Brady Gilmour's confidence level wasn't the only thing that increased during his second season in the Ontario Hockey League.

His offensive production did, too - substantially.

After scoring seven goals in 61 games as an OHL rookie in 2015-16, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound forward erupted for 26 goals in 65 games last season for the Saginaw Spirit.

That was good for second on the team behind five-year OHL veteran Hayden Hodgsons's 38 and led the Detroit Red Wings to select Gilmour in the seventh round (193rd overall) of this year's NHL draft.

"I think the biggest thing was just confidence, having that one year in the league under my belt, just wanting to be more of a part of the team offensively," said Gilmour, 18. "But I think basically it was confidence, not being afraid to do things or shoot the puck.

"I was older and we lost a couple guys from my first year so I definitely did get a lot more opportunity. The coaches trusted to put me out there so I did get a lot more minutes on the ice."

The Spirit made Gilmour the No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 OHL priority draft and although he struggled to score as a rookie, he did provide a glimpse of things to come by leading the OHL in preseason scoring with three goals and five assists in four games that season.

That prompted former coach Greg Gilbert to say Gilmour was playing "like he's 25 years old" while praising his hockey IQ.

Gilmour tried to make the same impression last month at the Red Wings annual development camp.

The Red Wings don't use the camp to evaluate players. Instead, they try to prepare them for life as a pro hockey player by educating them on things such as nutrition, training, the importance of proper rest and dealing with the media.

"I had a good idea of what's good for your body and everything," Gilmour said. "We've had a couple years of that but then coming here, with the nutritionist especially, she's given us a ton of ideas and stuff like that so I'm really excited to get back home and try some stuff out.

"My goal since I've been little is to play in the NHL so I think a lot of guys are going to do whatever it takes to get there. All the little things, like I said, nutrition, sleep, training, they're going to do everything because so many guys around the world are doing the same thing.

"Just to be a part of this organization is a huge honor. They have so much history and it's just pretty mind boggling being part of an NHL organization and to be honest it's a cool feeling."

With Gilmour being in Saginaw - about a 90-minute drive from Detroit - the Red Wings will obviously be able to keep close tabs on him this season.

The Red Wings brass might even see Gilmour play as much as any of their junior prospects since Detroit senior vice president Jimmy Devallano and TV analyst Chris Osgood are both partners in the Saginaw ownership group.

"We saw them a fair amount down in Saginaw this year," Gilmour said. "I talked to them a good amount of times, but I think they'll be down even more this year. They were down last year a lot for (prospect Filip) Hronek, too.

"I got to meet them a couple times."

The Spirit will be counting on Gilmour to play a big role this season after Saginaw's 11-year playoff streak - the third-longest in the OHL - ended.

An alternate captain at the end of last season, Gilmour's visit to his first development camp provided a better understanding of what he needs to improve upon this year.

"Definitely my strength and speed," he said. "I think those are two things you need to keep getting better at to play at the next level. Just hearing the management talk here, it really opened your eyes to how strong and fast you have to be to play at the next level.

"I know what I have to get better at so I'm going to keep working over the summer and throughout the year getting stronger, faster to play at the next level. That's just what it takes, a lot of hard work and I'm going to continue to work at all of those things.

"I like to pride myself on giving 110 percent to whatever I'm doing. But I know it takes a lot of work to get to the next level. Being here at this camp just really opens your eyes on how much work it really does take."