The Detroit Red Wings and the Season of Hope
The Detroit Red Wings begin the regular Friday night against Mike Babcock and the Toronto Maple Leafs. And like a flower in the spring, the Detroit sports fans can raise their heads up to the sun and await a fresh season.
You see, unlike our other sports teams, the Red Wings inspire hope. They bring consistency, a winning tradition, and championships. They bring talented youth and seasoned veterans and (now) top-notch free agents signings.
The Red Wings give us a reason to look forward to a sporting season. Unlike our Lions, who never seem to go anywhere. Unlike our Pistons, rebuilding since the late 2000’s. Not even like our Tigers, loaded with talent but with all those questions around the starting pitching and that pesky bullpen.
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The Red Wings have made the playoffs so long, there are people who are legally allowed to drink in Detroit, who have never not seen the Wings in a playoff battle.
Sure, they been in somewhat of a Stanley Cup drought, not winning it since 2007-2008 season. But the mere fact that we can call not having a Stanley Cup in 8 years a drought indicates how high the expectations are for this team.
This will be a fascinating season to watch. The old guard – Kronwall, Datsyuk, Zetterberg are still around, but it remains to be seen if they can make it through a season injury-free. They have talented rookies who will play at some point this season – Tyler Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin.
They have two high profile free agents signings in Mike Green and Brad Richards, their first major free agent signings in years. And of course it wouldn’t be hockey season in Detroit without a goalie controversy, this time between experienced, high priced Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek, the rookie goaltender who lead them into the playoffs last year.
This team is deep, and I feel talented. Not talented like the Lions “we should be winning but we aren’t” but really talented, and deep. So deep that there is already talk of trading assets because some talented players might not play this season, and contribute nothing by playing for the Griffins. Talented enough to hope that this season will culminate like the last 22 – in the playoffs.
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