Marian Hossa Is a Dream Come True for the Formidable Detroit Red Wings

Through nine games this season, Detroit leads the Western Conference with a 7-1-1 record. They may not relinquish that spot all season.

Despite getting their opponents' best efforts through these first nine games, the Wings have managed to find ways to win. It's a mindset. Like the Soviet superteams that dominated the cold-war era, these Red Wings know they're going to win. How could they not?

Henrik Zetterberg, a perennial 40-goal scorer is playing on the second line! The second line! A first line that has do-all superstars Pavel Datsyuk and Marian Hossa hardly seem fair. Datsyuk is the takeway master and an outstanding playmaker. Hossa is a goal-scoring machine and is also a heck of a two-way player.

Not many teams could afford to lose a 30-goal scorer in Johan Franzen and keep churning. Detroit can, and they will. C'mon, in the preseason this team sent Ville Leino and Darren Helm to the minors! There is no other team in the NHL that would ever dream of sending that kind of talent down.

Hossa, however, might be the best thing that ever happened to the modern-day Red Wings. The Wings got one of the NHL's top players in the prime of his career at a discount for one season. Oh, and he's hungry too.

This can and should be Hossa's best season of his career. I expect him to finish at, or close to, 50 goals and 100-plus points.

With Hossa, Detroit has enough firepower to withstand defensive lapses, and a goalie in Osgood who's been slightly off his game thus far. On a good night, there's not many teams in the NHL who can beat Detroit in a shootout. The Wings have gone to three shootouts so far this season. They've won two.

Its far too early to tell if Detroit will challenge the points record they set in 1996, or if they'll repeat for the Stanley Cup. This isn't a team of aging veterans, though—unless you count Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom, or the ageless Nick Lidstrom.

This is a team whose core is all in their prime, and who should continue playing at a high level. For a team that's always driven by further achievement, the points streak and a Cup repeat are within reach.

The plot's been written—let's see if they get there.