DETROIT RED WINGS SEASON PREVIEW 2008-09

by Mike Jack, Mike Jack's Hockey Articles

The Detroit Red Wings, last season’s Stanley Cup Champions, didn’t have to improve their roster this off season, but they did anyway. In recent years, many championship teams have done the opposite. In the salary cap world, it’s extremely difficult to keep great teams together, because the more success you have, the more is expected in salary.

Key Additions: Marian Hossa (RW) and Ty Conklin (G)

The Wings have added another star player in Marian Hossa for relatively cheap. Hossa wanted to come to the team that has the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup this season so badly, that he was willing to take significantly less than he was offered from other teams. Apparently, the Wings made a deal with Nicklas Lidstrom that he would settle for $7.45 million per season only if the Wings promised that he’d remain their highest paid played. That’s why the Hossa was signed for $7.4 million. In Ty Conklin, the Wings have signed a top quality back-up goaltender who can step into a starter’s role if Osgood becomes injured. He may not be as legendary as Dominik Hasek, but he’ll do just fine.

Key Departures: Dominik Hasek (G), Chris Chelios (D), Dallas Drake (RW), Matt Hartigan (C), Darren McCarty (RW) and Garrett Stafford (D).

Domink Hasek and Dallas Drake have both announced their retirement this off-season. Though Hasek turned into Osgood’s back-up in the play-offs and Drake wasn’t a big scorer last season, they will both be missed. There’s a lot of uncertainty involving the careers of Chris Chelios and Darren McCarty. Both of whom are unrestricted free agents. Though the Wings have practically no cap space left, there have been rumours of McCarty resigning for what would most likely be the league minimum. With the addition of Brad Stuart at the trade deadline, it seems as though Chelios’ days in Detroit are at an end. The 46 year-old hasn’t announced his retirement yet though, and may add a great veteran presence on defence to a team such as the Los Angeles Kings.

Top Prospects: Jimmy Howard (G), Jakub Kindl (D)

Detroit’s greatest prospect is probably Jimmy Howard. He most likely won’t see much time with the big club this season, but with the expected player dumb before the 2009-10 season, he may get his chance soon (more to follow). Jakub Kindl will most likely start the season on the farm in Grand Rapids, but could see some time with the big club as injuries arise.

Potential Line-Up:

Forward Lines
Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hossa
Holmstrom/Hudler/Franzen
Cleary/Filppula/Samuelsson
Maltby/Draper/Kopecky

Defensive Pairings
Lidstrom/Rafalski
Kronwall/Stuart
Lilja/Lebda

Goaltenders
Osgood
Conklin

Scratch
Aaron Downey

What’s Next?:

Besides the possible signing of McCarty, the Red Wings seem to be finished their moves for this off-season. However, the 2009 off-season will be a different story. With Henrik Zetterberg, Marian Hossa, Johan Franzen, Mikael Samuelsson and Ty Conklin all schedule to become unrestricted free agents next off-season, there will be some big changes in Detroit by this time next year. Detroit’s main priority will be to sign Zetterberg who will be getting a big increase from the mere $2.65 million average on his current contract. Hossa and Conklin will most likely not be returning and others will be traded if the Wings intend to resign Zetterberg, Franzen and Samuelsson. I wouldn’t expect the Wings to be dealing away any of these players during the season though as they will all be expected to be key contributors in the play-offs.

Overall:

The Detroit Red Wings have a great mix of young talent and experienced veterans. They’ve improved with off-season transactions, and their young players will continue to improve with experience. Even with expected changes for the 2009-10 season, the Red Wings will continue to be a great team mainly because of their amazing player development and drafting skills. They’re favoured to once again become repeat Stanley Cup Champions, but a “Three-peat” could prove difficult.