I know this is from an in-the-tank Detroit re****ter, but an
interesting article nonetheless.
Red Wings might have their strongest roster yet
BY HELENE ST. JAMES =95 FREE PRESS S****TS WRITER =95 October 9, 2008
http://www.freep.com/article/20081009/S****TS05/810090417
When defenseman Brad Stuart was figuring out what to do this summer,
he kept arriving at the same conclusion: He really didn't want to play
against the Red Wings. He wasn't the only one whose thoughts ran along
those lines.
The Wings begin defending their Stanley Cup champion****p tonight with
a roster that, thanks to signings like Stuart and forward Marian
Hossa, is downright swoon-worthy. There isn't another NHL team that
has as much depth up front or on defense. Their roster includes the
reigning Norris, Conn Smythe, Selke and Lady Byng trophy winners.
Their third line would be the top line on a third of the clubs in the
NHL. Their young players are so talented that some of the veterans are
vulnerable to losing their spots in the lineup.
"It's the most talented group of guys that I've ever had the
op****tunity to coach, both up front and on the back, since I've been
in the league," coach Mike Babcock said.
It's a situation that begs the question: Can the 2008-09 Red Wings
extend the party begun by last season's group?
"If we stay healthy," Kirk Maltby said, "I think we can be as good as
any team since I've been here. I got here in '96, and was only here
the last month-and-a-half, but that's the year the team set the point
record and wins record. Potentially, I think we can be as good as
that. You look around the room at how many guys are back from last
year and then adding Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin -- we're a strong,
strong team."
After a summer of celebration, with the Stanley Cup being passed from
player to player, touching down in places like Stockholm, Sweden, and
Yekaterinburg, Russia, the Wings are now tasked with defending their
title. It's considered practically impossible to do in the NHL these
days. Since 1991 and 1992, when Pittsburgh won consecutive titles, the
only other team to do so was Detroit, in 1997 and 1998.
"Most of the teams have had troubles keeping their team together,"
Niklas Kronwall said. "There's been a lot of teams with big-name
players, their contracts have been up, and it's tough to re-sign
players after you win the Cup. Obviously guys want more, and you can
only do so much within your salary cap. We, on the other hand, have
been pretty lucky to keep most of the guys here."
The Wings have created the ultimate win-win situation: Good players
help the team win, which attracts more good players, who decide it's
worth taking less money to keep winning. Dan Cleary, for example,
signed a five-year extension in March; he probably could have netted a
half-million dollars more a season had he become a free agent. Ditto
for Stuart, who signed a four-year extension just before free agency
began in July.
"Having been here and been a part of the experience, knowing what this
team is all about, I wanted to continue to be a part of that," Stuart
said. "I didn't want to go anywhere else and have to play against
these guys. Here, everybody buys into what their part is, and that's
something I wanted to be a part of."
Hossa didn't want to play against the Wings again, either, at least
not this season. He had just seen his Penguins dismantled by Detroit
in the Stanley Cup finals, so he spurned efforts by the Penguins to re-
sign him, became a free agent, had his representative talk to general
manager Ken Holland, worked out a deal for $7.45 million (the same
amount Nicklas Lidstrom makes), then waited to join the team at
training camp.
His new teammates could hardly wait.
"When we found out we signed him," Kris Draper said, "I'll be honest,
you had about 25 guys that were ready to go right away."
The Hossa effect
Gaining Hossa was like gaining a new line. It means Henrik Zetterberg
and Pavel Datsyuk can play on separate lines, which is what Babcock
wanted to do last year. Now Datsyuk gets Hossa and Tomas Holmstrom,
and Zetterberg gets Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler, and on the third
line Valtteri Filppula gets Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson, a trio that
could easily combine for upward of 50 goals. The fourth line consists
of Draper, Maltby and Tomas Kopecky.
"The biggest thing for us is our depth," Zetterberg said. "Even our
third and fourth lines are capable of scoring. Having Hossa is great
-- he's a very skilled goal scorer, and now he's playing with Pav and
Homer, which I think is a great line -- they complement each other
really well. They'll be a great line in this league."
The Wings netted Hossa because he wanted to come to them, seeing the
team as his best chance to win the Stanley Cup.
"I know Detroit, they have always great puck-moving team and lots of
fun, but also what I like is they play both ways," Hossa said. "That's
what inspired me; that's why I wanted to come here."
In turn, the team hopes Hossa will serve as this season's rallying
point. Hossa's new teammates know he took a big risk in signing for
one year with Detroit when there were rumors of teams trying to lure
him with $10 million a year and long-term deals. Plus, he's probably
around for just one season, especially with the Wings needing to re-
sign Zetterberg and Franzen next spring.
"This is kind of a one-year window," Holland said. "This year we were
able to win the Cup and add players; no matter what happens this year,
we're losing players. We can't keep them all -- I've sat and done the
math over and over. Unless they're all taking half of what they
should, there's no chance."
But oh, what a year this could be. Shattered are all the old
criticisms the Wings used to have launched against them: too European,
too old, too delicate. In early June, Lidstrom became the first
European-born player to captain a team to the Stanley Cup; in mid-
June, he won his sixth Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman.
Zetterberg, Franzen, Kronwall, Stuart, Hudler, Filppula, Kopecky and
Cleary -- all are younger than 30.
There's primary scoring, secondary scoring, tertiary, too, for that
matter. In fact, it's the battle from within that the Wings trust will
lead them to succeed again.
The work ethic
Almost daily during the exhibition season, Babcock found something
nice to say about forwards Darren Helm and Ville Leino, the 25-year-
old signed as a free agent last spring. Both had to be assigned to
Grand Rapids to start the season so the Wings could comply with the
salary cap, but both are NHL players ready to push aside anyone who
isn't playing his best. That staggering depth is what Holland sees as
key to limiting complacency.
"You've won the Stanley Cup, you've added Hossa, you've kept your team
together -- everyone figures, 'OK, they're just going to have a great
year,' " Holland said. "That worries me, because you just don't know.
But our hope is, if things start to go a little funny on us, we've got
some kids that we think we can bring up and kind of change the
dynamic. They're beating at the door."
Even among the stars there's competition: Consider, for example, that
guys like Cleary and Filppula may be left off the power play.
"The competition we have is a big motivation for a lot of guys,"
Lidstrom said, "and I think it's competition that can help make our
team better, because you have to be sharp all the time. Guys in here
are fighting for minutes."
The Wings won't hesitate to make changes early, either. They look back
to last October, when defending champion Anaheim struggled mightily
early and never fully recovered. The Wings racked up 21 points in
October and 71 by the All-Star break. When February hit and half the
defense was out with injuries and wins were hard to come by, their
lead over other teams diminished, but there never was any fear that
the Wings wouldn't qualify for the playoffs.
"One of the things I saw last year was that even when we were losing
in February, we kept playing exactly the same way -- we didn't change
our identity or our system," Chris Osgood said. "We were even getting
better because different guys were playing and they improved a lot,
and that helped us in the playoffs. So just sticking to our identity
throughout the season was im****tant for us. We know we can't deviate
from what makes us successful."
The 2008 Stanley Cup banner will be raised tonight, one more party
token to be enjoyed, one more celebration to relish. Then the business
of the season sets in, and for the Wings, a long journey towards
another Cup beckons.
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