04:24 AM CDT on Monday, September 3, 2007
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News

FRISCO – Craig Ludwig knows just how short the NHL's training camps are these days.

"When we played, you had two weeks before you even played an exhibition game," said Ludwig, a former Stars defenseman. "Now, you're in on Friday and playing on Tuesday. It's tough not only for the players, but the coaches, too, to get everything done."

So Ludwig and Dwight Mullins, the coaches for the Texas Tornado of the North American Hockey League, are running a training camp of their own. Hired by the Stars to put together an hour or so of drills a day, Ludwig and Mullins have run the players through optional workouts heavy on conditioning.

The players will have nine days of available workouts at Dr Pepper StarCenter in Frisco, including four this week, in preparation for the official start of training camp Sept. 14.

"I think it's great, especially for me," said defenseman Mattias Norstrom, whom the Stars acquired at the February trade deadline. "As much as I've been here, it still feels new and different. It's good to start with the group from the very beginning and get in step with them. There's a lot of learning going on already."

Although several players missed the workouts last week to attend the NHL Players Association meetings in Toronto, most should be on the ice this week, and the workouts will start looking like practices soon.

"I think it's good that they're optional, but I also think it's good that they're available," said center Mike Modano, who is participating. "Anything that gets us out on the ice together is a good thing."

As part of the collective bargaining agreement signed in 2004, the preseason was shortened to 21 days. That means Stars coaches and players will be on the ice together for the first time Sept. 14 and will play St. Louis in a preseason game Sept. 18. They will follow with preseason games on the 19th, 20th and 22nd.

That's not a lot of time for Stars coach Dave Tippett to squeeze in conditioning and evaluation.

"Tip has a tight schedule, and he needs to get a lot done quickly," Ludwig said. "The harder he can push these guys on opening day, the more he's going to get accomplished. And the harder the younger kids can go on opening day, the better chance they'll have of making an impact."

Norstrom said players understand there are still different goals at different stages of their careers, but that everyone can be helped by the early workouts.

"For someone like Mike Modano or Sergei Zubov, they're revving up for the start of the season," Norstrom said. "But for guys who are fighting for a job, they're revving up for Sept. 14. This kind of gets all of us revving up at the same time."