Witkowski and his teammates have some time before training camp opens next month but they already have their goals in mind as they do their offseason workouts.
"You look in that locker room, everybody's a competitor. We want to be in the playoffs," Witkowski said. "We were right there in so many games that would have helped us get there. We'll see what happens out of camp, who makes the team, who's going to be in that locker room. But I think it's exciting, we have the players, we have the ability to do so, we just got to do it."
Although he did not pay attention to the NHL draft when it was happening in June, he has gone online to read about what the Wings did and was encouraged.
Forwards Filip Zadina and Michael Rasmussen plus defensemen Filip Hronek, Dennis Cholowski, Joe Hicketts and Libor Sulak will all be in the mix to fight for jobs this fall.
That will make it a little tougher on the veteran players as well.
"Nobody's guaranteed a spot, that's just the way it is," Witkowski acknowledged. "It's going to be competitive. Guys are worried about their jobs, coaches, the organization, the Red Wings have a history of winning and we want to get back to the playoffs. That's the No. 1 goal."
Now that the calendar has changed to August, Witkowski said it's time to get even more serious.
"It's go time," he said. "Every day you're thinking you're going to get the email for camp and then it's right around the corner. There's a month and a half left of our summers so those are key days to get ready for camp."
For today, Witkowski was happy to back on the ice with players who are a little smaller than his Wings teammates.
They're fun to be around and always have some interesting questions for him.
"A lot of it has to do with my beard," Witkowski said with a laugh. "'Can I touch your beard? Can I pull your beard? Is that beard real? Are you related to Santa Claus?' A lot of beard questions."
But that's not all.
Many of the young campers know of Witkowski's pugilistic prowess.
"Those are the other questions," Witkowski said. "'How many fights have you been in? How many have you won? How many have you lost?' So either beard or fighting questions, those are probably the top two."
Fighting skills weren't on the schedule for the campers but you never know what they will do, especially with Witkowski in the house.
"If they want to (drop the gloves), they can try," Witkowski said. "I'll probably skate away from the issue because that's what my mom always taught me.
"If there's some troublemakers in the group, I might have to pull a jersey over their head. That's about it."
