On the Wings

Update (3. Mar, 6:19PM): More on the event from the Micheal Zuidema of the GR Press here -Sarah 

Darren McCarty held a Q and A session with Griffins season ticket holders after tonight’s 6-4 win over Lake Erie. We (Sarah and Megan) were fortunate enough to be in attendance. The first question was if he was okay, after a hard hit in the third sent him to the dressing room. For the record, he’s fine. The main thing he talked about was his journey back to hockey. He talked about the tough decisions he had to make when leaving Calgary, and that coming back to Detroit was not about hockey. He said he never expected to get this far, and he’s just taking it one day at a time. He also talked about his experience in Grand Rapids, and what the organization and fans have meant to him.

When asked about what it was like playing with so many young kids, McCarty laughed and revealed his nickname on the team. Graybush. He said he really enjoys having the opportunity to share his wisdom and help guys improve their game. He said the really cool thing was giving advice and watching the young guys put it into action. While talking about this, Darren’s face broke into a huge smile. We got the impression that this gave him a sense of accomplishment and he liked the idea of helping shape future players. It was then that the question of a possible future in coaching came up. He said he’s thought about it a little, but he was worried about the amount of work and time it would consume. However, he did say that when his kids got older he would need something to do. By the end, it really sounded like that was a path he was very interested in.

One fan asked what he expects his role to be in Detroit. McCarty first started with saying how much fun it’s been to play in GR, where he’s on the top line and PP unit. He knows that is far from what he will do in Detroit, but it was a fun change for him. As far as the Red Wings, he expects to once again offer intangibles that will help the goal scorers to do what they do.

There were a lot of questions about his past and what it was like to leave Detroit. One of those questions referred to the reports that he’d had to give up his Stanley Cup Rings during his bankruptcy. He set the record straight, saying that he was able to work something out with the trustees to save the rings for his kids. He also said some friends stepped in and saved some memorabilia for him, though he did not specify.

Darren expressed a tremendous amount of gratitude to the fans for the welcome he has received here in GR. He said that his home opener hat trick was his 3rd favorite game of his career (1st being game 4 Stanley Cup 1997, 2nd being Fight Night in Detroit). He also promised to bring the Cup to Hockeytown West when Detroit wins it this spring. He said it was the least he could do for us.

He said more, but our memories are only so good (in fact, quite bad) and we were a little starstruck. Hopefully the Griffins will post the audio later. If so, we will have a link.