LOS ANGELES -- They're too old. Too slow. They don't have the goaltending.
Every season, the Detroit Red Wings ignore all the reasons why they shouldn't remain among the NHL's elite. They're leading the Western Conference, the league's most senior citizens at an average age of 31.1, playing at a remarkable pace and skill level.
"Nick Lidstrom is 40 and some of our other guys are 37, 38, so the assumption right away is that they're over the hill," General Manager Ken Holland said. "But the players we've had that have been in their mid-to-upper 30s in a lot of cases have been superstars in their primes, so even if their game has slipped a little bit they're still much better in relation to a lot of players."
Lidstrom is enjoying a Norris Trophy-caliber season. Pavel Datsyuk, 32, is as magical as ever and fellow forward Tomas Holmstrom, nearly 38, still jousts for rebounds and tip-ins with the best. Center Henrik Zetterberg, a youngster at 30, is one of the league's top two-way players. Right wing Dan Cleary, a week short of 32, is having a career season.
They've also benefitted from a relatively easy schedule, with only two back-to-back sequences so far. And besides Mike Modano's wrist surgery, they've avoided the injuries that forced them to stage a second-half playoff push last season.
They didn't have home ice in the first round but defeated the Phoenix Coyotes in seven games before losing to the San Jose Sharks in five games. That defeat has been a motivating factor this season.
"We had a long summer. I think our guys trained very hard and they were excited to get the year started," Holland said. "We finished 16-3-2 last year and we beat out Phoenix. Our guys thought we were a good team based upon our finish last year so they came this year believing we were a good team. And we've obviously got off to a great start."
Holland and assistant GM Jim Nill have done tremendous work in finding and feeding youngsters such as Jonathan Ericsson, Justin Abdelkader and Jimmy Howard into the lineup. "Because we've had good teams we've been able to put our young players on the farm team or they come into our team and they play secondary roles and they have to earn their way," Holland said.
"You're not entitled to ice time because of your draft pick or because of your contract. You earn your ice time. There's a good internal competition there which forces people to battle for their jobs and come to work and compete every day."
------
HOWLING MAD?
Chicago financier Matthew Hulsizer met with the NHL's executive committee during Board of Governors meetings Monday in Florida and said he's optimistic about closing his purchase of the Coyotes by the end of the year. That's not all he said, though nhl.com has posted only an edited version of his chat with reporters.
Hulsizer said he sees this as a long-term investment. "As I look out 25 years I think people will look back and say that might have been smart," he told reporters in the version posted at nhl.com. But in a longer version posted on the Coyotes' website he added, "Right now it's not going to look smart for a long time."
He said he's working on a lease with the city of Glendale, Ariz., and will retain General Manager Don Maloney and coach Dave Tippett. He plans to have some partners but will own a "vast majority" of the team, which has been operated by the league for more than a year and has drawn poorly.
"It's not like I expect this is going to make money for us for quite a while," he said.
Sorry, Winnipeg and Quebec. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman wanted the Coyotes to stay in Phoenix and he won.
SLAP SHOTS
Tony Tavares, an executive with the then-Mighty Ducks, is in line to become interim chief executive of the Dallas Stars, the Dallas Morning News reported last week. He would run things until owner Thomas Hicks sells the team. ... Rest in peace Jim Kelley, the former Buffalo News writer who died of cancer last week. Hockey and hockey writers lost a great friend.
Comments