The Detroit Red Wings got the millennium off to a good start, winning two Stanley Cups and eight division titles. Here is the all-decade team for 2000-09.
The first decade of the new millennium was very successful for the Detroit Red Wings. They won two Stanley Cups and eight division titles.
They also had a lot of future Hall of Famers play for them. They traded for Dominik Hasek, signed Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille in that famous 2002 season.
My goal is to take all those great players and make the All-Decade Team for the years from 2000 to 2009.
This team will be made up of any player who played for the Red Wings in this span. I will fill out four lines, three defensive parings and two goalies.
I will also do an honorable mention for a couple of players that could’ve been on this list but whether for injuries or other reasons they never clicked with the Red Wings.
This article most likely will get a lot of discussion and we would be very interested to hear your guys all decade team. How much of my list do you agree on and what would you change about my list?
Next: First Line
First Line
Center – Sergei Fedorov: How many more Stanley Cups could the Red Wings have won had Fedorov stayed after the 2003 season? Fedorov was 33 when he left and could’ve had a couple more good seasons. Something that people might not think about is had Fedorov not left Detroit, he very well may have been the new captain after the 2006 season. Even though the Red Wings won another cup in the decade without Fedorov, it makes me wonder if they could’ve won more if he stayed.
Right Wing – Brett Hull: Even coming in at age 37, he had three solid years as a Red Wing. In his three seasons in the Winged Wheel, Hull scored 25 or more goals in each season. He even scored his memorable 700th career goal while he was a Red Wing. Hull had one of the hardest and quickest shots in the league and as a fan it was an honor to watch him play with the Red Wings for those three seasons.
Left Wing – Brendan Shanahan: Shanahan had several memorable goals in his time as a Red Wing including the empty net goal in Game 5 of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals to clinch the Cup for the Red Wings. Also who could forget the “Irish Jig” that was played every time he scored. Shanahan left after the 2006 season, the same year Steve Yzerman retired.
Next: Second Line
Second Line
Center – Pavel Datsyuk: Datsyuk was an up and coming rookie back in 2002 when he was on a line with Brett Hull and Boyd Devereux – a like Hull called “Two Kids and a Goat”. Pavel had a very good career as a Red Wing as it most likely is ending. He also won three straight Selke Trophies for best defensive forward in the NHL.
Right Wing – Marian Hossa: Even though Hossa played only one season for the Red Wings he was dominant. Unfortunately, the Red Wings came up short and lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Red Wings then made a huge mistake by giving Johan Franzen an extension instead of Hossa. Hossa has since won three cups with the Blackhawks while Franzen has been injured and ineffective during games.
Left Wing – Henrik Zetterberg: From 2005-06 until 2009-10 Zetterberg was arguably the best player on the Red Wings. He topped 30 goals in three of those years and even scored a career high 43 goals in the Cup year of 2007-08. Unfortunately, Zetterberg has had back issues the last couple of years that robbed us fans of enjoying him in his prime longer.
Next: Third Line
Third Line
Center – Steve Yzerman: Many of you might rip me for having him on my third line, but by the 2000 season, Stevie only played in 60 games or more twice and his highest goal total was 18 in his final years. If this was the 1990’s all decade team Yzerman would be a lot higher on my list but in this decade it’s clear Stevie was slowing down. There will never be another captain like Stevie Y.
Right Wing – Johan Franzen: In the last three years of this decade Franzen was actually a force on the ice. He had one of the best playoff performances back in 2008. Especially that series against the Colorado Avalanche where he single handily out scored the Avs in that series. Oh how I wish the Red Wings still had that Franzen…
Left Wing – Tomas Holmstrom: I have to have a net front presence on my team and there is no one better than Homer. Even though he had numerous goals called back, his rear end was the reason many goals were scored by the Red Wings. He also got many goals himself by being a pain in the butt for goaltenders. Homer just seemed to be in the perfect spot to disrupt the opposing goalie. He would also cause the opposing team to get penalized for slashing him.
Next: Fourth Line
Fourth Line
Center – Kris Draper
Right Wing – Darren McCarty
Left Wing – Kirk Maltby
Yes I am rounding out my team with the Grind Line. These three are one of just five Red Wings to be on all four cup teams. This line was a hassle for many teams and was a favorite among Red Wings fans. Kris Draper could also put the puck in the net on occasion – not a bad return for a player they acquired for $1 from the Winnipeg Jets.
Darren McCarty was the player that if the opposing team took a cheap shot at the likes of Yzerman, Shanahan,etc., the Red Wings could count on McCarty standing up for them. Not known for putting the puck in the net, McCarty scored a hat trick in Game 1 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Kirk Maltby was one of the biggest pests for the Red Wings, playing in Detroit until after the 2009-10 season.
Next: First Defensive Pairing
First Defensive Pairing
Nicklas Lidstrom: Lidstrom will go down as arguably the best defenseman of all time. His accomplishments are seven Norris Trophies as the league’s best defenseman, a Conn Smythe winner in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, and one of the five Red Wings to be on all four cup teams between 1997 and 2008. Even late in his career, Lidstrom was one of the best defensemen in the NHL.
Brian Rafalski: Raflaski was a very solid defensemen. He came to Detroit after the 2007 season. In his four seasons here Rafalski never scored less than 40 points in a season. Losing these two players in consecutive years has hurt the Red Wings big time. So you can say that the Red Wings defense hasn’t been the same since.
Next: Second Defensive Pairing
Second Defensive Pairing
Chris Chelios: For a guy who never wanted to leave Chicago he had a very memorable career as a Red Wing. Chris Chelios played with the Red Wings until the 2008-09 season. He was very productive in his time with the Red Wings and after the team lost Yzerman and Shanahan, Chelios added much needed leadership to the Red Wings.
Mathieu Schneider: Mathieu Schneider had one of the hardest shots for the Red Wings and although he never won a cup in Detroit, he was a very good defenseman here. In his three full seasons with the Red Wings, Schneider had double-digit goal totals in all of them.
Next: Third Defensive Pairing
Third Defensive Pairing
Niklas Kronwall: Kronner was injury-prone for the first couple years of his career but towards the last part of the decade really came into his own. Whether he was “Kronwalling” opposing players or helping keep pucks out of the Red Wings net, he was very effective.
Brad Stuart: Stuart was acquired at the deadline in the 2008 season and was on the Cup team. This is another defensemen that the Red Wings lost in the last few seasons and his loss also is still being felt by this team.
Next: Goaltenders
Goaltenders
Dominik Hasek – One of the greatest goalies of all time, led the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in the 2002 team and was also on the 2008 Stanley Cup team. Hasek, in his close to four seasons with Detroit, helped lead the Red Wings to very successful seasons. He was a fan favorite during his time here in Hockeytown.
Chris Osgood – A guy the Red Wings always seemed to be getting rid of is the backup on my all time team. I wrote a few months back that Chris Osgood is a Hall of Famer in my opinion. I still maintain that if Mike Babcock didnt make the switch and put Osgood in net during the 2008 playoffs, the Red Wings would’ve lost to Nashville in the first round and that probably would have cost Babcock his job.
Next: Coach and Honorable Mentions
Coach
Scotty Bowman- No doubt in my mind that Scotty was the best coach in Red Wings history. Yes Babcock was a very good coach but Bowman had to keep all the egos of that 2002 team in check and did a great job. Even though he retired as a coach that season Bowman is still the best coach in this decade. He would move to the front office for the Red Wings but would join the Blackhawks as an executive.
Honorable Mentions
Derian Hatcher and Jiri Fischer – Oh my what could’ve been. Fischer had his career tragically cut short due to a heart issue that almost killed him during a game against Nashville in 2005. Hatcher on the other hand was a huge free agent signing in the 2003-04 season and unfortunately tore his ACL early in the season and only ended up playing 15 games. He was a casualty of a buyout after the yearlong lockout and his Red Wings career total is 15 games, 0 goals, 4 assists, 4 points.
Imagine if the Red Wings had these two behemoths for the rest of this decade.
Curtis Joseph -A guy that the Red Wings did wrong in my opinion. The Red Wings signed Curtis Joseph after Hasek retired after the 2002 season. The first warning sign should’ve been CuJo crying when he gave a farewell press conference in Toronto.
The first season was a disappointment, although CuJo played well the Red Wings were swept out of the first round by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The next season Dominik Hasek came back and made things really awkward.
It was so bad CuJo was placed on waivers and sent to the minors. The way all of it went down was very awkward from a fans perspective and I can’t imagine how weird it was being a player in that locker room.
Luc Robitaille – One of the major acquisitions the Red Wings got in 2002 had a great 1st year with the Red Wings but really struggled in his second year as he only scored 11 goals. If he was more productive in his second year, I would’ve included him on the team but he was a big part of the 2002 Cup team.