The Not-So-Grand Motown Illusion

When it was suggested here on the eve of the playoffs that the spectacular regular season of the Detroit Red Wings might have been based more on the quality of their divisional opponents than their lineup, the angry rebuttals arrived fast and furious.

We now invite another discussion on the same topic.

The Red Wings imploded in the first round, losing Game 6 in Edmonton Monday night, and suddenly all those nights pounding the bejeezus out of the Blue Jackets, Blackhawks and Blues from October through April don't mean a heck of a lot.

This will cause earth-shaking change in Motown, one suspects.

At the top, GM Ken Holland will have to answer for two first round exits and a second round ouster in the past three NHL seasons.

Steve Yzerman, a player with possibly the greatest pain threshold of any modern day NHLer, tried to skate through a torn oblique muscle in Game 6 but was only moderately effective. Almost 41, he will likely retire, joining the likes of Mark Messier, Scott Stevens, Brett Hull and Ron Francis as brilliant talents who have left the NHL over the past year.

The league can only thank its lucky stars Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin et al arrived at the same time.

Manny Legace, meanwhile, is done as the Wings No. 1 goalie, although his "I feel like hanging myself" comments after the loss left everyone feeling a little disappointment for one who waited so long for his big chance.

Chris Chelios is what, 57? Actually, he's 44, and it is clearly over. With Yzerman, he can sit back and wait for his Hall of Fame induction.

Brendan Shanahan, meanwhile, is 37 years old, and after popping in 40 goals during the regular season he came up with only one against the Oilers.

Just spit-balling here, but Shanahan's a free agent this summer, and there would be a certain logic to it if Leaf GM John Ferguson were to court the Mimico native for one last go 'round with the Leafs.

Bad idea? Just another retirement contract? Maybe, and certainly Shanahan's lack of footspeed worked against him in the newer, faster NHL.

But the Leafs will need players to help their youth along, and in Shanahan, you have a quality person and a Stanley Cup and Olympic champion, a real winner as opposed to the phony "leaders" that follow their own agendas in the Leaf room.

Not Mats Sundin. But take your pick after that.

Anyway, Shanahan might also give Sundin a quality shooter to play with for one season. Patrik Elias, after all, looks awfully attractive from a distance, but its hard to see the Devils letting their best player walk, isn't it?

Without being too harsh, Shanahan on his worst day is a better playmate for No. 13 than Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky, who apparently were awarded permanent jobs on Sundin's wings last season as some kind of Crackerjack prize.

For one year at something in and around his current $2.3 million salary, the Leafs might help themselves through the transition to a younger, faster team.

Back to the Wings. Don't feel too sorry for them, for in Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall they have a very nice core of players moving into their prime. Datsyuk, injured for Game 1 against Edmonton, didn't deliver in these playoffs, but Zetterberg sure did and Kronwall is the natural successor to countryman Nicklas Lidstrom.

Probably the best thing that could happen to Detroit is for Columbus, Chicago and St. Louis to get better, and fast. It wasn't hard to see that the Oilers, playing out of the super-tough Northwest Division where the worst team, Minnesota, had 84 points, were a lot more battle ready for these playoffs than the Wings.

Comments

[paul]

Wow! Finally something in this blog that made sense. I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often.

[Deepak]

Come on Damien. Give us a break! You were the one predicated that the mighty Wings would roll over the Oilers in 4 straight and now you "Spin" like you knew it all along.

Detroit, on the basis of destroying door-mats like Chicago and Columbus won the President's Trophy. So what. What good is it to them now? Detroit fall from the top begins today.

As an Oilers fan, I am ecstatic about the victory. Bring on the over-rated Flames.

[Chris]

Totally agree that changes are needed in Motown. Even though they have a core of good young players, they still need to get younger and faster and shore up the goaltending. Looking at all the teams left, most are all younger, faster and are getting the goaltending when it counts.

I agree the Leafs should pursue Elias and similar players of his youth and speed, but pursuing Shanahan would be a step back and just make them older again. They need to get younger and faster with this new NHL.

[Roberto]

I cannot believe what I just read. To acquire Shanahan for even 1 year makes no sense whatsoever. Character guy and he has had a great career, but the Leafs need youth and speed. The team will not make the playoffs again next year so what's the point? I would rather see the ice time taken by a Robbie Earl, Jeremy Williams or someone like that than another past his prime guy.

[Carla]

Nyah-nyah, Red Wings fans. If you still think your team’s stats aren’t inflated by the lousy teams they get to play so often during the regular season, then I guess denial ain’t just a river in Egypt!

[Sanj]

Poor Detroit.

Not only did they have to beat the Oilers but they also were up against the HNIC commentators. If the Oliers could harness the root for the Oilers energy coming from the HNIC commentators then they would win the next 5 Stanley Cups. I never have heard so much rooting for one team. They were even worse then Joe Bowen and Dennis Beyak. At least they Bowen and Beyak have an excuse. They are regional. HNIC is supposed to be National.

I don't remember who but during the replay of Hempsey's winning goal, he was saying, Hempsey take it deep, take it deep.

And during the video replay of the Edmonton goal, the commentators were unaimously declaring 100% that the goal counted way before the official result came.

Come on HNIC, some objectivity please.

Detroit had no chance!

[Boodri Adoosingh]

Can the Blue and White also get dibs on Stevie Y for one last year to go along with Shanny? While their at it, might as well grab Chelios to finish out his career here too!

[Arthur]

Detroit's first-round ouster does not vindicate those who felt their record was padded at the expense of the weak sisters.

Detroit has proven over the years that they are an elite team, as their Presidents' trophies and Stanley Cups attest to. They didn't post the most points this season by accident.

But first-round upsets happen all the time, and Detroit's implosion is just another reminder of how tough winning the annual tournament really is. A look down Edmonton's lineup prior to the playoffs was enough to convince me: the Wings were in tough. Heck, any of the teams currently still alive have a decent chance at winning.

To the Leafs - it's true they need leadership, but is going back to the trough for guys wanting a final "go 'round" really the answer? This is the biggest free agent crop in history. There must be other guys out there who represent lower risk. They don't need Detroit's suicidal goalie, either.

[Carla]

'Detroit has proven over the years that they are an elite team, as their Presidents' trophies and Stanley Cups attest to. They didn't post the most points this season by accident.'

Dude, neither history nor accident is responsible for the number of points Detroit notched this year. Columbus, St. Louis, and Chicago helped a helluva lot, though.

[Paul McDougall]

The last thing the Leafs need is another past-his-prime vet like Shanny. Instead of finding a winger for Sundin the Leafs need to trade Sundin for some youth and speed while he still has some market value. At the very least, the Leafs are three years away from being a contender, but that's only if they start rebuilding NOW. Half measures will only result in another decade of middle of the pack mediocrity.

[Will Carson]

Ahhh the sweet smell of burnt Red Wings and toasted Flyers.
While many "experts" were quick to point out how these two clubs had it all, the frail truth was made oh so clear in back to back nights. Heading into the season, let alone the playoffs, both clubs were placed in purches well above their realistic heights. Weather it was the Red Wings living in the comfortable confinds of playing three of the weakest clubs in the entire league in over quarter of their games, with a line-up more suited for a Spengler Cup instead of a Stanley Cup. Or we can look how so many praised Bob Clarke for making moves before and during the season to upgrade the Flyers while other clubs within their conference decided to re-evaluate their personnel from the inside. As the season progressed and wore down, you could see just that unfolding in Philadelphia, a team that was not progressing and was becoming worn down. The moves so praised throughout the inners circles, yet let many like myself on the outside scratching their heads wondering what Clarke was looking to achieve. It became increasingly clear that the moves were mearly a band-aid solution as well as providing false expectations. Will Clarke and Holland face the same rather of those in Toronto ? of course not. The simple fact remains that the Maple Leafs for all intense purposes lived up to their expectations; while the clubs so highly thought of failed. You can take a president's trophy or a mid season A+ on the report card, but at the end of the day what did either club achieve ? Very little, leaving themselves with as much, if not more, unsolved problems as other clubs.

[James Mirtle]

The thing is, the impact of Detroit's division dominance is completely over-exaggerated. Even if you throw out every game the Red Wings played in their division, their remaining record (33-13-4) pro-rates to 115 points. In other words, they would have won the President's Trophy anyway.

You can make a case that they weren't as battle ready, but when they played tough teams this season, Detroit often won. (They were, after all, 13-5-2 against that vaunted Northwest Division.)

[thewineguy]

I was not surprised at the Wings early exit, but I also wouldn't have been surprised if they had won the Cup. President's Trophy notwithstanding, the new NHL is very much about parity and Roloson got hot at the right time to lead a very good Oiler team to the upset.

As to the Leafs acquiring Shanahan it is certainly an interesting perspective from someone who has vilified the Leafs for signing other veterans to "retirement" contracts. Shanahan looked bad in the playoffs and even at $1.5 million would not be a good acquisition in my opinion. The Leafs have to bite the bullet, put money in the system, draft better and build a TEAM that can contend.