Detroit Red Wings: At the Quarter Mark, Wings Look Like Champions in the Making

I'd bet you wouldn't have to think too hard to remember the kid's name.

You know the guy: the kid in school that was always at the top of the class, knew all the answers to the questions the teacher asked, aced every exam and even threw in being good-looking and athletic, just to make you look even more pathetic by comparison.

Every once in a while, something glorious would happen. Mr. Perfect would actually fail an exam, miss an answer to a question or show up to class with some festering canker sore on his lip, making all the cute girls turn away in revulsion.

For most of the past two decades in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings have been this guy.

The maddeningly perfect, always prepared, consistently excellent performer that, more often than not, rose to the top of the class.

However, last season, the Wings found themselves in unfamiliar territory: among the ordinary and average of their class.

As is often the case when the mighty fall, there were no shortage of teams and fans alike that hoped that finally, the former honor rollers were now relegated to the ordinary ranks of the shop students and remedial readers.

So much for hoping.

After a disappointing season marred by injuries and mediocrity, the Detroit Red Wings are once again in the familiar position of living life among the NHL elite.

After 20 games, the Red Wings sport a superb 14-4-2 record, sitting atop the Western Conference with 30 points.

Now, while these numbers are excellent, it's what's behind them that's of real importance.

The trifecta of depth, talent, and hard-work is a tough, if not impossible combination to beat with any regularity and that's just what the Red Wings have taught other teams 14 times this season.

From Todd Bertuzzi remaking himself (at the end of his career no less) into a two-way monster, to Detroit's fourth-liners like Drew Miller and Patrick Eaves proving they'd likely be in another team's top six on a nightly basis, the Detroit Red Wings are dangerous from top to bottom.

Still, all the talent and depth in the world isn't worth much without hard-work and that's really where the Red Wings are earning their bacon this season.

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, long pegged as Detroit's two most talented and hardest working players, have continued to live up to that billing.  However, players like Danny Cleary, Brad Stuart, and Valtteri Filppula are also putting on their hardhats nightly and making outworking the opposition their primary job.

Then, there's Nicklas Lidstrom.

Nicklas Lidstrom, who at 40-years-old is on pace for an 80-point season and is playing better than competitors 15 years his junior.

Were it not for Lidstrom's excellence to this point in the season, Detroit would likely not be at the top of the conference standings.

Such statements have become common sentiments in Detroit over the past several seasons, but for this to be true yet again this season, is truly amazing.

The one weak link in Detroit, at least according to pre-season pundits, was supposed to be their goal-tending, personified by second-year starter Jimmy Howard.

While stats are often used to prove a goalie's worth to his team, one really needs to have seen Howard play this season to gain a full understanding of why he's not only not a weak link in Detroit, but on many nights, one of their strongest.

Howard is every bit the No. 1 goalie he was supposed to be this season, and even when he's proved himself beatable en route to a loss, he has developed the uncanny ability to come back the next game and turn in a head-shakingly good performance.

Solid positioning, athletic maneuvering, highlight reel saves, not to mention winning 12 of 16 games all prove that Jimmy Howard isn't just comfortable being the last line of defense in Detroit, he's confident that he is.

Considering that, it's important to identify that the confidence Howard has in his own abilities is surpassed only by the confidence his teammates have in him.

That confidence, which has successfully infected the entire team, is no less important to winning than is talent, depth or hard-work. However, it can only come through the successful combination of those three key ingredients.

Talent, depth, and hard-work.

If one looks closely at the past several playoff years, one will find that the team that resembled the best of these things is the one that earned the right to lift the Stanley Cup over their heads.

To date, the Red Wings have looked and played like champions in waiting.

With the next three-quarters of the season in front of them, it stands to reason they'll only continue this performance on the way towards what could be their twelfth championship in team history.

Getting back to that Mr. Perfect scenario we started off with.

You may recall that he'd use those rare failures as motivation to perform even stronger the next time, another annoyingly positive trait. 

The Red Wings know they were off their game last season, so don't be surprised if they use that as motivation to end the year as the last team standing in April.

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