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Wings Primed For Repeat
by Paul on 08/14/08 at 01:40 PM ET
Comments (5)
from Spector at Fox Sports,
The defending champion Detroit Red Wings will likely be the consensus pick to become the first club since the 1998 Red Wings to repeat, although that was a considerably different version from the club that won it all this year.
Most experts will point to the Wings keeping their Cup-winning roster practically intact while adding more offensive punch in winger Marian Hossa as the reason they’ll win it in 2009. Some might even be tempted to suggest the Wings could become the first team in over a quarter century to win three consecutive Cups.
Recent winners Anaheim, Carolina and Tampa Bay lost too many key players to free agency, leaving their respective front offices scrambling for affordable replacements that ultimately proved ineffective in bolstering a return to the Final.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
If the Wings do repeat, I don’t think the biggest factor will be the lack of turnover (or the addition of Marian Hossa). I think it will be the foot-on-the-gas philosophy of Mike Babcock. I just don’t see anyone being allowed to “coast” at any point this year just because they’re favored.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 08/14/08 at 01:09 PM ET
Ya dam skippin right OTC
Babs loves to big game hunt and he has tasted some blood...grrr
Posted by Osrt on 08/14/08 at 02:48 PM ET
I love the Wings to pieces and I’ve grown up with them for over twenty years but I would take each season, each game one at a time so I wouldn’t be so haughty to give them their second Cup in two years.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 08/14/08 at 02:53 PM ET
...I wouldn’t be so haughty to give them their second Cup in two years.
The only ones doing that are the prognosticators. The real Wings fans are simply “encouraged” by the team’s current situation. And, as I said originally, I think the greatest encouragement we have is having Babs as the head coach.
There’s no doubt that, at some point during the season, we’ll all be huddled on the floor of the Hasek Club Car weeping uncontrollably because the Wings have lost four in a row. It’ll happen. Count on it.
But, deep in our hearts, we’ll also know that Babs will right the ship and we’ll end up winning the Western Conference trophy...if not the President’s Cup. And none of this has anything to do with “homerism” or bravado. It’s all about a team that’s been built from the ground up to be a legitimate contender for the Cup...this year, next year, and the year after that.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 08/14/08 at 10:26 PM ET
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Recent winners Anaheim, Carolina and Tampa Bay lost too many key players to free agency
While the larger point about losing players is valid, I think this phrasing is kind of deceptive: the biggest player the Ducks lost in traditional free agency was either Ric Jackman or Joe Motzko.
I guess Dustin Penner qualifies, technically, but that’s a unique case involving compensation picks.
Either way, I’d say the Ducks lost more players to semi-retirement trades and waiver claims than they did free agency.
Posted by Earl Sleek from Los Angeles, CA on 08/14/08 at 01:03 PM ET