Wings Decline

Not this year
Pat Caputo was on Fox2's Sportsworks two weeks ago, and he said that he believed the Wings would win the Cup this season. (For more rah-rah propaganda, click here.)

I found that pretty shocking. While I do believe the Wings will make the playoffs, I see a major talent disparity between the Wings and the rest of the contenders. It's true that they *almost* won the Cup a mere 16 months ago, but a lot has happened in that time. Most importantly, the young stars on Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver improved. The Wings, if anything, got worse.

Last season, the Wings struggled with injuries and found themselves out of the playoff hunt for much of the season. It was a bizarre few months where the GMs around the NHL breathed a collective sigh of relief -- "the Wings are human." The big question entering this season is whether last season was an aberration or a sign of things to come.

I'm not going to proclaim doom-and-gloom. The Wings do have a ton of talent on their roster. But I'm also not going to drink the Caputo Kool-aid. Last season signaled the beginning of the decline. For the first time in decades, the Red Wings do not have an infusion of young talent to replace the aging superstars. We all hoped that Kronwall and Ericsson would assume the All-star skates of Nick Lidstrom. Kronwall has proven to be a solid NHL defenseman, but Ericsson may struggle to make the game day roster. After such a promising run in the '09 playoffs, Ericsson's form dipped dramatically last year, and, if this preseason is any indication, his problem with costly turnovers remains (a dreadful -6 plus/minus in just six games).

Zetterberg and Datsyuk are thankfully still in their prime. Their talent alone should carry the Wings to a playoff berth. Yet, their supporting cast is less-than-stellar. The Wings did bring back Jiri Hudler. He may add some scoring punch. But the team has waited two years for Filppula to warrant his $3.5M/year salary hit. His 11 goals last year aint gonna cut it.

General Manager Ken Holland cobbled together a decent enough roster to keep the Red Wings competitive. Aging Mike Modano may not have wheels like he used to, but he should definitely improve the power play. The Wings searched all season for someone to replace Mikael Samuelsson on the point. Modano should fill that void. Bertuzzi still has some gas, and Homer actually is improving with age. Yet, I just don't see how this roster can beat the other contenders in a seven game series.

Holland did not have cap flexibility this offseason to make any drastic moves. Next offseason, only 13 players are on the books - accounting for $43million. It's all the core players you hope will stick around (Datsyuk, Z, Kronwall, Rafalski), with the exception of no Nick Lidstrom. If Nick retires - and I think he will - Holland will have $6million to play with. Even with the extra cash, I doubt the Wings will be able to improve themselves significantly through free agency. They seem to have much better success drafting and developing talent. Unfortunately, other teams have caught up to the Wings in terms of scouting hidden European gems.

Yet, Ken Holland always seems to have an ace up his sleeve. My guess is that he'll keep the Red Wings relevant for as long as he's GM. I just don't know if they're championship-caliber. We may have to wait for the next Yzerman, Fedorov, or Zetterberg... and that may take a while.

... And just to end this on a positive note, here's one of my favorite goals by the Wings most underrated player...

iheartradio

Versus

Seriously?

I have been the proud owner of an iPhone for a few years now, in fact, I'm actually currently using my second iteration of the amazing device. One of the fantastic features of my favorite electronic appendage is the ability to leverage any of the multitude of Apps that have been developed specifically for use with the iPhone.

After hearing (and hearing and hearing) advertisements on Clear Channel radio stations about the existence of the iheartradio app, I decided to try it. I downloaded the App about a year and a half ago and was extremely underwhelmed (may have been a bandwith issue, but kept losing the connection - and while trying to listen to Detroit radio (e.g. 1130 AM) the game broadcasts were blocked and I got Fox radio instead. Boo.). Hence, I forgot about it.

This morning, as I sat in standstill traffic in the lovely city of Denver, I realized that I needed a Detroit sports fix. The Wings are about to kick off their 19th straight playoff run, the Tigers pulled out another come-from-behind win, the Pistons have their last game of a completely forgettable season, the Lions... well, Brandon Marshall just got traded, and (shocker) RichRod was back in the news for legal issues. I needed to hear things from a D-town perspective.

So, I fired up the iheartradio app and waited to see what would happen. I was expecting to hear Jim Rome, because 9 times out of 10 I don't get an actual Detroit feed, but this morning was different. I was immediately listening to the midday (8:15am MT?) show starring Ryan Ermanni. The topic being bantered was "which are you more excited about: Red Wings or Tigers?"

Seriously? This was EXACTLY what I wanted to be listening to. Most of the callers, and this was a surprise to me, were very level-headed expressing their opinion that most Detroit fans have become complacent with the success of the Red Wings, so their excitement is more subdued, but they realized that the continued excellence of the franchise needs to be celebrated and appreciated, because, as the Pistons so perfectly displayed, fortunes can change VERY suddenly.

And, most of the callers agreed that the Tigers have way too many issues to get excited about. Pitching is scary, clutch hits are unreliable, etc. My initial reaction to completely agree on both counts -- and that hasn't changed dramatically, but I have changed my reaction to the initial question.

What am I more excited about: Red Wings or Tigers? Is it wrong to answer "both"? This is the time of year we, as NHL fans, live for. Is there anything more exciting than the opening round of the NHL playoffs? Any team can beat any other -- it's all happened before. The President's Trophy, while awesome and esteemed, really means nothing once the second season begins. The Red Wings, for the first time in recent memory, come into the playoffs hungry. They haven't been able/needed to rest any players in the typical March coast into the number 1 or 2 seed in the West. They are a team that actually had to play their way into the post season and is (and I'm as shocked as anyone on this point) clicking on all cylinders. There last 3 overtime games? 3 wins -- including one in a shoot-out. Unheard of. Inexplicable. Exciting. Can't wait for the puck to drop tonight (no matter that living in Colorado, I won't be able to watch).

And as far as the Tigers are concerned, are you kidding me? I don't care that they've only played Kansas City and Cleveland. The simple fact is that they've won games. Games that they could've/should've lost. They're winning games without their best pitchers pitching well. They're winning games that are action-packed and full of offense. What's not to be excited about? I normally would point to the fact that they haven't played New York, or Boston, or (God forbid) Minnesota (seriously, they NEEDED Thome?), but the facts are the facts. They're beating the teams that they should beat -- if they want to contend for a post-season berth. Yes, I said it "post-season berth." It's April 14 and I'm writing about October. The difference, this year, is that the Tigers are still in it...!