Late bloomer

TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. — Not every player takes the same journey to professional hockey.

For James de Haas, the Red Wings’ sixth-round draft pick in 2012 (170th overall), the college route was the one he chose.

At last month’s development camp at Centre Ice in Traverse City, de Haas showed that it was not his first rodeo.

In fact, it was the fifth year that de Haas has attended development camp.

“There’s always new things to pick up,” de Haas said. “As much as each year there’s a lot of similarities and we do a lot of the same stuff, they try to switch it up a bit, do different things. I find every year there’s some stuff we’ll go over and it’s like, I’ve seen that three or four times but there’s always a few things to either refresh on or a few new things to learn so it’s definitely worth it to come up here.”

de Haas says he has learned a lot about improving his nutrition and different ways to work out every year in camp.

But at 22, he definitely feels like the older guy, especially with some of the kids who just got drafted in late June.

“Some of these younger guys are coming in here and it’s like, wow,” de Haas said. “But then again, I can remember being that young kid and some of the older guys in here.”

As de Haas is familiar with the routine, he was able to lead the way for the first-timers.

“Just try to lead by example,” de Haas said. “Me and Patty McCarron are good buddies and it’s his first time here so I’ve just been trying to help him out and if any of the younger guys have any questions, just try to help them out and give them any advice I can.”

de Haas says he’s not the same player he was when he was first drafted.

“I think defensively,” de Haas said. “When I was younger, I played forward so when I made the switch to D I had those instincts to jump in and be offensive. So I think biggest thing for me was just being tougher down low and competing harder. I …

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