If you were the GM of a sports team that just lost in the second round of the playoffs and was accused of being too old and tired, what would you do? 99% of people would try to make the roster a little younger to fend off the signs of old age, but the real GM decided to actually make them even older. Guess Ken Holland and company are hoping that a shorter season and all that experience will allow them to be a Stanley Cup contender yet again.
On paper, the Wings are still a formidable opponent for any of the other 29 teams in the league. But the core of this team is another year older and there are signs that all the major players on this club may be starting to slow down. It’s normal to see Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk lead the team in points, but it’s abnormal to see that 70 points was the magic number.
Zetterberg had a career year in 2007-2008 with 92 points and Datsyuk only had 70 points after back-to-back seasons with 30-plus goals and 97 points. After playing so many regular season and playoff games over the last few years, how much will these two be helped by the fact that they lost in the second round a year ago?
Another problem that the Wings suffered from was a lack of scoring outside of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. The next highest scorer after the two superstars was Nick Lidstrom with 49 points. The next highest scoring foward was Tomas Holmstrom with 45 points. Valteri Fillpula and Johan Franzen were highly affected by injuries last season, so they can help with secondary scoring if they can stay healthy.
Defensively, it all starts with Nick Lidstrom like it has since man invented the wheel. At 40 years old, he doesn’t have the same explosiveness that he once had, but he can still be a force in this league because of his natural ability and his vast experience. His partner, Brian Rafalski, is no spring chicken either as he just turned 39, but he’s coming off a season in which he was plus 23 and had 42 points last season.
The goaltending looks pretty solid with the 1-2 combination of Jimmy Howard and Chris Osgood. Howard took hold of the starting spot last year with a great season which included: 61 starts, 37 wins, a 2.26 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
Two players to watch out for in camp are Niklas Kronwall and Mike Modano. Kronwall missed major time last year because of knee problems. The Wings are hoping that his knee troubles are a thing of the past and that he can stay healthy. His 22 points in 48 games suggest that he can be a good contributor from the back end. Modano is going to be a sentimental favourite in the D as a 40-year-old coming back to his hometown team. How much does he have left to offer the Wings?