Wings Fans have plenty of Perspective
Michael Rosenberg has an interesting article on the Red Wings in this morning’s Free Press. He certainly understands the mindset of most of the fan base following a season that has been a fairly pleasant surprise thus far:
The only thing wrong with the 2006-07 Detroit Red Wings is that they follow the 1992-2006 Detroit Red Wings. Detroit has seen three Stanley Cup parades and at least 10 other seasons that seemed like they might end in a parade.
And now Detroit is presented with a team that might not win its division and doesn’t have Steve Yzerman or Brendan Shanahan. It is a team that might win the Stanley Cup anyway.
The big difference with this season is there are very few fans who would consider Detroit the front-runner like they did from 1992-2006. Last year there were concerns about whether the Wings would be able to maintain their high level of play but those concerns were put to rest during the regular season.
So this is a team that has been a pleasant surprise thus far. But as Mike Babcock likes to say the season will be determined based on what the team does in the playoffs. Another first round exit would be considered a huge disappointment. I also think Rosenberg’s comment on Pavel Datsyuk is accurate but I don’t think he really understands how popular Henrik Zetterberg is with the fanbase. Did Steve Yzerman only really become appreciated by the fan base when he finally made it to the Stanley Cup finals? No way.
Zetterberg has been widely embraced by the fan base, so much so that there were many fans who wanted to see him named team captain when Steve Yzerman retired. Obviously Nick Lidstrom was the only choice to be the team captain but Zetterberg is likely the most popular player on the team amongst the fanbase. But I agree that having a great playoff season that helps guide the Wings deep into the post-season would only make him more popular.
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[…] … Also Zetterberg-related: see also Dave’s response to the Freep’s Michael Rosenberg column advising Wings fans to maintain proper “perspective.” Rosenberg believes the jury’s still out on Zetterberg, and Dave is right to point out that he’s way off base there. […]