Traverse City kicks off NHL pre-season

Eight teams, including all five of the Midwest-based entries will be taking part in the Annual Traverse City NHL Prospects Tournament beginning Friday in both the Davids rink and West rink at the Traverse City Center Ice Arena.

With training camps following immediately after the completion of the tournament, this is effectively, a kickoff to the 2015-16 campaign for young hopefuls.

The eight teams will be broken into two four-team pools with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars all in the Gordie Howe Division while Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues will be joined by the New York Rangers Prospects in the Ted Lindsay Division.

Each team will play the other three teams in their pool followed by a final day that will see them crossover to play their ranking couterpart on the other side. For example the fourth ranked teams on both sides will play for seventh place, leading up to a championship game between the top ranked teams from each pool.

Each team will have a combination of young players drafted by their club in recent seasons along with some undrafted talent looking to catch on at some level with a professional team.

Listed below is a schedule for the round robin games.

Sept. 11

3:30 p.m. – Minnesota Wild vs. NY Rangers (Davids)

4 p.m. – St. Louis Blues vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (West)

7 p.m. – Chicago Blackhawks vs. Dallas Stars (Davids)

7:30 p.m. – Detroit Red Wings vs. Carolina Hurricanes (West)

Sept. 12

3:30 p.m. – Dallas Stars vs. Carolina Hurricanes (Davids)

4 p.m. – Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks (West)

7 p.m. – Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Minnesota Wild (Davids)

7:30 p.m. – St. Louis Blues vs. NY Rangers (West)

Sept. 14

3 p.m. – Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues (Davids)

3:30 p.m. – Columbus Blue Jackets vs. NY Rangers (West)

6:30 p.m. – Carolina Hurricanes vs. Chicago Blackhawks (Davids)

7 p.m. – Detroit Red Wings vs. Dallas Stars (West)

Sept. 15

3 p.m. – 4th Place Lindsay Division vs. 4th Place Howe Division (Davids)

3:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Lindsay Division vs. 3rd Place Howe Division (West)

6:30 p.m. – 2nd Place Lindsay Division vs. 2nd Place Howe Division (Davids)

7 p.m. – 1st Place Lindsay Division vs. 1st Place Howe Division (West)