Chicago Blackhawks vs Detroit Red Wings
12:30 p.m. EST – Sunday, March 7, 2010
Live on NBC
The Detroit Red Wings have been so good, for so
long, it’s downright scary. They last failed to win a division title in
1999, and have appeared in two straight Stanley Cup finals, and have
only lost in the first round of the playoffs once since 2003. They’ve
found a way to continue to rebuild through free agency, but more
importantly through the draft as they’ve remained competitive for well
over decade.
This season the Red Wings are going through something they haven’t suffered in a very long time: a fight for a playoff spot in March. Detroit started off the season in a hole, as a poor start put them towards the bottom of the conference standings and the team has been struggling to get out it since then.
It’s been a tough road and one has to wonder: If the Red Wings are able to sneak into the playoffs this season will they be able to continue to dominate like they’ve done in the past in the postseason? Perhaps the age and yes, experience, is finally catching up to Detroit. It’s a situation that the team has not faced in a very long time.
The Red Wings players are not getting any younger.
The
average age of the Detroit Red Wings is 30.5, with the youngest player
on the active roster 23-year old Darren Helm. Every other player is
older than 25 with eleven players over the age of 30. The Red Wings have
built their current team through the draft, with gems such as Pavel
Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg coming in the 6th and 7th rounds. Has the
increasing age of the Red Wings contributed to their struggles this
season, as they fight to maintain positioning just for a playoff spot?
Is
it just a case of injuries?
The Red Wings have had a number
of devastating injuries to key players this season, contributing to a
poor start that has forced Detroit to try and crawl out of the basement
of the Western conference standings. Yet just as it seems as if they
were getting back on top and making a run, as in January, they stumble
and hit another bump in the road. Now that they are relatively healthy,
they sit in 8th place with a one point lead over Calgary and are just
four points ahead of 11th place Dallas. They may be getting stronger as
the season goes along, but how will this older — yet very experienced
– team fare in the playoffs against the younger and faster opponents.
Will their discipline and coaching carry them?
Have to rebuild
at some point.
Every successful team goes through ups and
downs from one season to the next; what made you successful one year
will not necessarily carry over to the next. Somehow, the Red Wings have
maintained a high level of competitiveness for nearly 14 years. Yet
there will come a point when they will stumble, and require a season or
two to rebuild and restock their team. The days of free-agent spending are over and the most successful teams are winning because of the players
they have drafted during the down years.
Is Detroit starting
to enter that cycle? The franchise’s drafts the past few seasons have not fared
all that well, although last year they were able to draft Landon
Ferrarro and standout Tomas Tartar. Are there any mid-round surprises on their way from the 2006,
2007 and 2008 drafts?
Are the Red Wings going to be forced to
restock? Most of the successful teams that are inching towards of top of the conference standings have done so due to drafts that provide a powerful nucleus from which to build around. Most times, these teams can do so because a few years of disappointment and mediocrity have given them high draft picks from which to work.
Detroit is approaching a turning point in the history of the franchise and what happens this spring and this summer will be a clear indication of the direction this team will take.
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- Brandon Worley - Mar 8, 2010 at 9:50 PM
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Jordan-
First of all, I appreciate your measured response. I realize that this opinion and question is not a popular one. Do I think that the Red Wings are about to just drop off the face of the NHL next season? Not a chance. I do think there has to be an inevitable lull, but it’s not like they’re going to become the Atlanta Thrashers all of a sudden. I just don’t think they’ll be as dominant as they have been. It may just last one season, but it may happen.
But hey, it’s the Red Wings. There’s a good chance it won’t.
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- Jordan - Mar 9, 2010 at 5:42 PM
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Mr Worley,
I will not discredit you at all for presuming that a lull is inevitable. As long as the current CBA is in place, it will be difficult for any one team to dominant in any fashion. However, I believe the Red Wings and a handful of other teams, are in a better position than most going forward, financially and personnel wise. Take this years Chicago Blackhawks team for example, because of UFA signings and extensions handed out during the season, they are most assuredly over (or very close) the cap going into next season, and will be forced to move some pretty essential pieces to their team. Now look ahead, teams like L.A., St. Louis, Phoenix, Washington, those young, up and coming teams, are going to be in a real bind in the next two or three years because all of those entry-level deals their rosters consist of, will be expired and their young stars will be expecting star-worthy paydays like those of Kane, Toews and Keith in Chicago. Detroit is not in that situation, their system is very structured in terms of how they develop players, not only skill wise, but financially as well. Of course, a change in the CBA could make all of this moot, but for the time being it’s all we have to speculate about.
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- Jim S - Mar 14, 2010 at 1:53 AM
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Personally, I agree with the opinion of the articles’ author. Age does matter, and while oft repeated its never been as clear as this year. As players age, they get hurt more and take longer to heal. Scotty bowmans dead. (or at least gone). that counts for huge imho. All the work the bowman put into the organization is now starting to dwindle away. Lidstroms near retiring, chelios has moved out (on?) shanahan your god is gone, and… well… what you have left is just slightly better than average – or say – the 8th placed team as of this writing. Do other teams still seem troubled by the aura of the wingnuts? aye. but that too is beginning to show signs of cracking. Even the PR gods aren’t putting dreadwings on the boobtube like they used to. The league is now in the hands of the individual and not the team – see Sid and the Great 8. I watch the wings and I see … slow speed, poor defense and mediocre netminding. Sorry wing fans… your age IS showing and you can rant all you want. You’re struggling this year just to get in, and the next 2 years look really bad… even the free agents ignored detroit this year for the playoff push. Thats writing on the wall from the inside. end of the era. done.
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- njh - Mar 14, 2010 at 12:36 PM
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As a former Michiganian (I’m not a goose!), I am still a Red Wings fan, although I don’t follow them closely, now that I’m in New Orleans! I grew up in GR around hockey. My dad played some and was an official for many years in the IHL.
Every professional sports team has the potential to have a down season, when they are rebuilding, whether because of coaching staff, ownership or player changes. I’ve been a Saints fan since I moved here in 2004. They played the Lions on Christmas Eve of that year, when they were the two worst teams in the NFL. I really didn’t know which team I would root for, until the end of the game, which wasn’t a bad game, since they were evenly matched!
But, by the end of the game, I was rooting for the Saints. Last year when they lost to the Bears, we all knew the defense needing a change. Enter Greg Williams. ’nuff said about football and us Who Dat’s.
The point is, pro teams rebuild periodically. At the same time, a REALLY good management could potentially orchestrate a smooth, continuous transition. ‘doesn’t usually happen that way.
The Tigers have the same thing. The ’68 Tigers were not the same as the ’84 Tigers. They haven’t been the same since. The farm system may hold gems (Like Alan Trammel for the Tigers), but bringing the right players to the majors at the right time requires a lot of… something that most management teams don’t have year after year.
If the ‘wings have a down year, they’ll be bahk! Look at the Yankees – when I was growing up, they dominated. And everybody wanted them to lose. They’ve had other runs. Everybody likes to hate a dynasty. It might be refreshing to have a down year or two. Then the comeback will be that much more exciting and satisfying.
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- leftcoastblue - Mar 16, 2010 at 8:12 AM
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Jim, age may matter, but as many of the posters on this thread have emphasized, the Red Wings have been hearing about ‘age’ for most of the past 15 years — during which time they have been the winningest organization in pro hockey.
My primary point, however, is this: Scotty Bowman’s contribution to the organization was as a COACH. And the Red Wings now have by far the best active coach in the game, Mike Babcock. All those people who built the Wings — Ken Holland, Jim Devallano, Jim Nill, etc. — are still building the team.
(By the way, you know so little about hockey you think Scotty’s dead — he’s actually in Chicago as a consultant to his son, who is GM for the Blackhawks.)
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- bill - Mar 16, 2010 at 10:50 AM
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top prospect Ville Leino give me a break, can’t skate, afraid of the corners, no defense. He might score 20 goals but hew would be a minus 20
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- Wangedwing - Mar 22, 2010 at 7:08 PM
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Wow, Jim, your hockey acumen is a marvel to behold. pfft..yo, knucklehead, its nice you want to be a troll, but lets talk real here for a second k. According to the league’s best guesses, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen are top 50 players, with Datsyuk being put in between 3rd and 7th, Z is down a few spots from there..and Franzen, because he was out most of the season (and he happens to be young, like the rest of the core)comes in somewhere around 50…Lidstrom of course is still one of the finest defensemen, as for speed, Have you watched a red wings game? I mean really watched it? You don’t need to have a ton of speed, tho, they do have it, when you control the puck in the other teams defensive zone for 75% of the game. You don’t get 40 shots a game because your slow either. Jim…your obviously a hater..and thats too bad..your opinion, is…ridiculous, lets move on and not talk to Jim..he’s uh….not right. I expect Lidstrom to play one or two more years, its possible, if they were to win the cup this year, he could make it his last..that would be 5 rings for Nicky. And remind me again..how many Norris trophies? 5? 7? eh, no matter. Jim must be a Pittsburgh fan, and knows the Wings got cheated twice in the finals last year…30 seconds of 6 men on the ice where everyone saw it, except the refs..and the shortened suspension, and moved up date for the finals…yeah..whaterver Butthead.
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- aditya - Apr 2, 2010 at 4:13 PM
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Late to the party, but I have to agree that what isn’t plainly obvious to other franchises, fans, and clearly bloggers is that the Wings have been on the older side of the league for the majority of their 16 year run of dominance. They keep prospects in the minors longer than other teams (Holland likes to call it over-ripening) because they believe veteran players are more consistent and therefore a team is more stable when the players are older. The Wings also try to generate the most skill from players in their prime (Zetterberg, Franzen, Datsyuk) are all in their prime. Most people think of “prime” as 27-30. For the Wings it seems they feel 28-34 is “prime”. Therefore players who are older and younger tend to fill roles. When younger players like Filppula and Hudler can contribute offensively that helps (btw, Leino was never truly a prospect since he was an overage signing akin to Brunnstrom) but having the top defensive pairing as a 40 year old and a 36 year old is a concern. In fact it’s the real concern. How to replace Lidstrom (the one constant through the Wings decade and a half of dominance and nearly two decades of playoffs) and also Rafalski.
And when you talk about the players drafted in 07, 08, 09… those guys won’t make the Wings for 4-7 years from now. That’s not how we do it. And that’s why we’re stable.
The problem with just saying the Wings are “old” is that it’s a very broad and not very useful statistic. It’s like saying the Wings are bad because no one on the team has 30 goals.
Funny, I didn’t intend to go on the rant. Actually wanted to just let you know that Hockey’s Future is garbage though I love the forums of course. At least HF is garbage when it comes to the Wings prospects. There’s no rhyme or reason to it and I can sincerely evaluate players better than they can. If you want real Red Wings propect info go to RedWingsCentral.com.
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- Probert fan - Apr 4, 2010 at 5:35 PM
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Is Gary Bettman Gay? I listened to an interview with him and Ron Maclean on Hockey Night in Canada, and every comment He made he had to touch Ron’s hand very feminine like. Could be why fighting is heavily penalized in the past couple of decades to sort of pansify the players. Next we will see women in the NHL and teams will be wearing dresses instead of the traditional sweater.
