Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland likes to tell the story of a newspaper column, written coming out of the lockout, predicting the imminent demise of his NHL team. The theory was that the Red Wings, so used to outspending teams in the pre-salary cap era, would falter under the payroll controls adopted in the new collective bargaining agreement at a time when many of its established stars (Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan) were getting on in years.
Holland keeps that article close by and consults it regularly as motivation he says – to try and keep his team atop the NHL heap against the inevitable ebb and flow that characterizes pro sports everywhere.
It’s why the temptation to wonder if the bottom is really falling out on these Red Wings is so fraught with peril. At other times, in the past few years, it looked as if the Red Wings – 2-3 to this point in the season and technically in last place in the Central Division - could slip back to the pack and instead, reeled off one divisional crown after another, plus consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup final.
Still, on the heels of Tuesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres – in which they were flat-out, outplayed in all areas of the game and collectively looked a step behind – there is a reason for trepidation in Hockeytown. Holland also understands that there was little chance that he could keep all of last year’s team together for salary-cap reasons. He kept some (Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen) and permitted others (Marian Hossa, Jiri Hudler, Mikael Samuelsson) to slip away. The hope was that the reinforcements (Todd Bertuzzi, Jason Williams, Ville Leino) would seamlessly pick up the scoring slack and that the Red Wings would plough forward, same as always.
But with Franzen lost for a minimum of four months, and possibly longer as a result of an anterior cruciate ligament tear, there just isn’t the depth up front that there once was – or the speed. Pavel Datsyuk’s scoring funk in last year’s playoffs seems to have spilled over into the regular season (only two assists thus far) and if you’re counting on Bertuzzi to be first in on the forecheck, well, think again.
Against Buffalo, coach Mike Babcock sat out two aging role players, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, which meant that among the 12 forwards in the lineup, only five were there for the start of last season: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Dan Cleary, Valtteri Filppula and Tomas Holmstrom.
Sometimes, the answer may be just as simple as that. Trying to integrate all those new faces doesn’t happen instantly, no matter how successful you’ve been in the past. As a result, Red Wings’ fans may need to show a quality that they’ve lost familiarity with over the years, but that Maple Leaf supporters understand only too well.
Patience.
And maybe a little faith that Holland still has the right touch when it comes to moving players on and off the roster to get it right eventually.
