New enemies, whom do you fear the most?

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I actually agree that they are an up and coming team. But to add to your earlier point about their playoff success last year. Well, the Wings were 1 game away from eliminating the Stanley Cup champions, so obviously it's not that we're just better on paper, we're just plain better (and that was before the additions of Alfredsson and Weiss) and we proved it on the ice.

I hope so. I think there's more up and coming teams in the East than the West. Many of them seem to be in our division.

[TheDetroitRedWings 286]

I hope so. I think there's more up and coming teams in the East than the West. Many of them seem to be in our division.

Agreed.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

The Senators for sure are going to play with a chip on their shoulder against the DetroitRedWings. I see both teams on equal footing, to me the east is gated in 3 sections top tier, second hier and the top 5 pick teams such as Buffalo, Florida. The second tier teams are those, that will fight out the last remaining spots and as others have mentioned, it will be a very unpredictable pool.

I fully expect the Rangers to have a bounce back season under Vigenault, Sather knows if they want Lundquist to stay NYR has to be better.

[Euro_Twins 4,485]

Didn't say they were great or better/worse than us.

I just said they were an up and coming team. Not a stretch when you look at last season.

Besides, it doesn't matter if our roster is better on paper than theirs. This isn't the NBA, where you can win on talent alone.

I agree you can't win on talent alone. But I think the Sens will be worse this year than last.

[turbowhistle86 155]

Well the point of this thread was to discuss new enemies and why people fear them. The Grand Rapids are the Wings farmteam.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. As an avid Wings fan I was totally unaware of who our minor league affiliate is. In case you forgot, this is an online discussion about a freaking game....lighten up.

[Ally 448]

The team I fear is also the team that I'm most excited for. Bruins.

[Wingnut in WA 86]

Boston, Boston, and Boston.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Not so much "enemies"; I'd sooner refer to it as "the renewal of some old, time-honoured rivalries".

[hillbillywingsfan 794]

The teams I fear the most are the crappy teams like the Islanders and Montreal. Recently it just seems like the wings have so much trouble with the bottom feeder teams. The team I am going to hate to see all the time is Pittsburgh of course.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

The teams I fear the most are the crappy teams like the Islanders and Montreal. Recently it just seems like the wings have so much trouble with the bottom feeder teams. The team I am going to hate to see all the time is Pittsburgh of course.

Well, the Islanders may not be a crappy team anymore. They had a surprising playoff appearance last year.

[Yzerfan1999 81]

I think the Wings will kick the living out of Toronto. Their goaltending is weak, and their tough approach (ie gooning it up) only works when the other team wants to fight. The Leafs got too many wins against Ottawa and MTL last season because those teams thought they could stand with them. Had they actually played HOCKEY, they could easily beat the Leafs. I actually think the Leafs would have missed the playoffs if they had played a full season last year. Bolland is a good pick up, Clarkson was the biggest waste ever. I guarantee he doesnt score more than 15 goals. He will crack under the pressure of the Toronto media.

Other than the Wings, Boston is the most solid team in the division, but to be honest I think every other team is dreading the arrival of the Wings. Should be fun.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

Not so much "enemies"; I'd sooner refer to it as "the renewal of some old, time-honoured rivalries".

To me it is really simple:

All NON RedWings teams which are all 29 others are enemies, with some these enemies the team shares some nice gold ole rivalries.

I think the Wings will kick the living sh*t out of Toronto. Their goaltending is weak, and their tough approach (ie gooning it up) only works when the other team wants to fight. The Leafs got too many wins against Ottawa and MTL last season because those teams thought they could stand with them. Had they actually played HOCKEY, they could easily beat the Leafs. I actually think the Leafs would have missed the playoffs if they had played a full season last year. Bolland is a good pick up, Clarkson was the biggest waste ever. I guarantee he doesnt score more than 15 goals. He will crack under the pressure of the Toronto media.

Reimer/Bernier or Bernier/Reimer is not exactly a weak goaltending duo far from it, it may not be elite and Howard is obviously better than the two but the Leafs aren't a team one should take likely. I hate the fact, that people are reducing players to only scoresheet numbers, there is so much more when it comes down to hockeyplayers, Bolland is a two time Stanley Cup champion a proven winner, Clarkson the total package he can slot in on a second line or carry a 3 line, drop the gloves, hit and provide points also. Some fans may not like it but playing a physical game and even beyond the edge is part of hockey, so saying Leafs haven't played hockey is wrong.

Well, the Islanders may not be a crappy team anymore. They had a surprising playoff appearance last year.

Vokun kept the highly favored Penguins in this series and provided them with the win, otherwise no doubt the Isles would have advanced. I think with their young core and Tavares becoming one of the premier players in this league their crappy days may soon be behind them, which makes me happy the Islesfans deserve better.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Nobody. Why should they be afraid of anybody? Weakness already portrays that they aren't good enough to win. Respect your opponent but play your game to the best of your ability, bust your tail off and outwork the other team and hopefully a good result comes up.

[Dabura 12,232]

Do we really play a puck-possession style anymore? After losing Rafalski and Lidstrom, just chipping the puck into the neutral zone was more than our D could manage some nights.

Can't remember if I replied to this or not, and I'm too lazy to check. (Too lazy to check, but I'll potentially re-write an entire response? Totally.)

We do still play a puck-possession game, I think. It's just, like you said, we've lost some key pieces in Rafalski, Lidstrom, et al., so it's not nearly as pretty and dominating as it once was. But the goal, I think, remains the same: have the puck as much as possible.

Also, about Ottawa...

When we had the 'hawks on the ropes, everyone in the hockey world was pooping themselves. But, we choked, and we couldn't buy a goal in Game 7, so we = the Sens? And maybe even worse than the Sens? Wah? Alfredsson said it himself: we play a special game. We're a special team. Not what we once were, no. But we've still got the chops to absolutely waste any team in the league in a best-of-seven series, provided our heads and hearts are in it to win it. The Sens have done nothing - nothing - to make me think they're suddenly a team to be feared, a team that's "really going to surprise everyone." Why, because they have Bobby Ryan? We know all about Bobby Ryan. Clarke MacArthur is an upgrade over Alfredsson? OH NOES!

I mean, credit where it's due: they finished in seventh last season without the regular services of, like, all of their key players. But then, we know a thing or two about succeeding despite injuries, don't we?

meh. The East.

[turbowhistle86 155]

I don't really "fear" any one team in the East, but more so the style of play in the East. Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be more respect between rivals in the West? They pretty much attempt to injur every key player in the East. I mean Malkin, Crosby, Horton, Giroux, etc always seem to be targets for high hits or gooning. I bet we see more injuries (if that's even possible) than the last few years.

[Dabura 12,232]

Nobody. Why should they be afraid of anybody? Weakness already portrays that they aren't good enough to win. Respect your opponent but play your game to the best of your ability, bust your tail off and outwork the other team and hopefully a good result comes up.

Semantics.

Which team(s) do you fear might give us real problems?

[MidMichSteve 1,115]

Which team(s) do you fear might give us real problems?

The teams that are at the bottom of the standings.

[anthonyn66 89]

I don't get why some of you are writing off the Leafs, I think out of all the teams in the division I fear them the most.

They're gonna play with some fire because of last year's outcome. They have a very deep team with good players for all scenarios. Kessel, Kadri, JVR, and Lupul provide good scoring, Bolland and McClement are solid PK centres. They've got grit with McLaren and Orr who won't play a lot but will play if needed. Their defence has a lot of depth, and they *should* have a very good tandem in goal this year. Bolland and Clarkson were good additions and should fit in well with Carlyle's system. They bring grit but that's not all they bring contrary to what people think. The only weaknesses I see in their team are the top 2 pairing in D (much like us) and their 1C and 2C who aren't elite yet (Kadri is small and is not a good enough 2 way player and Bozak is not an elite centre either)

"Look at where their toughness brought them"?? Don't forget this is a team that, like us, took a cup finalist to 7 games and looked like they had the series wrapped up. Boston is always a force in the playoffs so that isn't exactly something to sneeze at...

[Dabura 12,232]

The 'hawks were by far the most dominant team in the league last season. And they won it all. The way we dominated them (before one of our all-time great choke jobs) in the second round is, I'd say, way more impressive than what the Leafs did against the Bruins in the first round. We were absolutely embarrassing the eventual Cup champs - and after taking out the much bigger, meaner, "deeper" Ducks (who I feel would beat the Leafs pretty easily in a best-of-seven).

If their only two glaring problems are their top two centers and top two pairings...well, I think that's cause for concern - on their part. And I know they have the best two goalies in the league now, and when they fuse together into one super goalie no one will ever score against the Leafs again. But, really, neither one makes me go, "Oh man, he's gonna give us problems."

I think their biggest asset against us is their coach.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Dabura

[Shutemdown 23]

I feel that the biggest threat/opponent to the Detroit Red Wings this season will be The Detroit Red Wings. They're their own worst enemy at times. As stated earlier, when the Wings are playing their game, no one will beat them. Over the past couple of seasons, however, we've failed to compete at times, and the games where we DID show up to play, we've often squandered away our lead late in the third period.

If the Wings can learn to play hard for 60 full minutes, they've got a legimitate chance to go far this year, both in the Eastern Conference and in the post-season.

[StormJH1 231]

This whole Big, Bad East thing is incredibly overstated. It's the same stuff people were saying about the Flyers in '97. (Remember how the Legion of Doom was supposed to outright abuse the soft, smallish Wings?)

We had to play the 'hawks, what, like, 77 times this past season? And we won how many of those games?

No one in the East "scares" me like the 'haws. And, for my money, the Ducks are about as Big, Bad, and Nasty as any team you're gonna see in The New NHL - so, no, Boston doesn't really scare me too much. (Though I'm expecting us to drop quite a few contests against them.)

The Caps' PP scares me. I feel like it would eat us alive.

Overall, though? I am so incredibly pumped for our first EC tour.

I liked this comment. If you listen to non-Detroit fans like Wyshinski (whom I simaltaneously love and despise at the same time), you get a sense that people really viewed the '97 Wings in a way I never did, which was as "underdogs". Philly was just supposed to stomp us to the ground, and Lindros was going to claim the throne because Lemieux was retiring again, and that's just the way the narrative was supposed to go. It actually reminds me of the way people talk about the 2004 Pistons as an aberration - Detroit fans know that team was special, and perhaps one of the greatest defensive teams of all time, but rather than getting credit for stopping a Lakers 4-peat, everyone focuses on the implosion of L.A., even though they apparently handn't imploded enough to make it all the way past 3 rounds and to the Finals.

I'm just going to watch how we play and react from there. Of course I'm concerened about how we might handle away games in Montreal (given recent history), and Boston, Pittsburgh, etc. will be tough. But I guess it stems back to 1997 that I simply don't believe the Wings are "in trouble" because they play they're style of hockey as opposed to a North/South physical game. Case in point, Chicago (a Western team) was said to be too small and too finesse to compete with Boston also, and they just won the Cup.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

Somehow I think confidence is a good thing but overconfidence has a chance to backfire.

Personally I fear a lot of the new enemies but I am not expecting the DetroitRedWings to compete for the top-spot either. Going in with a more reasonable expectation can only lead to enjoyment, if they do better than expected fine, if not well not a big deal.

To be honest I think Chicago is a very boring team to watch, I love the energy Backes is playing with and appreciate a hardhitting back and forth game.

[Dabura 12,232]

Somehow I think confidence is a good thing but overconfidence has a chance to backfire.

Well, it's not like anything we say here is going to inflence how the team approaches things.

They won't fear anyone, and they (hopefully) won't take anyone lightly. Though there will, inevitably, be those nights when they just flat-out don't show up. And they'll all probably be against the Panthers.

I actually think the Blackhawks are much more fun to watch than the Blues. That grinding, stifling, one-goal-a-game business? meh.

[Dabura 12,232]

“They play that skating style, that puck possession style, that’s demanding and makes things happen." (Alfredsson.)

http://www.foxsportsdetroit.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/story/Alfredsson-skates-as-Red-Wing?blockID=934583&feedID=3569

(Re: Do we still play a puck-possession system?)

[Euro_Twins 4,485]

They play that skating style, that puck possession style, thats demanding and makes things happen." (Alfredsson.)

http://www.foxsportsdetroit.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/story/Alfredsson-skates-as-Red-Wing?blockID=934583&feedID=3569

(Re: Do we still play a puck-possession system?)

Yep. Just because it's not as prominent with lids gone, doesn't mean we stopped using it.