Rebuild, Retool or Repeat? Your 2009 Detroit Red Wings.

Rebuild, Retool, Repeat? All through the offseason I have been tossing this alliterative query around in my head. Ok, ok not all summer- just since we lost the 4 Horsemen to the Apocalypse.

Since Hoss, Huds, Sammy and Conks all flew the Red Bird One Coop, I have been beseeched with concern, trepidation, worry even. Realizing that for the first time in a long while, this year’s Red Wing team will not look virtually identical to the previous season’s incarnation of greatness.

And with the loss of a great back up Goaltender and  4 goal scorers worth 80 points and a bag of used mouth guards-

What???? I am bitter about Sammy and Huds, leave me alone.

With the loss of 4 goal scorers worth 80 points and a bag of used mouth guards, plus the eternal questions in Net, well this 2009-2010 Season is likely to give any good Red Wings fan nervous fits and the occasional facial tick whenever the phrases “Geno Malkin” and “bloody balls” are uttered.

I look stupid with facial ticks, so I am doing the only thing I can:  Analysis of where our Wings stand after last year’s heartbreaking season's end. Time to dive in and ask the hard questions.

What will these Red Wings accomplish this 2009-2010 season: rebuilding, retooling or repeating?

Are the Wings in a Rebuilding Year? 

There are plenty of “experts out there (cough, cou-THN-gh, cough) who think the Wings are on the decline and in the process of rebuilding. With rookies Helm, Howard, McCollum, Ericsson, Leino, Abdelkader (just learn to spell it now, people. Its much easier if you don’t resist.) and Meech all selling their lake effect property in GR and trading in their Lions wings for Red ones, the Wings have more rookie ass warming the bench and top 3 lines than any Wings team in recent history.

Yes, I am using the term “rookie” loosely. Let it go.

In fact for the first time in about 5 years, the naysayers are out of luck using their standard fare of Red Wing jokes and criticisms. Wings have 13 Twenty somethings in the lineup and 9 Thirty somethings.

And not one player over the age of 39. No one carrying an AARP Card or riding a Rascal to the Rink.  Anymore.

 Only Lidstrom is over 36 years of age. Save the “Cane” jokes for Chicago and let Chelios go. We did.

(AAWWWWW, low blow Juice- not cool.  Why you gotta hate on Cheli? I couldn’t help it, the joke wrote itself.  I have nothing but love for Cheli, and mad props for his amazing contributions to the Red Wing Organization, the sport and American hockey. You can tell I mean this sincerely because I did not add “and Chili” to the end of that last sentence.)

Of our 13 youngins cracking Babcock’s line up, 7 of them are seeing their first season starting in the NHL. Anyone would look at those numbers and think “holy crap- Rebuild in Detroit, ask for an autograph.”

But I disagree. Sure we have tons of rookies breaking the line up this year, but these are no average rookies. These are “kids” who can compete and win at the highest levels in the league. Anyone of these players could have cracked the line up of at least half the league last year or the year before. Our rookies do not signify “rebuild”.

Each of these rooks has seen some incredible NHL ice time, most impressively in last year’s playoff run to the Stanley Cup Finals. I want to be the first to point out that although we did not repeat as Champs last year, the fact that the Wings pulled 4 or more AHL players up after they completed their season and relied heavily on them in the SCF, getting all the way to Game 7, speaks volumes about the talent of these players.

Guys like Helm, Ericsson, Abs, Leino were integral in stepping the fawk up and keeping us in it to try to win it. Playing like seasoned pros when they had barely ever seen the inside of the Joe before. These boys played with the grace, heart, class and talent that Red Wing fans like you and I expect, beyond their years or experience.

Its going to be hella exciting to watch them in their first NHL year, and they are all gonna be good, maybe even great.

"Bertuzzi" Does Not (Necessarily) Mean “Tool”.

Repeat after me:  “In Holland we Trust, Todd Bertuzzi won’t let us down, In Holland We Trust.” Then go sacrifice a Chris Pronger bobble head to the Hockey Gods, and thank your lucky stars Steve Ott wasn’t on the UFA list.

But what about Bertuzzi, Juice? 

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that question, I could have bought Kris Draper’s Contract.

 In 1992.

Look. Bertuzzi is a thug. I’m sorry. Its gonna be very difficult for me to warm up to the idea of needing a hired gun on an elite Red Wings team. But you know what’s more difficult? Watching guys like Pronger, Ryan, Ott, Carcillo, Ivanais, Cammalleri, Ruutu and Burrows pummel the Datsyuks and Zetterbergs.

Or watching a second rounder punk in the second city spear Nic Lidstrom in the tomatoes and send him into emergency surgery.

I can’t tell you how many times last year I wished for a Darren McCarty presence on the ice. For no reason other than deterrence. Look. As long as the league refuses to address fighting, then its suicide to not have an enforcer (or two) in your line up and I support the decision to go looking for a little muscle/psychosis.  For deterrence. (I mean it.)

Unable to will D-Mac onto the roster with the force and power of my mind, I would have preferred to steal Scott Hartnell, but he has a damn NTC. What to do what to do? Ken-otye knew what to do. Even if we fans aren’t visionary enough to appreciate it yet.

Let’s face it with Bertuzzi out there you will get a skater with speed and decent hands who can and will also beat the puck out of anyone who messed with his team mates. Or anyone who doesn’t. Anyone really.

By the way did you know that 7 Anaheim Thucks cracked the top 50 players earning the most penalty minutes last year? Not even Philly- who had 4, The Rangers (4) Vancouver (3) or Ottawa (2) had that many top 50 penalty minute earners….Dirty Thucks.

            Bertuzzi is Yiddish for “Retool”

Picking up Todd Bertuzzi is a sign to me that the Wings looked at the number of opponent caused injuries and the woefully beat up state of our Red Wings at the end of 2009 and had no choice but to fill the enforcer role. Then they drained more blood from Lids boy parts and dreamt of the days when Darren McCarty was king.

Then they got the rug pulled out from under them and lost 80 goals.

 

Where the HEDHS are we gonna get 80 goals?? 

Williams, Bertuzzi, Eaves, oh my. This isn’t your father’s HuddedHossSam. But only a fool would look at Wiley Ken-otye’s offseason acquisitions and think he hired these guys as replacements. He didn’t even hire them as “The Replacements.”

Hmm- I wonder if Keanu Reeves was available…."That man is facking an animal!”

At :10 seconds and again at :31… But I digress.

Look. Just short of  kidnapping Ovie, dressing him up in a Canadian Mountie uniform and brain washing him into believing his name is Travis Erhardt from Saskatchewan, and that he plays for Detroit, the Wings weren’t going to make up 80 lost goals by scrambling for UFAs.

But why are you sweating it??? Wings will get 30-40 of those goals back if Helmer and Leino have good years.  If Bertuzzi lives up to Ken-otye’s expectations there are another 20-25 goals. AND if Jason Williams actually manages to play to his potential (ie: avoid those pesky season ending splinters from riding the bench), there is another 25.  There are your 65-75 goals.

Its up to the Defense to do the rest- Both Babs and Ken-otye have said as much. “Our defense has got to be better.”  Translation?  Better goal tending and stronger D.

It only makes sense. Anyone worth their Yzerman sweater see that last year’s scoring circus was really an anomaly. Seeing games where Wings had 5-6, 7 goals? Bizarre to me. Traditionally, the Detroit Red Wings have always been more balanced team- hell the Wings invented (for NHL purposes) and perfected (Pavel Datsyuk) the defensive forward and the Wings were instrumental in successfully overcoming a pure trap defense style in the league. Some would say the first.

Wings will be back focusing on defense this year, which raises the only real unknown in my mind:

Can Jimmy Howard Adequately Replace Ty Conklin? 

This is the big question. The Superunknown if you will. Detroit Goaltending- always under fire. Sigh. Will Ozzie have his best regular season ever? Is Howard ready for the Show? If not, is it wrong to hope that Chicago will make a huge error and let the injured Huet go, or can we pick up a guy like Boucher, Bryz, Ersberg or Hiller from a West Coast team for less than $1MM?

Truth is the only unknown with any weight in support of a “rebuilding year” argument is the goaltending. But it doesn’t have the strongest legs. Rookie goalies can do great thing- this isn’t your father’s league. Look at Mason, Quick, Ersberg, Rinne and Varlamov. All had great showings last year. And Jimmy believes he is ready. Babs believes he is ready. Case closed, shut your five hole, er pie hole.

Bottom line: Wings will be fine.  We will be more than fine. This is a retooled Red Wing team, with a handful of super talented young guns who have been chomping at the bit to get to the show, and a solid core of vets who are still the fastest, sharpest, most talented mothra fokkers from here to Gardenia.  Retool? Yea a bit, but only so that its even more likely than not that we will:

            Repeat after me: The Detroit Red Wings are Still the Best. 

Yes, I think with this team, retooled and revamped, that the Wings can and will make it back to the Finals. Let’s look at the rest of the confy. Sharks remain basically intact, with a couple of surprising losses and a couple great acquisitions that likely will not be enough.

Let’s face it, if San Jose had half the heart their fans show, they’d have been Stanley Cup champs long before now.

 

Some argue that the pain of repeatedly letting their fans and themselves down will give them an extra edge. But I have been a heartbroken fan at the end of a season cut too short.  If the Sharks didn’t get momentum off that sort of heartbreak in 2008, where will it come from after getting drop kicked in the first round? Claude Lemieux?

Speaking of Anaheim. Did someone step on a Duck? Losing a Neid-a-weiner and Pronger leaves a big hole in their thug-fence. Anaheim appears to have spent the off season trying to gain some finesse, but that is a classic mistake. No way Anaheim can compete with the Wings or Sharks in finesse, puck possession or pure talent. Hell, they can’t compete in those areas with Chicago, even if Hossa’s shoulder never heals. Anaheim has become slightly less concerning- they will be lucky to be ranked 4^th or 5^th in the Confy, depending on how Vancouver and Dallas handle.

Chicago? I got a Buck twenty says they don’t make it past the second (city) round. The Blackhawks will make another valiant effort. Maybe they’ll even shoot for the Presidents Cup. They seem to be following in the traditional path of mistakes so many top tier teams make trying to get to the cup. Yawn. Who cares.

The biggest threat to the Wings’ goal of repeating a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals remains with the Sharks, followed by a lesser concern of having to battle through the Thucks. Luckily the Wings just got a bit tougher, and the Thucks just got a little less tough. Sharks remain essentially the same, and if the Wings and Sharks ever meet up in a Western Confy Final- it will be some of the most exciting hockey you will ever see.  Luckily my team has more heart and wants it more. More importantly, Wings know how to win.

Bottom Line: Wings can repeat. And what is more- they want to. 80 games until Playoffs....Bring on Sweden Baby- its time to shoot some puck!