Detroit Red Wings Success Comes From Within (video)

The Detroit Red Wings sometimes are overlooked, overlooked in a sense that they don’t miss the playoffs on a frequent basis or manage to do that even when they don’t get the top-tier talent such as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.

Detroit hasn’t picked in the top 10 since 1991, Detroit has found pieces to win in the future while maintaining the healthy balance of being competitive.

Detroit has made the playoffs twenty-four years in a row, they’ve been first round exits the past two years.

Red Wings Captain Henrik Zetterberg calls that “frustrating.”

Red Wings aren’t a team that takes pride in just ‘making the playoffs’ they’re thinking Stanley Cup every year.

After the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit has struggled to find a defensive player that can be defensively responsible and can be productive on the offensive end.

When you look at the pipeline in Grand Rapids several names come up often; Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Alexey Marchenko and Nick Jensen.

All have the possibility to be really good, but Red Wings Senior Vice President Jim Devellano told Keith Gave of Fox Sports Detroit “The defense looks strong, with several players coming. But up front most of the franchise’s best prospects are already in Detroit.”

Anthony Mantha, has not come close to meeting expectations according to Jim Devellano.”Very, very, very disappointing,” said Devellano, “And I say that with a lot of sadness. Coming out of junior, we had such high hopes for him.”

Truth is, Mantha missed a good portion of this year due to a broken tibia .

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Anthony Mantha is highly regarded throughout the NHL some scouts have him in the top five of prospects, but most have him in the top 10. As “sad” as Devellano is, Anthony Mantha is someone who 29 other teams would really want. Anthony Mantha this year had 15 goals, 33 points in sixty-two games.

When you hear Red Wings prospects speak, they’re so proud to be in an organization such as Detroit.

The Red Wings are one of few perennial playoff teams that gets it right, Tom Renney now CEO and President of Hockey Canada said to the New York Post “They do things the right way there.”

Renney has coached in New York and Edmonton and his opinion is what we all knew, the Red Wings are regarded as the league’s model franchise. The Red Wings mantra is development. Their talent from an organizational stand point ranks 4th according to Hockey Futures.

Detroit’s development and drafting is why they continue to put great teams on the ice. Yes Detroit hasn’t been a Cup contender the last few years, however, when you look at the organization there’s zero doubt they’re just going to fall back and be a bottom dwelling team in the NHL.

The Red Wings are very high on a guy from Pardubice, Czech Republic named Tomas Nosek, Detroit signed the 22-year-old last summer and the Wings speak very highly of Nosek, Devellano saying “He should find his way to Detroit real soon.” Nosek was never drafted by an NHL team. In 55 games played, Nosek notched 34 points.

The Red Wings ability to find talent hidden underneath the surface is why they continue to win. They are known for their drafting and have been. Even in the years where there was no salary cap a good portion of that team was drafted. When the Salary Cap came, most thought Detroit wouldn’t survive the Salary Cap era. Detroit won a cup four years after the lockout.