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Red Wings Season Review
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Pavel Datsyuk hopes to hoist some hardware this spring.
The Detroit Red Wings certainly know how to put on a second act. Despite having a bulls-eye on their back for the duration of the 2008-2009 NHL regular season, the Detroit Red Wings have yet again found themselves one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this spring. The defending Stanley Cup Champions were brillant for the most part this season, finishing with 51 victories, 112 points, and yet another Central Division title. While the goaltending and defense played at a mediocre level at times this season, the Red Wings' offense was spectacular from start to finish this season. The Red Wings led the league with 295 goals on the season, averaging over three goals a game for the year.
While the Red Wings were undoubtedly an oustanding, and entertaining team, they certainly had some outstanding individual performances this season. Pavel Datsyuk was absolutely dazzling this season, and is a likely finalist for the Hart Trophy (League MVP), Frank J. Selke Trophy( Best Defensive Forward), and Lady Byng(Most Gentlemanly Player). Datsyuk is arguably the finest two way player in the world today, and it is great to see him start to get some of the league wide recognition that he deserves. Free agent acquisition Marian Hossa was worth every penny this season, leading the team with 40 goals. Hossa's 40 goals was tied for fifth in the league, however, when you consider that Detroit had four other players score 20 or more goals, it is amazing that Hossa was able to finish in the top five in goal scoring. Captain Nicklas Lidstrom was outstanding again this season, playing the game with his usual quiet effciency. Lidstrom finished plus-31 on the season(seventh-best in the NHL) and tallied 59 points(third amongst NHL defensemen). As he approaches his 39th birthday, I am amazed at how he has maintained his high level of play. Although it's hard to believe that Lidstrom is going into his 16th post-season, I could absolutely see him playing into his 40's. Brian Rafalski was also stellar on defense, finishing tied with Lidstrom with 59 points in 78 games. He is one of the sport's most underrated defensemen, and one has to wonder how long it will take him to garner serious consideration for a Norris Trophy.
However, not all was well in paradise, as the Red Wings struggled at times this season. While the term struggling is relative for a team that has finished with over 50 wins for the last four seasons, Detroit's goaltending has been average at best. This is of great concern with the post season on the horizon. In the highly competitive Western Conference, Detroit will have to get solid contributions from their goaltender if they want to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. Chris Osgood had a 3.09 GAA(goals against average) in 46 appearances. The fact that Osgood was able to win 26 games despite posting mediocre at best numbers this season. Ty Conklin was slightly better, posting a 2.51 GAA in 40 appearances. If the Red Wings give up 2.5- 3 goals a game in the post-season, there will probably be sad faces in Hockeytown this spring. That simply will not get the job done when you consider the quality of the Western Conference this post-season. Time will tell if Detroit's goaltending can start to get a bit stingier, but the Red Wings should not have trouble scoring goals this post-season. They are simply too talented and too deep to be shut down over a seven game series. I predict a long post-season run for the Red Wings, and if they can get solid enough goaltending, they should be hoisting the Stanley Cup again this June.
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