Wings hope preparation will make difference this post-season
Helene St. James at the Free Press has a good article on some of the things the Red Wings have done to improve their prospects during this year’s playoffs. For one the race for the Central Division and Western Conference went down the wire, which wasn’t the case last year.
[This season] they’ve been chased heartily by the Predators, so much so that the Wings didn’t clinch the Central Division until the 81st game. They didn’t win the West until Anaheim was eliminated from contention late Friday night.
“This season it’s been a little bit different, competing with Nashville for the Central Division and then with Anaheim for the Western Conference,” Kris Draper said. “The games have meant a little bit more.”
Every issue that bothered the Wings last season has been addressed. In goal, they went from untested Manny Legace to proven Dominik Hasek. Up front, they added grit and size by trading for Todd Bertuzzi and Kyle Calder. Leadership-wise, Lidstrom took over the captaincy with expected fluidity.
The dominance of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg that has made up for the loss of Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan on the ice. Defensively, Danny Markov was added to compensate for the loss of Jiri Fischer.
Depth-wise, the Wings have been able to bring along young players such as rookies Valtteri Filppula…and Jiri Hudler…
Of course there are concerns, particularly about how ready Hank Zetterberg and Todd Bertuzzi are to perform in a playoff atmosphere given their lack of playing time over the past couple months. Losing Nik Kronwall will obviously put more pressure on Detroit’s defensive corps. But every team has some questions heading into the playoffs. The main thing that gives you some reason to believe that the Wings could be successful this year is they have addressed their biggest needs: goaltending and adding players who can score goals in close.
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