On the WINGS not a Prayer

The Detroit Red Wings may be considered as a modern day version of a dynasty. Now I am not handing the Championship to them and I may not be a big fan of the them and I am far from wishing or rooting for a victory but I am about giving credit where credit is due. They are looking like the NHL’s version of the New England Patriots, not only for the titles but the way they do business. If you look at New England they keep loosing players not only due to salary cap reasons but also due to injuries. What happens when top players get hurt? They plug in someone that you have never heard of before and then all of a sudden that person doesn’t skip a beat and there is a seamless transition from backup to starter. It happened when Tom Brady came in for an injured Drew Bledsoe it happened when nearly their entire secondary went down and they even had to turn to a wide receiver to play cornerback and he was as good or better then what half the teams had as starters.

That is the same deal in the Motor City (that was not a shot at GM, that isn’t good for anybody...back to sports) You lose your captain and one of the best defencemen of all time for a few games, just throw out a 45+ year old Chris Chelios or Jonathan Ericsson fresh off of an appendectomy 3 days prior to going back into the lineup to eat some minutes, Without a grinding forward like Kris Draper, lets throw rookie Justin Abdelkader into the fire after like 3 game played in the NHL regular season. Hey a potential MVP candidate in the past and one of the best 2 way forwards in the game Pavel Datsyuk hurts his foot and can’t play...OK that is just too much to overcome. Oooppps nope ... we will put the speedy firecracker Darren Helm out and have him play huge minutes in key situations. Helm could walk into camp next season with 2 Stanley cup Rings and still be up for the Calder trophy for Rookie of the Year. Sic.

It is with that kind of depth and incredible team standards they are by far the best run club right now. Sure that doesn’t make them a lock to win the cup, far from it, but it does put them head and shoulders above any other club in the NHL right now from the ice to the front office.