Detroit Red Wings Way Is The Right Way
By Joe Chapp
In sports, the biggest key to winning on a consistent basis is through the draft. The Detroit Red Wings know this like no other team. They haven’t picked in the top ten since 1991, but they have one of the top farm systems in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Grand Rapids is in the Western Conference Finals playing the Utica Comets. The series is tied at 1-1, but the Red Wings drafting shows up to remain supreme over the NHL despite being competitive.
In recent years the Red Wings haven’t picked as high as Edmonton, Florida, Tampa Bay, Calgary or even Chicago in the past 20 years, but they still remain competitive. Even picking later in the draft the team is still boasting a top-tier minor league system.
The playoffs haven’t been kind to the Red Wings in recent years, and most will bring that up. However, Detroit has got a lot younger and better in recent years. The Red Wings haven’t hit their ceiling just yet, it takes time.
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Detroit is gaining the experience, and that should be a scary thing for other teams in the league. Before Zetterberg and Datsyuk, it was Yzerman and Lidstrom. The Red Wings developed those players to what they are right now.
The names of Teemu Pulkkinen, Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin are names that could guide Detroit in the future, but let’s not forget the guys in Detroit already. Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar are outstanding, although Tatar struggles a little bit when he becomes overly aggressive. It’s the learning experience.
Losing to the Lighting in seven games may have been the best thing for the Red Wings long-term.
The Red Wings in the past have been formidable to losses. Yzerman and Lidstrom losing to New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Finals, Anaheim beating Detroit in the Western Conference Finals, the next year the Wings won the Cup.
With Tampa Bay one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals it shows Detroit they’ll be there relatively soon. Detroit should’ve won game seven, they were the better team, but in hockey often it doesn’t matter if you’re the better team. It’s how the puck bounces.
The Grand Rapids Griffins have tons of talent, when you watch them they remind you of Red Wings teams in the past. Talented, deep and have that special type of grind that leads to Championships.
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That grind is led by Jeff Blashill, who is rumored to be the Wings’ top candidate for head coach. It is assumed, Jeff Blashill will be the Head Coach of the Red Wings at the start of the 2015 season.
Detroit is the one organization in sports that I can say does it the right way. Detroit fans get livid when Ken Holland doesn’t make that big splash in Free Agency, like he did before the cap era. Detroit doesn’t make the big trades and why should they? Risk giving up a good prospect like the Capitals did with Filip Forsberg, or like Montreal did when they gave up the rights to Ryan McDonagh?
In today’s day and age, people love to push the pace. Fans want to win and they’re often impatient, but the wait will be worth it. Ken Holland and the Red Wings organization has earned that right. In the salary cap era it’s how you manage your money, and how you develop and draft. It’s that simple.
Mike Babcock leaving Detroit doesn’t slow the momentum of the Red Wings, It’s the perfect time. Change is good, with Detroit getting younger, and going into the new arena. The Detroit Red Wings are set up to win for the long-term, don’t rush the process, because it works.
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