Red Wings Find New Formula For Success
Stanley Cup Champs Bring Free-Agent Hossa to Detroit
Jul 22, 2008
Maybe it isn't just a matter of throwing big money at big-name players. Maybe it never was.
Maybe when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997, 1998 and 2002, General Manager Ken Holland wasn't simply "buying" championships.
It could be that these guys in Hockeytown know what they're doing.
With a new set of rules (salary cap), a different captain (Nicklas Lidstrom for Steve Yzerman), and a different coach (Mike Babcock for Scottie Bowman), the Red Wings returned to NHL greatness this season when they skated past Pittsburgh in the finals. Perhaps most impressively, they didn't get there on the shoulders of high-priced free agents ala Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan or Dominik Hasek. They got there, in large part, courtesy of Henrik Zetterburg and Pavel Datsyuk, players the organization discovered and grabbed as uncelebrated draft picks.
Give the Red Wings and their scouting team credit for recognizing talent that others didn't, and the organization for letting their talent blossom. By drafting well and spending wisely, the Wings figure to be in position to succeed in the NHL postseason for the foreseeable future.
To help secure that standing, the Wings went to the playbook that many said was their recipe for success a decade ago: they went after the big fish free agent.
The Wings' status as Cup favorites was strengthened when free agent Marian Hossa turned down a long-term, big-money deal to play elsewhere, opting instead to sign a one-year deal with the Wings in hopes of getting his name etched on the most-prized trophy in sports.
Should Holland somehow figure out a way to secure Zetterberg and Hossa to long-term deals, with Datsyuk already inked, the Wings will feature some of the best forward talent in the league for years. Consider other youthful talent like Dan Cleary, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen, Jiri Hudler, Tomas Holmstrom and Mikael Samuelsson, and the Wings' depth up front is superior to anything the NHL has to counter with.
On the blue line, Lidstrom remains one of the top defensemen in the league, and he headlines a crew that's as deep and as talented as any. The acquisition of hometown boy Brian Rafalski prior to the 2007-08 season continues to look more and more like another brilliant Holland move, and Niklas Kronwell is fast becoming a favorite among Wings' fans for his hard-hitting style of play.
Of course, none of those mentioned (aside from Hossa) was acquired as a highly sought-after free agent. Maybe there was a time when getting big names at the trade deadline helped equal big success. These days, though, it seems the opposite might be true: big success can equal a new big name.
It's a formula Wings' fans won't complain about; no matter who else does.
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