Detroit Red Wings' Season in Review: It Wasn't Such a Failure After All

I've given it four days to sink in: The Red Wings did not win the Stanley Cup.

Despite Detroit having a 2-0 and 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup final, Pittsburgh came back to claim the greatest trophy in all of sports.

So after four days of thinking it over, what did the 2008-09 season mean for the Red Wings?

Obviously, for a team that was one game away from winning its fifth Stanley Cup in 12  years, the season can't be classified as a huge success. But that doesn't mean it's a failure. Sure, the team fell short of the ultimate prize, but there are plenty more prizes that will be springing up in time for the 2009-10 season.

Back in January, the team locked up former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Henrik Zetterberg to a 12-year, $72 million deal, the longest and most lucrative deal in team history. He's a Red Wing for life now, and that's something fans can take to heart.

Detroit also locked up forward Johan Franzen to an 11-year, $43.5 million deal three months later. Franzen is a Red Wing for life as well. After his coming-out party in the 2008 playoffs and a 2009 regular season that saw him rack up 59 points, Franzen is going to be a key to the Red Wings for a long time.

Pavel Datsyuk, the third superstar up front for Detroit, is going into the second year of a seven-year extension he signed with the Red Wings in 2007. So they'll be fine up front.

Apart from signings, though, the Red Wings have some phenomenal youngsters waiting—pun intended—in the wings.

Darren Helm, who has no regular-season goals in 23 games over two years, was a huge breakout star for Detroit in the playoffs.

Justin Abdelkader, who has played all of four regular-season games and whose career regular-season statistics add up to two penalty minutes, was a big contributor when injuries forced him into the lineup during the playoffs. He is still at the tender age of 22.

Jonathan Ericsson, a 25-year-old defenseman, scored Detroit's only goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and had four goals and four assists in the playoffs—one goal more than Brad Stuart and Brian Rafalski each had.

And Ville Leino, who filled in so admirably for Datsyuk when he missed seven games after a foot injury, finished the playoffs with two assists and is only 25 years old.

It's safe to say the Red Wings are getting younger and better, especially with the likely departure of—no offense, guys—dead weight Chris Chelios and Darren McCarty in the off-season. Valtteri Filppula and Derek Meech are also all 25 years old.

The resurgence of Chris Osgood as a great playoff goalie was again something to marvel about. During the regular season, I was a fairly harsh critic, saying that backup Ty Conklin should absolutely have been the starter. But Osgood proved me wrong, allowing just 15 goals in the Final. He actually outplayed Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, who gave up 17 goals in the Final, and Osgood allowed just four goals in the last three games.

Of course, it wasn't all great news for the Red Wings this season.

Datsyuk and captain Nick Lidstrom missed time in the playoffs with injuries, and any injuries at all are not good signs, especially for the 39-year-old captain. TomasHolmstrom was almost completely ineffective in the playoffs, and he is beginning to show signs of age. Detroit also probably can't re-sign free agents Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson with the big contracts they gave to Franzen and Zetterberg.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room: Marian Hossa.

Hossa was pretty bad in the playoffs, scoring just six goals and tallying just 15 points in 23 games, well off his pace of 0.96 points per game in the  regular season.

The fact is that Hossa will want lots of money, and the Red Wings know he can get more from other teams in the open market. While Hossa has said that he wants to come back to Detroit, the salary-cap-handicapped Wings might not be able to make that happen.

Hossa came to Detroit to win the Stanley Cup. He failed in his attempt, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a team more likely to win the Cup in 2010 than Detroit. Bodog.com has put the Red Wings at 5/1 favorites to claim the Cup, with Pittsburgh at 7/1 odds, San Jose at 8/1 and the Islanders at a hefty 100/1. Hossa knows where his best hopes are.

As much as people want to yell at him for his weak playoff performance, Hossa was one of the best Red Wings in the regular season—he finished first on the team with 40 goals—and it's highly unlikely they finish second in the Western Conference without him. Detroit is a better team with him, and they absolutely should resign him if they can figure out a way to make the numbers work.

So no, the Wings' season wasn't a success. But it was hardly a failure. They're the best-run team in the NHL, and no one will look at Detroit on their schedule and be happy to have an easy game.

The future is bright for the Red Wings even if it appears dark right now. It was a surprising ending to the season when they scored just one goal at home in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, but it would be more surprising to see them missing the playoffs any time soon.