Erik Cole Not Surprised By Trade, Hoping For Good Fit In Detroit
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Veteran forward Erik Cole knew Sunday's game against the Anaheim Ducks could be his last one as a Dallas Star given the trade rumblings that he could be shipped to another team before Monday's deadline. As it turned out, Cole's last game with Dallas had already come and gone.
"I was at lunch and had a conversation with [head coach] Lindy Ruff, just asking if I was going to be in the lineup or not that night because I had family in town and would have spent some time with them rather than just preparing as a normal game day, and he assured me I was in the lineup and all that, and then, of course, I wasn't," Cole said Tuesday following his first practice as a Detroit Red Wing. "So it was one of those things. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to play - you prepare, I kind of expected that that would be my last one, and then it wasn't. Those things happen.
"It was a little difficult at first because I was told that I was going somewhere but not where, so I had to just kind of hang out in limbo," Cole continued. "Meanwhile, my former teammates were all around, preparing and trying to ask questions that I didn't have answers to. It was a little difficult at first, but [general manager] Jim Nill, who I think's a tremendous guy, he pulled me aside and he told me beforehand it was going to be a great situation, and then he told me what the great situation was and that it was here in Detroit. It made me excited right away."
Cole said the system he played in Dallas has several similarities to the one run by Detroit, so he expects to be able to get comfortable in it. After two days off the ice, it was good for him just to skate Tuesday, he said after the team's practice at Joe Louis Arena.
While Cole appreciates the Red Wings and the organization's history, he might still harbor a little bitterness about his interaction with the Red Wings in 2002, when his Carolina Hurricanes lost the Stanley Cup to Detroit.
"Thanks for that reminder," Cole said, not completely serious but not entirely joking. "Dog died that year, too. You want to talk about it?"
Painful history aside, Cole looks forward to contributing to the Red Wings, who have a record of 35-15-11 going into Wednesday's game against the New York Rangers.
"I want to do the things that make me a good player and allow me to open up ice for my teammates and for my linemates and make them better and make our team more successful," Cole said. "I think that using my speed and trying to be a big body out there, get to the front of the net, get to traffic areas, get on the forecheck and create loose pucks, just anything that I can do, really. But just play hard, try and play an up-and-down game and get to the net. I'm going to try and do those things, and hopefully we'll find a good fit here for me and we'll be able to continue with the success that the guys have been having."
Defenseman Marek Zidlicky, Detroit's other pickup at the deadline, waived his no-trade clause to come to the Red Wings. Like Cole, Zidlicky appreciates the winning tradition of the organization.
"First time that I come here, I was like, 'Unbelievable," Zidlicky said. "You can see pictures and everything, the walls. You can feel it's a lot of history here in this building. That's why I'm here."
Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith expected it would take some time for the new players to acclimate to the team's system, but he did not believe it would be too much of an obstacle for longtime pros Cole and Zidlicky.
"When you have veteran guys like that, I think they pick it up quickly," Smith said. "I think they're all smart - with hockey sense - players, and they'll pick it up as quick as possible. When you get into the game, things happen so quickly that you just ... play hockey, and that's the biggest thing.
"There's a few things that we will have to probably reiterate," Smith added, "but I think it's going to be a good system and a good situation."
