Entry 10

        by Joe Veleno<br>Hello from Sweden! You're reading it correctly, Sweden. You may remember I wrote my last entry from my house in Montreal, which was pretty unbelievable, but this time around I'm actually writing this blog entry from my apartment in Sweden.<br>When the last AHL season was officially canceled, I came back to Montreal and spent my time working out and hanging out with my family. It was fun, but as the pandemic dragged on, I became antsy.<br>I wanted to eventually play competitive hockey and continue my development. So the Red Wings gave me the option to play in the Czech Republic, but it was quite early in the summer and there were just so many unanswered questions of when everything would start. I just wanted to take my time and thought training in the gym was the best thing for me. After my first AHL season, I realized I needed to become stronger. I thought being in the gym was a big part of just getting stronger and that was a big part of my game so I felt that I needed to improve in that area off the ice. Then after a few conversations with Detroit's player development staff, they told me that things weren't looking too good on starting really anytime soon so my agent and the Wings had some contacts over in Sweden and with (Niklas) Kronwall, being in Sweden, they all helped me get to Malmö. The end result, I just wanted to play hockey and I ended up in a pretty good spot.<br>The way I'm looking at it, this is an exciting time in my career. This could be, for all I know, the last time I come over to Europe. Honestly, it's a great experience talking to some former players who've had this experience coming to Europe, especially Sweden, such an amazing country where the hockey's really good and the culture and all that stuff is quite interesting to get to know. So I looked at it as a positive step forward. I'm enjoying it each day that I'm here, I'm embracing all the experiences I can get with the players, trying out some different restaurants or different food. Although there's not a significant difference in food in Sweden, it's more or less quite the same. But the whole experience, just everything, the lifestyle and all that stuff is pretty cool.<br>Honestly, nothing's really that different over here. Everything's quite similar to how it is in North America. But I guess just a lifestyle that the people have over here, it's more European culture so sometimes you see just the way people dress, going out for coffee a lot, there's a lot of cafes here on the street and a lot of people like to sit outside and enjoy their coffee. It's not that much different than North America from what I have seen so far. On top of that, I haven't gone out too much because of COVID-19.<br>One thing I have noticed is people like to, I guess, look good. When I wake up in the morning to go to practice, I'm wearing a hoodie with some jogging pants and some running shoes. Then you have other guys who spray themselves with cologne, who have some nice jeans on, some nice shoes, like a dress shirt on. It's like that for everyone, it's not just one or two guys. I feel like I'm the only guy that's really underdressed when I go to the rink in the morning. Their hair's all done up and all that stuff and it looks like they're dressed to impress a little bit. That's the way I see it. Even in the morning, just driving around and seeing people walking in the streets, they're all wearing jeans, they're all dressed nice and classy. I feel like in North America a little bit, you see a lot of people with running shoes and sweatpants, just kind of dressed really loose.<br>Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden. Stockholm and Gothenburg are the top two and then there's Malmö, which is a really beautiful city. I'm close to the ocean and right across the bridge from Copenhagen, which is a beautiful city in Denmark. I'm fortunate enough to be in a good spot. When you go downtown, it's really beautiful and a lot of people are walking around or on their bikes. Not too many cars around so it's nice just to walk around and look at different things and go to different restaurants and stop by different cafes.<br>Whenever a player comes over from Europe to play in North America they have to make an adjustment to playing on the smaller ice surface. I had to make the opposite adjustment, going from the smaller ice surface to the larger European ice surface. It's different. Obviously a lot more skating, a lot more time with the puck, easier to make plays and not just kind of getting rid of the puck. It's a fast tempo game but it's a bit more controlled than North America just because you have more time. At first it just felt like you had so much time and sometimes you didn't know what to do with all that time because you're so used to being on a smaller ice and having a higher pace game where all the plays have to be made really quickly and you kind of have to be ahead of the play a little bit. Here it's more like you can kind of relax and take it easy and don't have to skate full speed, you can kind of just glide around sometimes and then just accelerate at the right moments, just changing your speed around all over the ice because it's a big ice, it's a lot of skating so you have to use your energy wisely and don't skate to skate but skate smartly. I think that's one big thing that I've realized is just you have to adapt to the pace of the game and almost be a student of the game and learn how to play on a bigger ice sheet.<br>There's pros and cons to both the smaller and bigger ice. In my case on the bigger ice, just using my speed. I'm a fast skater that's able to make plays at a high pace so I think that comes into play really well for me. The other thing is defending and all of that stuff, it doesn't really change a whole lot. You still have to defend with a purpose, just have your head on a swivel, the same thing in North America. You have to follow the system that the coaches put into play. Sometimes it's a bit different than North America and sometimes it's the exact same style that the coach wants you to play. The main point, the thing that doesn't change is you have to go hard every time, D-zone and forechecking in the neutral zone, put pressure as much as you can, do not give players too much time and space because on the bigger ice, you already have that time and space but if you're allowed to gain more time and space, then you put yourself in trouble defending. That's what coaches and teams try not to allow too much.<br>The play in the SHL is pretty similar to the AHL. Most of these players, if not all of them, they've got some skill and they're all hard-working players that work hard and have skill so that makes them really dangerous to play against. It's such a hard-working league that not too many goals are given up. Everyone's backchecking, playing hard, although there's not as much hitting as there is in North America. Like I said earlier, they close on you really quick, they don't give you that much time and space with the puck, but there are definitely similarities between the SHL and the AHL. There's players that you'll face 1-on-1 with a lot of skill that'll really impress you with their skating ability and their hands and their vision as well. I just find it a very skilled league but the biggest thing that separates this league from other leagues is it's a really hard-working league and coaches demand to play defense first and to backcheck and to give it your 100 percent for the 30-35 seconds you're on the ice.<br>I think I've fit in pretty good so far. Everyone's really helpful with all the hockey knowledge. There's players that have played in North America before and there's some that have just played a couple years in the SHL so everyone's got their different experiences and different opinions and tools to kind of give me. I'm all ears to listen to them. I've been getting along with my coaches really well. Obviously they're here to win. They're helping me a tremendous amount to be at my best and to be able to perform at my best, giving me all kinds of information, whether it's systems or knowing players on other teams and knowing how other teams play. They've dialed me right in to all their team functions and their systems and all that. At the end of the day, they want to win and be at their best. When I'm at my best, I can help a team a lot and I guess that's what I'm here to do, to play my best hockey and show that I can be a real threat in this league and for my team.<br>There are a lot Red Wings prospects playing in Sweden. I've played against Lucas (Raymond), I think, twice now. No, Lucas once and Mo (Seider) twice. So far I've played against Mo, Lucas and Albert (Johansson). I played Mo's Rögle team last game. We beat them 3-2. I actually had a nice assist against them. Since Mo and I were roommates in GR and really good friends, we don't really chirp at each other, but sometimes we just kind of laugh at the game a little bit. We just kind of giggle a little bit, talk a little bit in warm-up, and that's about it. Then we just kind of focus on the game.<br>Lucas is a really good player. Obviously it shows, he plays with high intensity and works hard. From what I've seen, he's got all the tools to be a really good NHL player and I'd love obviously to play with him in the future and have him on one of my wings. I think that'd be really cool. I said hi to him once after a game when I bumped into him in the hallway. I didn't really get a chance to exchange a few words with him because their team was leaving but he seems like he's a good kid, a really respectful and humble kid. We have a few guys on our team that are good friends with him here in Sweden, that grew up with him and said that he's a really cool kid, he's down-to-earth and really an easygoing kid to get along with.<br>My contact with the Red Wings has been with mostly Shawn (Horcoff) and Bear (Dan Cleary). They talk to me and just kind of watch video of my game and give me feedback. Nothing too crazy, just kind of let me play my game and talk to me every once in a while and give me their feedback. At this point I haven't heard what's next after Malmö's season is over. I guess we're going to wait to see how this season plays out. Detroit's going to decide for me and depending on what they want me to do and what their plan is, I'm just going to follow along and proceed with that.<br>My experience in Sweden has been terrific. I am feeling confident in my game and where it will lead. I am still the same type of player, but I've improved a lot. I've improved a lot physically and I'm a lot stronger, a lot faster. Obviously with the experience from last year, playing my first year pro, just knowing the game a bit better and I think just all around, having that extra experience from last year and carrying it on to this year, I'm able to play in a really good league right now and other players are not playing so I think that's a bit of an advantage for me. I think I'm going to be a better player when I arrive in Detroit.<br>If there is a downside to being in Sweden it's not being able to see my family, especially this time of year. I call them pretty much twice a day just to see how things are back home. They're talking to me a lot and ask me a lot of questions on how I'm liking Sweden. We communicate back and forth, my whole family. It sucks that they're not able to come down here and visit but it is what it is. I guess FaceTime is the best there is right now.<br>In closing, I wish you all Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and be careful out there.<br><em>In 54 games played for Grand Rapids, Veleno posted 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points. He finished minus-25 and notched three game-winning goals for the Griffins. On Oct. 6, the Red Wings loaned Veleno to the Malmö Redhawks, who play in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). In 21 games for Malmö, Veleno has six goals and five assists for 11 points. He has accumulated eight penalty minutes and is -12.</em>