Red Wings

[Drew]

LoL. Denial or lazy? Hope it's lazy.

[FCRhodes]

I hate shaving. I shaved to start the playoffs last year.

[lions&tigers&wings...yea]

That was a hell of a game, let's see how they come out tonight. I have a feeling they will play a full 60 and kick the shit out of the ****.

[jaadam4]

It's nice being 2-0 but we've played inferior teams and our PP really needs to get going. I'm really pulling for Howard and Flippula to take those next steps.

[foxhopper]

Howard with the shutout.. 2-0

[FCRhodes]

It's nice being 2-0 but we've played inferior teams and our PP really needs to get going. I'm really pulling for Howard and Flippula to take those next steps.

Every team is inferior to the Wings.

[chemiclord]

Pretty much.

There are very few teams that can match the Wings both in star power and in depth.

[nhwbrooklyn]

It's such a luxury knowing the wings will compete every year.

[FCRhodes]

They will compete even after Lidstrom retires.

[chemiclord]

They will compete even after Lidstrom retires.

I believe so too. The Wings have been slowly phasing him out of responsibilities (last year, he barely ever played in the penalty kill, and I think this year Kronwall is on the first power play unit as well). They always seem to have a transition plan in place, and talent waiting in the wings to step in.

Yes, you can't really ever fully replace a player like Lidstrom, but the Wings are going to be as ready to handle the dip as anyone could be.

[lions&tigers&wings...yea]

Not only do I believe the wings will be fine when Lidstrom retires, I think they will be even better than they have been the last 8 years. With the way our prospects are playing I have a feeling if the cap isn't really high in 5 years or so we will have to part with at least a few great young players because of cap restrictions just like Chicago's one and done stanley cup.

Nyqvist could already play in the NHL but they sent him down to GR to play professionally for a year against men and put on some muscle.
Jarnkrok and Pulkkinen are both young superstars in their respective leagues and picked up after amazing rookie years in their leagues by continuing their torrid scoring pace.
Tatar is also in GR and he and Nyqvist will be in Detroit next year (Holmstrom + probably Bertuzzi retire).

Then on the defensive side you have guys like Smith, Sproul, Ouellet, Marchenco, Lashoff, Nidemol, Backman, and Almqvist who will be the new wave of D-men...and if some of them don't pan out, Ken Holland will make the right choice on a good FA pickup.

[FCRhodes]

Better start developing some goaltending prospects though. After Howard, the cupboard is pretty bare.

[Topweasel]

Better start developing some goaltending prospects though. After Howard, the cupboard is pretty bare.

Point being? We have Howard, and have always been able to find decent to good goalies whether through the draft or FA for the longest time.

[chemiclord]

Goaltender is a bare cupboard for most teams save some fairly rare circumstances.

[FCRhodes]

Depends on the Cap, but if Howard gets hurt we are screwed.