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Veteran forward was dealing with family matter
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As a hockey player, James van Riemsdyk was feeling the pull of wanting to be in training camp with the Detroit Red Wings.
However, as a father, van Riemsdyk felt the responsibility he held as a father outweighed the need to be skating with his new NHL team.
You know what? He was right.
In the grand scheme of things, van Riemsdyk is only going to play for the Red Wings for a small portion of his life. He’s going to be a dad until the day he dies.
James van Riemsdyk joins #RedWings practice after being away for personal reasons and leads the stretch while teammates tap their sticks congratulating him. pic.twitter.com/0dywxSkOjs
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) October 1, 2025
Just before training camp opened, van Riemsdyk’s wife Lauren, gave birth to twins, Archer and Shepherd. And there were complications.
“They were born a couple of weeks ago, but one of them had some little extra time in the hospital,” van Riemsdyk told reporters following his first skate with his new team on Wednesday.
“And yeah, it’s obviously an emotional thing dealing with stuff with your family, with your newborns. It keeps things definitely in perspective.”
The entire episode should add a little perspective to a lot of people’s worlds.
There was a constituency of Red Wings fans suggesting that JVR needed to get into camp pronto. Fortunately, he didn’t think that way. No job, not even being an NHL player, should ever rank ahead of your family in their time of need.
“He deserved that time with dealing with what he was dealing with.” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said.
Make no mistake, van Riemsdyk is eternally grateful to play for an organization that puts family first.
JVR! pic.twitter.com/t58lktEDkH
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 1, 2025
“I’m definitely lucky to have a wife that’s very strong and did such a great job through the whole thing,” he said. “And obviously just feeling the support of all my family and support system, and the organization here, obviously being really great with me.
“You come to a new team and you don’t really know everyone that well, but just how supportive they were through the whole last few weeks of dealing with some stuff, with the birth of our twins, and just some stuff related to that with the pregnancy for my wife, just how great they were with me.
“I’ll always be grateful for that.”
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