40 years ago today marked the dawn of the 'Dead Wings'

[ACallToArms 270]

Good story in the Free Press about Ned Harkness and the beginnings of the "Dead Wings" era. Doesn't get into too much detail, but still an interesting read. Shows you how much player loyalty to the coach, and the coach's loyalty to the players, can affect your team's game.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110102/SPORTS05/101020483/1433/40-years-ago-today-Dawn-of-the-Dead-Wings

[Kira 451]

Oh, the "Darkness with Harkness". You thought Lions fans hated Matt Millen? Multiply that hate by about 10 and you'd have Ned Harkness.

[Nev 1,085]

Right away Ned told us he didn't want leather sport coats," Unger said. "He told Alex Delvecchio to stop smoking cigars. He drew on a napkin how he wanted my hair cut, and he made Pete Stemkowski go back to the barber at least two times.

See, if you're Scotty Bowman and you do this, you're a phsychological genius. If you're not Scotty Bowman......

Still, at least he brought Micky Redmond here

[nate94gt 134]

I like reading about the old wings teams. I don't have much hockey history in me so I find it fascinating.

Thanks for the post

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

It would be great news to read that someone, with both the expertise and knowledge, (Bob Duff of the Windsor Star comes to mind) was writing a book on the Norris family. If done properly and truthfully, that would be a great read.

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

I didn't start tracking the Dead Things til the 80s. I'd listen to the radio in my bathroom getting ready for school everyday and they would announce the Dead Things or Dead Wings score - usually a loss. I somehow became a big fan of the team during this period. Of course it helped that they wound up drafting Stevie Y. They'd still lost most of their games - but they were really fun to watch. Odds of Probert getting arrested or getting into a fight were pretty much 100%. Entertainment....

[mjlegend 155]

One of my first conscious RW memories was hearing some jerk on the radio say that "Red Wings head coach Brad Park was fired today...I guess that's why they're called the Dead Things..." I was a kid and my parents were sitting in the front seat having a little chuckle about that, like the guy had shared an old priceless joke.

Really hard to believe it's the same franchise sometimes.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

No matter how much the players hate a coach, there's no excuse for them not showing up to play.

It's not about playing for the coach, but about playing with pride and earning your paycheck.

Those Wings players dropped the ball on that one, even though Harkness sounds like an incompetent coach.

[Guest Stolberg]

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

These types of "reads" are always good for those of us who weren't alive during the Harkness time frame.

Thanks for posting.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

And Harkness was still General Manager for the next player's coup d'état three season's later. Then, "Fats" stepped in, that opportunistic...

[55fan 5,133]

Wow. I just did the math and realized that's when I moved back to the US, and into a non-hockey market. No wonder I didn't hear much about hockey back then. My dad probably couldn't bear it.

Thanks for posting.