Detroit Red Wings Season Preview

Much has changed since I last wrote back in mid-June to summarize the Red Wings’ 2008-'09 campaign.

First, I’ve gotten a gig at The Miami Herald covering Broward County high school sports. I’m mostly doing football and golf in the area, but there’s some swimming and other sports in there as well.

It’s fun to cover kids so young, especially because the harsh business-like aspect of sports that comes in during college hasn’t hit these kids yet. It’s sports at its purest.

Second, I’ve become borderline obsessed with English league soccer, my team of choice being Arsenal. Why this is, I’m not quite sure. It might have something to do with only baseball dominating the summer and soccer in England starting up a full month before college or pro football.

It’s gotten so bad that I’m streaming games online and am one click away from buying an Arsenal away jersey. The dark blue looks really nice.

And, more relevant to this blog, on the hockey front, the Detroit Red Wings have lost some important players.

Most notably on the scoresheets, leading goal scorer (40) Marian Hossa has moved away from Detroit to Central Division rival Chicago after signing a cray 12-year contract. The Blackhawks also managed to pull Tomas Kopecky away from the Red Wings, and they signed John Madden as well.

Chicago will challenge Detroit the division, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them supplant Hockeytown in the standings this year.

And then there’s the talented duo of Jiri Hudler (26 goals) and Mikael Samuelsson (19), and there’s a lot of offense missing from Hockeytown. Hudler found plenty of willing suitors, but he wound up in Russia. Samuelsson now calls Vancouver home.

I wish the two of them the best of luck, but I really wish they stuck around, especially Hudler. His contributions on the second like will undoubtedly be missed.

Also missed will be Ty Conklin. He was an incredibly reliable backup during the regular season last year, and he was arguably better than starter Chris Osgood in that time.

Osgood definitely proved himself in the playoffs, though, and Conklin didn’t see a future for himself in Detroit, so he left for St. Louis. The Red Wings will be seeing lots of him this season.

The Jimmy Howard Show will take over when Osgood sees the bench this year. I don’t know how confident I am in that program.

Of course, Detroit is a year older. As I documented at the end of last season, the common perception that Detroit is full of old farts on their last legs isn’t exactly true. There is plenty of young talent on the team, and those players (Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Jonathan Ericsson) will be relied on heavily.

They certainly showed they are capable of terrific efforts in the playoffs last year. Now it’s time to see how the regular season treats them. Abdelkader will likely be in the minor leagues once Helm comes back from injury.

Now for the new guys (in alphabetical order): Todd Bertuzzi, Patrick Eaves, and Jason Williams.

Bertuzzi would have been a phenomenal signing four years ago, but it seems like he can’t stick with one team or stay healthy enough to play a full season.

In the last three years, Bertuzzi has been with Detroit briefly, Florida, Anaheim, and Calgary. He played just eight games for the Red Wings and seven for the Panthers, then managed to make 68 and 66 games in the last two seasons for the Ducks and Flames.

Despite the improvement in games played, there was little evidence that he’ll be able to make up for Hossa or even Hudler on offense—he combined for just 29 goals in his last two seasons. Hopefully he puts it together this season.

Eaves, much more of a youngster at 25, might have been the best pickup for Detroit in the offseason.

He finished his 2008-'09 campaign with Carolina with 74 games played, 14 points, and a plus/minus of seven. They’re not the gaudiest of numbers, I know, and even more troubling was his 59:29 production rating last season, almost double his career high.

Still, at 25, Eaves has plenty of room to grow, and he will be a huge help on the penalty kill, an area where Detroit was pretty miserable last year (25th in the NHL).

Williams, who started his career in Detroit, will be back in Hockeytown to provide an experienced third-line presence. He isn’t a big-time producer, but he brought home 19 goals last season for Atlanta and Columbus and also notched 28 assists while staying out of the penalty box. He should shore up Detroit’s third line.

The offense clearly will be troubling. But coach Mike Babcock realizes this, and his emphasis will be shifting the Red Wings to a defensive team this year.

You can’t write a season preview for Detroit without mentioning the king of all defensemen, Nicklas Lidstrom. He and Brian Rafalski are still a solid 1-2 punch on the back line, and Jonathan Ericsson, Ville Leino, Brad Stuart, and Niklas Kronwall make for a very good core defense.

“We can’t win games 4-3 and 5-4 all season,” Babcock told The Detroit News. “If we score three goals and can’t win, we’re going to have problems.”

Though it’s not as though the offense will be miserable. They’ve still got guys named Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen, and last time I checked, those guys were decent.

Now, the key question: How does all of this come together, and what is the result?

Many people are picking Detroit to fall off this year, and the Red Wings couldn’t be happier. There are few expectations on them this year as Chicago looks to be stronger than ever.

San Jose, Anaheim and Vancouver could also be huge competition in the Western Conference, and that doesn’t even begin to touch the Eastern Conference teams they could meet in the Stanley Cup Finals.

One season removed from a league title and just three months removed from a heartbreaking Game Seven defeat in last year's finals, Detroit is still Detroit. Until proven otherwise, they are still the benchmark franchise in all of sports for consistency, coaching, front office management, and player development.

All that said, I’m actually siding with most of the world on this one. This should be the season my beloved Red Wings drop off a bit. They’ll take second in the Central Division and lose in the second round of the NHL playoffs to Anaheim, who they beat in last year’s second round.

Chicago is just unbelievably strong with Hossa, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Toews. Also, they’ve got a young defender named Dustin Byfuglien who scares me.

In the East, how can you not love Pittsburgh again? The team that ripped my heart out last June hasn’t lost very much, and they are my pick to make it to the Stanley Cup  Finals for the third straight year, winning back-to-back trophies.

Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps are already looking beastly, as Ovechkin scored two goals tonight and is currently on pace for 164 this season. Obviously he won’t reach that mark, but he is amazing.

Then again, who knows? I could be miserably wrong about my Red Wings and about the NHL in general. I more than likely am. As for Detroit, we’ll find out tomorrow afternoon on Versus. Enjoy the season, everyone.

Division Winners

Chicago, Vancouver, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Boston.

Eastern Conference Finals

Pittsburgh over Washington in five.

Western Conference Finals

Chicago over Anaheim in seven.

Stanley Cup Finals

Pittsburgh over Chicago in six.