Oh how the mighty have fallen

When I first started writing this blog it was almost a year ago and the Red Wings were looking like a power to be reckoned with despite some flaws. Fast forward to now and the team that has consistently been among the league leaders in wins is fighting for a playoff spot. What the hell happened?

Granted, the Red Wings are currently surging, but it is still concerning to see them hanging out just a little north of the playoff cutoff. It could be worse. Only a week ago they were barely hanging on the 8th spot but a 5 game win streak has them now in 6th place. With 7 games left to play it could still come crashing down.

So what happened to the Wings? For starters, they are all a year older now. Detroit doesn't exactly have youth on their side and it's been some time since they last did. Like all teams that rely on key veteran pick-ups there will inevitably come the day when everyone turns old all at once. Considering they are still qualifying for the playoffs that day hasn't come yet, but things are looking like they are going downhill. It was never more evident than it was in last years Stanley Cup when the younger Penguins were skating circles around the Wings. Pretty soon they are going to have to replace a lot of key guys. Looking over their roster there area lot of 30s (Datsyuk 31, Draper 38, Franzen 30, Holmstrom 37, Cleary 31, Lidstrom 39, Rafalski 36, Osgood 37).

What else has gone wrong? Well for a couple years now the Wings have been getting by with some pretty sub-par goaltending. I respect the hell out of Osgood but he really only had average talent to begin with and he's not getting any better. In his last 5 years he has only finished the season with Save % above .900 twice. When the team as a whole is dominating you can get by but now that age is catching up and the high profile free agents would rather choose a team like Chicago it's really not going to cut it anymore. They appear to be on to something with this cat Jimmy Howard who appears to have stolen the starting job so my hopes are that he will help should the team make it to the playoffs.

Finally, and with no disrespect to Mike Babcock, the days of Scotty Bowman are over. That man was one of the greatest coaches in the NHL and I was very sorry to see him go. Babcock is getting it done, but it remains to be seen if he is only doing so with the foundation that Bowman left behind.

It's disappointing to see the Red Wings lost their dominance after so many years of beating the snot out of everybody. I am keeping one flicker of hope alive, however. Once the playoffs begin it's a whole new season. They have about a million years of playoff experience on that squad and a fresh new goaltender to work with. I wouldn't put them quite out of Stanley Cup contention yet.

On a side hockey note our Syracuse Crunch have broken ties with the Blue Jackets and affiliated themselves with the Anaheim Ducks. I hate the fuckin Ducks. That is all.