Why the Detroit Red Wings are headed for a fall

[Jersey Wing 1,521]

#1) Anyone else get the impression the writer didn't ever get that Texas Instruments calculator for Christmas as a kid?

#2) "At some point"...at some point in about 3.5 billion years the sun will begin to consume itself and swell up real big and swallow Mercury, Venus and most likely Earth. At some point, weak.

#3) I love the baseball previews that the Freep and Detroit News run on opening day. I'm a Braves fan, have been since around 1986 when they sucked outloud. Every season during their 14 year run of division titles the pre-season prediction almost always had another hot team of the moment that was going to stop the streak. It always sounded like a guess more out of hope they'd lose. A lot of NHL fans of teams with poor attendance or a bad front office hate the Wings constant elite status. Some of them write for ESPN.

#4) THIS is a fall:

[Guest Heaten]

Mike Ilitch's kids are involved with the team and invested in its success. Sorry to disappoint you.

and..,, um... Why would that disappoint me? :::scratches head in pure confusion:::

[wmubronco420 25]

I don't think you can call those years a 'fall' just because we didn't do well in the playoffs. '98-99 was kind of a 'down' year, and the last time we finished under 100 points. In the six non-Cup years between then and '08 we won 2 President's Trophies, finished 2nd overall 3 times, and 3rd once.

Between the back-back Cups and the '02 Cup the stars mostly stayed the same. Hasek was pretty major move but Hull, Robitaille, Chelios, and other moves were just tweaks. Something like trading Flip. The emergence of Pav and Hank, and having Nick as a constant allowed us to transition from Yzerman, Fedorov, and Shannahan without a hitch.

This is different I think. Losing Nick is a major hit, and we don't have anyone ready to fill that hole. Since the lockout it's become even harder to find good free agents (as this year should prove). That alone could knock us down a notch. And not too long after we'll need Pav and Hank to pass the torch. We have some prospects that may become stars, but if they don't it could be enough to drop us down among the bottom-feeders. Also, if those guys don't pan out, we won't have the trade assets to do anything either.

In short, the run has to end sooner or later. How we replace Nick will probably determine which.

How adding three hall of famers is considered "tweaking" the team is just beyond me.

Anyway as far as the article goes I really don't have any problems with what the writer says, as it stands right now we don't have any stand-out prospects that seem to be locks to be elite in the future. There's a few maybes there but nothing to really get too excited about. The Wings havent done anything to get better this summer and are truthfully a worse team right now than we were last year, meanwhile Columbus, LA, Minnesota, and San Jose seem to be getting better. As it stands right now I see the wings as a 6-8 seed in the playoffs next year as Datsyuk and Zetterberg are still elite in the league, but we wont be blowing the doors off of anyone. I just thank God Lids returned otherwise we would truly be boned.

[Nev 1,085]

The article makes a valid point - other than Smith (and it remains to be seen how good he will be) we don't have any valid blue-chip prospects right now. The likes of Tatar and Nyquist may turn out to be good NHLers, but we don't know yet (and a little perspective, Filpulla and Kopecky were 70 point players in the AHL and Hudler was a 90 point player, and we know what lighning rods they are for opinion)

In the early 2000s when fans/media were predicting our demise post Shanny/Yzerman Wings fans knew we had Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Kronwall waiting in the background. Right now I can't say we have players of that calibre.

[Red Wings Addict 787]

(and a little perspective, Filpulla and Kopecky were 70 point players in the AHL and Hudler was a 90 point player, and we know what lighning rods they are for opinion)

Hehehe... Poking the Eva.

[Nev 1,085]

Actually no, just pointing out that those guys put up much better numbers in the AHL than our current bunch of prospects have so far

[Guest echos myron]

Red Wings.... more like DEAD THINGS! Am I right?

[chrisdetroit 189]

This is a load of crap. The article is filled with a bunch of generalizations. Here are the problems that I have with their logic:

1. The Wings are not getting high first round picks so they will decline. But the same applies to all the winning teams not just Detroit.

2. They are getting old. Well I think they had the oldest team in the league in 2008 when they won the Cup. In fact they usually have one of the oldest teams and they still keep winning so it seams that age is irrelevant.

3.There is an implication that high draft pick = success. But that ignore the perennial losers. There must be more to it than that.

4. The Wings got lucky with Dats and Z, and Lids, and Howard, and Helm, and Abby, and Homer and Franzen. None of these guys were high draft picks. That's alot of getting lucky.

5. It ignores free agents and trades which can still be had if you can sign them cheaply. Guys like Cleary, and Stuart.

6. The article also ignores that fact that the Wings, unlike other clubs, send their draft picks to GR instead of directly to the NHL. They have been successful at taking mid level draft picks and spending the time to develop them. This is an advantage that other teams don't have or aren't patient enough to utilize.

This is just a poor article. It ignores to many factors.

[chrisdetroit 189]

The article makes a valid point - other than Smith (and it remains to be seen how good he will be) we don't have any valid blue-chip prospects right now. The likes of Tatar and Nyquist may turn out to be good NHLers, but we don't know yet (and a little perspective, Filpulla and Kopecky were 70 point players in the AHL and Hudler was a 90 point player, and we know what lighning rods they are for opinion)

In the early 2000s when fans/media were predicting our demise post Shanny/Yzerman Wings fans knew we had Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Kronwall waiting in the background. Right now I can't say we have players of that calibre.

How do you know? Smith may in fact be the real deal. The top 3 D-men in the league (the Norris finalists) were all picked after the first round. And what about Thomas Jurco?

[pucktividi 472]

The article makes a valid point - other than Smith (and it remains to be seen how good he will be) we don't have any valid blue-chip prospects right now.

True,but the same kid Smith,future top 2 d man,AHL all star still can't earn a roster spot.Our defense can be better,but it's not like we should throw them all under the bus.

Besides,we've just drafted 5 d men this summer,so the future is bright if you ask me