from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

“Obviously high,” said Veleno of his confidence level. “I had a pretty good tournament but I have to reset myself here. I know it’s a different level. This is like the real stuff.”

The Wings’ coaching staff and player development staff worked with Veleno the entire summer and last season to improve the velocity and accuracy on his shot.

“That was one thing I wasn’t doing as much in junior a couple years ago,” Veleno said. “Once I got drafted here, they kept telling me to shoot the puck. I worked on my shot during the summer and got stronger.”

Another item coach Jeff Blashill wanted to stress was Veleno concentrating on becoming a complete two-way center, effective on the defensive side as much as becoming a threat offensively.

“It hard to be a pure point guy, and you look at his point (totals) in juniors, they were good but they weren’t astronomical,” Blashill said. “To think you come here and all of a sudden go astronomical in points would be misleading.

“So become a great two-way center.”

more