2010 Winter Olympic Outcomes: What It Means for the Detroit Red Wings

As an American, watching Sidney Crosby throw off his gloves, jump up and down and scream at the top of his lungs after scoring the gold medal game-winning overtime goal for Canada, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel personally defeated.

I had high hopes for my national team, I really felt we were destined for greatness once New Jersey Devils forward Zach Parise sent the game to overtime with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

But, it wasn't to be.

It took a few minutes for me to realize that, even a silver medal finish was something most pundits didn't even give the US a shot at that.

Ultimately, USA, and tournament MVP, goalie Ryan Miller over-performed and Canada performed as expected.

Being so close and losing stings, but Americans have a lot to be proud of given their team pushed arguably one of the best hockey teams ever established to overtime in a gold medal game.

Then I realized, Mike Babcock just won a gold medal.

The Detroit Red Wings head coach came under intense scrutiny after Canada lost to the US 5-3 in the preliminary round.

Things like splitting up Iginla and Crosby, and starting Brodeur over Luongo became potential omens of bad coaching moves to come.

For some Red Wings fans, the thought of Mike Babcock not being able to win a gold medal with this team caused fear that his respect and perhaps even his career in Detroit might be in jeopardy.

We've had enough to deal with this year without having to watch our team play the rest of the season with a big fat question mark over the coach's head.

Canada's gold medal is a good thing for the Red Wings in this respect.

However, what about the rest of the Red Wings who have been battling for national pride instead of playoff position the past two weeks?

What do their Olympic performances mean for the Red Wings?

The analysis to follow will attempt to answer this question, but, consider this at the outset: of the seven Red Wing Olympians, all but one failed to even crack the Top 30 in Olympic goals, assists, or plus/minus. 

Considering that, let's start with some good news.

Valtteri Filppula-Team Finland-Bronze Medal

If there was one team that seemed to simultaneously under and over perform in Vancouver, Finland was it.

Considered too old and perhaps too reliant on goal tending at the beginning of the tournament, Finland surprised many with their utterly dominant play over the first two games and then suffered through some lackluster efforts and a humiliating loss to Team USA before finally winning the bronze medal on the strength of, of all things their scoring.

Filppula was one of Finland's most consistent players.

The great speed, fore-checking ability, offensive instincts and superb defensive skills he routinely exhibits as a Red Wing were on display while playing for his national team.

If Filppula can play for the Wings the way he did for Finland, the rest of the season will look a bit brighter than it did prior to the break.

Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall - Team Sweden - failed to qualify

The analysis here is simple—pray.

Four of the Wings' best players failed to make any significant contribution to their national team's success and, as a result, didn't not even qualify for a chance to earn a medal.

One hopes that their pedestrian performances will not follow them to Detroit, if they do, the Wings, like Sweden, will have nothing to play for in April.

Pavel Datsyuk - Team Russia - failed to qualify

Another painfully simple analysis.

Save for his ability to remain consistent, there's not a whole lot to be happy about after watching Pavel Datsyuk play for Russia; the problem is, that consistency is going in the wrong direction.

Like he has for most of his season in Detroit, Datsyuk did not display the dizzying skill and other worldly defensive and offensive instincts in his three games with his national team.

This leaves no reason to think he will suddenly regain his form in time to make a serious contribution to a Red Wing playoff berth.

Brian Rafalski - Team USA - Silver Medal

Finally, something to be very happy about.

Rafalski not only ended the tournament with a silver medal, but also as the highest scoring defenseman of the entire Olympic Games.

Rafalski finished as the fourth highest scorer overall with eight points (4G, 4A) and plus-7 rating.

This is the type of offensive and defensive performance that has made Rafalski second only to Nicklas Lidstrom on Detroit's blue-line over the past three seasons.

However, like the entirety of this team, Rafalski has been emersed in an abysmally weak offensive performance all season long.

If nothing else, his stellar play in the Olympics provides hope that Rafalski still has it within him to be a top NHL defenseman, and perhaps, will bring some of that Olympic magic with him back to Detroit.

Aside from Rafalski, what the Olympic teams got from the Red Wings who participated is largely what they've given the Red Wings all season long.

And that, does not bode well for Detroit's dwindling playoff hopes.