There aren’t too many things wrong with this Red Wings team as they have been Stanley Cup Finalists the past two seasons and won it all in 2008. The same team is back with their veteran leadership and experience, as well as some youthful players. Lately no one team has done it better than the Red Wings in drafting and building strong players. So early in some of these young players’ career, they have already made a name for themselves on the Red Wings roster and are basically everyday players.
Three young players that should fit right in and at least play more than 35 games are Jeremy Williams, Justin Abdelkader, and Patrick Eaves. All three of these players have already played in the NHL, and are all looking for that one breakout season, that will jump start their careers.
Starting in goal, the Red Wings will welcome back Chris Osgood and he very quietly put together an amazing season that has saw him win three Stanley Cup’s and appear in the Finals four times, all with Detroit. Some say he is worthy of the Hall of Fame, and others beg to differ, but you cannot argue with his numbers. It looks like he will be in for another 34+ win season and will have a great defense in front him to achieve that mark.
Leading the charge from the backend will be Captain Niklas Lidstrom, and he isn’t too bad in scoring a few points either. Over the past four seasons Lidstrom’s point totals have been off the charts for a defenseman, and he has averaged well over sixty points a season.
Backing up Lidstrom in a big way is Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Andreas Lilja, Brett Lebda, and Niklas Kronwall. Just to play it safe, the Red Wings’ GM Ken Holland also added Andy Delmore, bringing in another veteran defenseman. One rookie defensemen that may get looked at will be Logan Pyett. Pyett has some real good promise and will crack the Red Wings’ roster full time, probably even next year.
Getting production from the blue line wasn’t a problem at all for the Red Wings, as they ranked in the top five with the most points from their defense. They will only continue that charge this season. The thing about the Detroit defense is that they are just so good. The simple reason for that is they keep their game simple, can take the body and deliver it, and all six defensemen are smart with the puck, no matter who is in the lineup. A lot of credit goes to Head Coach Mike Babcock, who has instilled a very strong game plan for his team to follow.
With a strong defense come quick-plays out of the zone which leads to some strong offense. The Red Wings aren’t even close to being short on talent there. Leading the way there are Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Last season these two snipers led the Red Wings in scoring as Datsyuk had 97 points and Zetterberg with 73.
The talent that surrounds those two is pretty damn good. First with the ‘Mule’ Johan Franzen, who was the fourth leading scorer on the team, and was second on the team with 34 goals. Over the past two seasons, Franzen has scored 61 goals, and has been on another level when the playoffs roll around.
The loss of Marian Hossa was huge, as 40 goals and 71 points went to Chicago, and Mikael Samuelsson left for the West Coast to play for Vancouver. The Red Wings did bring in burly forward Todd Bertuzzi and Jeremy Williams. In Bertuzzi the Red Wings may not get the 80 points he used to score, but will get half that. As a third line player, Bertuzzi shall succeed. Williams was a steal on the free agent market as he has the potential to be a twenty plus goal scorer. He may not get the playing time, but will get his opportunity.
The rest of the offensive unit looks like this with Dan Cleary a hard nosed top line player that can chip in with at least twenty goals a season. Youngster Darren Helm has proven himself to be worthy of a full time NHler and is steadily on the rise in producing goals. Valterri Filppula has shown he can play on either the second or third line and be a legit scorer here and there. Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby are veteran players and have seen it all. Maltby and Draper are probably the two best fourth line players and penalty killers out there today. Holmstrom is a wall when he plants himself in front of the opposition’s goal. He can still play on the number one power play unit.
With all that, the Red Wings are just one of few teams that can roll with three scoring lines and sometimes four if everything is clicking.
OVERALL--> THE RED WINGS ONCE AGAIN HAVE A SOLID TEAM WITH A STRONG CORE OF PLAYERS. THIS IS A PLAYOFF TEAM AND THEY WILL PLAY LIKE ONE.
POSITIVE--> SOLID THROUGHOUT THE LINEUP. OFFENSE IS TOP NOTCH, DEFENSE IS AIR TIGHT, AND GOALTENDING IS VERY AMIABLE.
NEGATIVE--> THE LOSS OF MARIAN HOSSA WAS HUGE, AND THE RED WINGS HAVE REPLACED HIM WITH TODD BERTUZZI.
X-FACTOR--> THERE ARE THREE ON THIS TEAM, PAVEL DATSYUK, HENRIK ZETTERBERG AND NIKLAS LIDSTROM. THESE THREE ARE THE DRIVING FORCES ON THIS TEAM AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE RED WINGS BEING A GOOD OR BAD TEAM.
SLEEPER PICK--> JEREMY WILLIAMS MAY JUST GET A CHANCE TO BE A STARTER ON THIS TEAM, AND IF GIVEN THAT CHANCE HE WLL MAKE THE MOST OF IT.
PREDICTION--> THE DETROIT RED WINGS WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, WIN THE CENTRAL DIVISION, AND ADVANCE TO THEIR THIRD STRAIGHT WESTERN FINAL, AT LEAST.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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