Detroit — Dan Cleary admits some of the days and nights were awfully difficult last season.
Cleary hadn’t played minor-league hockey since 1999 before being waived and sent to Grand Rapids by the Red Wings before last season began.
The long bus rides, or returning from Grand Rapids after games, all left plenty of time to think.
“I’d be driving back and thinking to myself, ‘What in God’s green earth are you doing?’ ” Cleary said.
But know what? Cleary, 37, wouldn’t mind playing some more hockey, serving a similar role to that he had last season, and is leaning in that direction again.