Is this the final chance?

[Guest DetroitBoy313]

Is this the final year we will have a chance at the cup for a while? I mean I know that we just came off a stanley cup season and this question is impossible to answer but I just wanted everyone's thoughts.With other teams emerging and the salary cap supposedly going to drop what is our team going to look like in years to come?

[OsGOD 3]

final chance for some of the elder members of the team sure... as for detroit itself.. i doubt it

[12Newf 0]

as long holland is the GM, detroit will always have a chance.

[CenterIce 83]

The Wings core is pretty young with Zetterberg, Franzen, Datsyuk up front and Kronwall, Rafalski in the back. They should be fine. The most interesting position will be the goal tender. They either have to get something out of Howard or Larsson or land someone through free agency.

[Barrie 900]

We're set up to win for the next 10 years.

[akustyk 84]

that's difficult to predict but there's number of factors which make me rather optimistic.

I'm not expecting Wings to be shooting at cup every single season with level playing

field in the NHL but I can see them being constantly on top for some time and making

deep playoff runs once in a while.

a lot of this depends on Wings ability to scout well and develop quality prospects.

if we have this the team will have enough assets to make deals and bring players

required to build a winning team.

the other factor here is cup hunger which makes players pay bigger price for winning.

this is not going to be equally big every single spring but Wings should have it

strong enough frequently enough to be on roll when necessary.

there are unpredictable factors like the evolution of game rules, CBA's, growth of

KHL, Michigan economy etc. but I tend to think Holland is smart enough to deal

with most of them. he sure did good job with post-lockout mess when he was

basically caugh off-side with his old "buy the best, forget the draft" strategy.

it didn't take him long to reshape his franchise for new NHL landscape

[Z and D for the C 712]

The final? No. By far the best? Probably.

Edited November 23, 2008 by Z and D for the C

[Shaman 713]

The final? No. By far the best? Probably.

I disagree, IF the cap goes down (which at this point its too early to say), its going to affect every other team too, So long as the wings know enough to keep developing their goalie prospects we should be just fine for the next few years.

[daniel1 32]

From the look of the younger guys coming up I think as long as we get decent goaltending we should have a good shot at the Cup every year for at least the next 5 years or so. I think there will be some upgrades when Maltby, McCarty and Draper are replaced with Helm, Leino and Abdelkader. Ericsson will be an upgrade over Lebda on the D end too. It would be nice to have Lids around for a couple more years as well.

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

Wondered that in '99, '03 etc....

The answer is NO - the Wings will be in the mix for the foreseeable future...

[Duck Guy 86]

Yes... Detroit won last year on luck and luck only the wings are what i like to call 11 hit wonders. They are done over goodbye. And even though this is their last year to compete for the cup they will NOT win it. They will be outscored 55-1 in 4 games to the sharks in rd. 1. Then they will be sold for $3 and a sack of potato chips. And dats will go to the ducks being a solid 3rd line grinder.

Wings will always be top competitors for the cup they have unmatched drafting capabilities and they know what it takes to win.

Edited November 23, 2008 by Duck Guy

[DyingAlive 27]

I think we have a pretty good chance in 2032.

[seeinred 1,488]

Yes... Detroit won last year on luck and luck only the wings are what i like to call 11 hit wonders.

Hahahaha, nice.

To answer the question: If the world ends after this season, yes. Otherwise, no.

[55fan 5,133]

It will be the last chance for this exact roster.

As much as I wish we could get all of these guys back again, reality rears its ugly financial head.

Will we still be in the thick of things for the Cup? You betcha! Look at our goal scoring. It is spread around. Take tonight's game for example. Hossa and Dats' goals were extra. Hudler's was not a surprise given how he's been playing, but Malts and Lebda? What odds would Vegas give on that? Yet Malts, Mac, Kopy and other whipping boys have been scoring. Sure Dats, Hossa and Z are the key players, but we also have Franzen and Homer, and Flip as well. We also have some good offensive-minded D men.

Conk is proving to be a great goalie, and I am seriously wondering what will happen with J-Ho next year. Ozzie is wonderful, and the competition he is getting from Conk can only make him better.

No matter who we can't re-sign or who we trade, we are set for a couple of years. Then, when the retirements start, we have the GR boys chomping at the bit to prove themselves.

We won't win it every year. That would be foolish to predict, and I think the year after Lids retires will be a downer, but I do see us at the very least making the playoffs, and I don't see any reason to give up hope for Cups in the forseeable future.

And someone will always be Lazy and will Suck.

Then again, I'm a regular Pollyanna Sunshine who thinks the glass is always half-full and ignores the probability of bacteria lurking in it.

[The Mule 0]

No. If the Wings are facing salary cap issues, other teams will run into the same bumps along the road.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Is this the final chance?

*shrugs*

[VM1138 1,921]

We ask this every year. We will stay dominant for many years to come. Who knows if we'll win, but it's not our last chance by far. We seem to have a pretty seamless transition coming in for the guys retiring and the guys coming in, talentwise.

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

A lot of our prospects/Griffins would already be playing full time in the NHL on other teams. We have a lot of talent waiting to play for the Wings, so I think we will be dominant for a while.

Look at th 90's. Almost everyone from our 97 and 98 Stanley Cups are gone. A lot of our 02 winners aren't with the Wings either anymore.

Yzerman, Shannahan, Russian 5, Vernon, etc. We haven't lost it since that roster left.

[KrazyGangsta 79]

Nope, not our last chance we've got good prospects and good coaching / management / scouting, to last us a good 10 - 15 years, we will always be on top, but winning the cup every year ... that one I doubt it ... there's 30 other teams and if we win every year it would be sweet but boring lol ... anyways don't you know all ready, refs decide who win lol

[vangvace 12]

they have unmatched drafting capabilities and they know what it takes to win.

this will keep us at the top more than anything else.

[chrisdetroit 189]

Is this the final year we will have a chance at the cup for a while? I mean I know that we just came off a stanley cup season and this question is impossible to answer but I just wanted everyone's thoughts.With other teams emerging and the salary cap supposedly going to drop what is our team going to look like in years to come?

Not even close. The most likely scenario is that we lose Hossa, Cheli, Conklin. We might also lose Sammy or Hudler. None of these guys are our key players. We have Leino, Helm, Ericsson and Howard who are ready to step up. Our "key" players are all in the prime of their careers.

We will take a hit after 2009-2010 if Lidstrom retires but we will survive and we certainly are stocked on defense.

[soultrain 43]

we can win the cup every year. if you ask the "experts" we never will win another game... ever. so i think that we are gonna win the cup every year for the next twenty years+.

[b.shanafan14 733]

This is the last year for the "old" guard. With the premium on capspace and our young players developed to the point of holding them back for too long, you'll see the relatively free-ride so far on sentimental players come to an end. Helm, Ericcson, Leino, Ritola, Larsson, Howard, Abdelkader, etc. will rotate seemlessly into a roster with stars like Pav and Hank who have already worked with the Hudlers and Filppulas of the current roster.

The one hiccup I think the Wings are going to suffer in coming years is when Lidstrom finally hangs them up. He can play forever at the elite level, but eventually he'll tire of getting up for the season. I think we aren't going to truely TRUELY appreciate what Lidstrom provides the team until the season after his departure.

That all said, the Wings are set for a generation, count on it.

[redwing_sparty 0]

we have solid prospects so we should be fine there. and don't forget that whenever lidstrom does decide to retire (note: I AM NOT SAYING I WANT THIS) we will free up a bunch of cap space to go after another big time player or several solid players.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

we have solid prospects so we should be fine there. and don't forget that whenever lidstrom does decide to retire (note: I AM NOT SAYING I WANT THIS) we will free up a bunch of cap space to go after another big time player or several solid players.

Or to hand out raises. Guys like Ericsson, Helm, and Kronwall won't be making a pittance for long.

The Wings need to be very careful. Outside of Lidstrom, there isn't gonna be a ton of salary coming off the books due to retirement or paycuts.