(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
As for Detroit, there is Tomas Holmstrom, one of the strongest and best guys in front of the net in the NHL, Ville Leino who almost averaged a point a game last season with nine points in 13 games, Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper who both appear to be slowing down.
Defense
Detroit's defense is arguably the best in the NHL with Lidstrom, Raflaski, and Kronwall. All three provide terrific offense along with defense combining for 169 points last season from the blue line.
Youngsters such as Brett Lebda, Jonathan Ericsson, and Justin Abdelkader are the future of Detroit's defensive core. As for Brad Stuart, his play in the cup finals deserves his name to be left off this list, for now.
Chicago also has one of the best defensive cores in the NHL with Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, and Brian Campbell. Seabrook provides excellent play in his own zone and is recognized as one of the top 10 best defensive defensemen in the NHL. Another big part of Seabrooks game is hitting. He led Chicago with 224 hits last season. His 224 hits finished 11th best in the league.
Duncan Keith led the Hawks for the second season in a row with the best +/-, +33, but the 25-year-old also put up 44 points and is great in the defensive zone. Keith is one of the best well-rounded defensemen in the NHL. Campbell's game lacks in the defense department as we saw at times last year, but his speed compared to other defensemen and scoring ability could go unmatched.
Cam Barkerwho re-signed with the Hawks a couple days ago is another good two-way defensemen who put up 40 points last year.
Goaltending is an issue for both teams this upcoming season because Huet and Osgood are not reliable all the time. When I say this, I speak mostly of Cristobal Huet who has been very inconsistent in his career. He had a 14-20-11 record with Los Angeles in two years.
The next four years with Montreal and Washington, Huet has a record of 69-31-13 and finished his season in Chicago last year with a 20-15-4 record. Huet has certainly gone up and down, but the Hawks, unlike Detroit, have numerous talent in the goaltending department in the minors and below.
Conclusion
So when it all comes down to it, what team looks like they will have a better next several years?
Considering Chicago has just as much (maybe a little less) talent than Detroit, but is far younger with an average age of 25.8 (the NHL's youngest), I would side with Chicago.
Detroit was the third oldest team last year with an average age of 29.5. Chicago's squad of young players will continue to grow together and get better every year depending on how GM Dale Tallon shapes the team.
Detroit will be good for another five years and maybe more. But in the long run, when they lose players like Holmstrom, Lidstrom, Raflaski, Draper, and Maltby to retirement, Detroit will be lacking.
Who will step up as leaders and provide the scoring like all these guys can do? When it comes time for all of them to retire, players like Kane, Toews, Versteeg, Byfuglien, Seabrook, Barker, Keith, Bolland, Ladd, etc. will all be hitting their prime time numbers.
The future looks better for Chicago. Sorry Detroit fans!
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