NHL Preview: Detroit Red Wings

Charlie Boccanegra wonders if time has finally caught up with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Detroit Red Wings have been a model of consistency in the NHL for the past two decades having never missed the playoffs. They have won multiple cups and strung together eleven consecutive 100+ point seasons. It is simply remarkable.

The Wings are now two years removed from their last Cup appearance and have started to take slow steps back for their franchises standard, failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs. The NHL betting line is giving the Wings too much respect for past achievements.

The core of the team continues to age and is likely to experience a slow decline. Much of the hype the past few seasons has been surrounding the emergence of Johan Franzen and Valtteri Flippula upfront. While they are both quality forwards neither compare to Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, who are still elite at their craft.

Detroit still enjoys great forwards, but the depth they once had rolling three lines deep has now been narrowed to just two because Bertuzzi, Cleary and Holmstrom are the only other legitimate offensive threats, and none of those guys are getting any younger either.

The back end is still anchored by hall of famers and one of the best of all time in Nicklas Lidstrom, but he’s over forty years old now. The loss of Brian Rafalksi will be filled by Ian White who can a decent job replacing his offensive skill set but still not good enough. Niklas Kronwall is still one of the more underrated defenseman in the league, usually playing on the second pairing. This is the season he will have his role increased and be an even more integral part to a solid D. Brad Stuart & Jonathan Ericsson are good in the middle of pack helping fill out a solid 1-5.

The Red Wings’ biggest weakness is Jimmy Howard in net. He’s slightly above average, but far from great. In past years the Wings have not required great goaltending to be an elite team. With the offense aging and the defense taking a minor step back he will need to be better, in particular during the playoffs. I don’t see him improving anymore taking his game to another level, and that hurts the Wings’ chances at winning another Cup.

At 103.5 set as their season point total I would be inclined to be the UNDER. The past two seasons they’ve averaged 103 and I see this team being worse then those years. In addition, they play in a very tough division which makes for a more difficult schedule.