With final walk-through, Team Canada wraps up Olympic orientation camp

CALGARY – After two days of walk-throughs, Hockey Canada wrapped up the main portion of its Olympic orientation camp Tuesday as players get set to continue their preparations for the upcoming NHL season.

There was no skating or physical testing, but Mike Babcock and his coaching staff got to spend time teaching players systems and strategy.

“We’re going to have the same retention we did last time, without any question,” Babcock said. “They’re going to go back to their teams and they’re not going to think about any of this stuff. But when you turn the light bulbs on for them again, the terminology, the patterns, what’s expected, it’s all going to be the same.”

Babcock hopes players are “way ahead” by the time they arrive in Sochi, Russia, in February after two-plus days of meetings and some ball-hockey sessions on Canada Olympic Park’s boarded-up international-sized rink. The goal was to give players at least a taste of how Canada will play at the Olympics, without the ability to go through real practices.

“It wasn’t done at the speed of hockey on ice, but sometimes that’s what you need to make sure guys understand and slow things down,” Boston Bruins coach and Canadian assistant Claude Julien said. “So it was certainly a way to slow things down by getting them to run instead of skating. The guys understood the concept and the system a lot better by doing it that way.”

General manager Steve Yzerman said players will meet briefly Wednesday morning before leaving Calgary.

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Smith relieved Coyotes have new owners

Goaltender Mike Smith was only with the Phoenix Coyotes for the past two seasons, but in that time the constant questions about the team’s uncertain future got to him.

“We always talked about not letting it creep into our room,” Smith said. “It seemed the last two (training) camps I was at, guys kept saying ‘We can’t worry about what’s happening with ownership.’ But this past year it started to weigh on us.”

With the ownership saga over after IceArizona finalized the purchase of the Coyotes in early August, Smith said it’s one less thing to think about. Now he and his teammates can focus on hockey and a future in Arizona.

“Signing some free agents, that stability will be key, and just being able to play knowing we’re going to be there, for the fans and the sponsors to know we’re going to be there, will be big,” said Smith, who signed a six-year, $34-million contract with the Coyotes earlier this off-season. “It’s a great place to play and I’m glad we’re staying there. It’s a place I can call home for a few years and not have to worry about whether the team’s going to be there next year.”