A Quick look back
Here is something I wrote at the start of the playoffs last season. Now seems like a good time to re-post the article with the questions regarding whether Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg would be able to lead the team during the playoffs having been put to rest.
New Wings Leaders have chance to restore Hockeytown’s Luster
Much has been written and said about why the Red Wings are kicking off their 17th straight playoff appearance without as much fanfare as usual. Some things could be expected, such as Don Cherry saying Detroit fans miss Bob Probert and Joey Kocur, even though both guys haven’t played in the Winged Wheel jersey in roughly a decade…good call Grapes.
I think Shawn Windsor gets it right in this Free Press article.
The problem is…too many other things have [changed]– including, most notably, the names on the back of the jerseys. No longer are the Wings dotted with Hall of Fame-caliber players who spent the better part of their careers in Detroit.
Steve Yzerman is the face of that generation. And his jerseys are still the most widely spotted during games at Joe Louis.
Kyle Kinnick was at Saturday’s game, too. The 29-year-old Belleville resident attends a few games a year with his buddy, Dan Gubbini, also 29, who lives in Woodhaven. Kinnick sported a baseball cap with Yzerman’s jersey number stitched above the bill. He loves the current incarnation of the Wings and the team’s potential this postseason.
“We are younger and faster and tougher,” he said, reciting the names of his favorite acquisitions.
Still, he sounded wistful.
“It’s not the same team anymore,” he said. “The main characters are gone.”
It’s easier to relive a story than to tell a story anew. Especially when the old story was as good as it was. But I personally would hope the hardcore fans, the ones who go to the games and wear the Winged Wheel hockey sweater, would eagerly anticipate Pavel Datsyuk turning it on in the postseason and claiming a spot as one of the best forwards in the game. They should be buzzing about the return of Henrik Zetterberg much like the palpable buzz that was in the air when Brendan Shanahan first came to Detroit in a trade.
To do so isn’t to disrespect what Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan did to make Detroit Hockeytown and the best franchise in the NHL. If you want to remain one of the best franchises you have to hoist a beer and wish a fond farewell to the guys who are no longer in their prime (or jeer Feds if you must) and welcome with open arms the guys who are going to tell the story going forward.
There is a time and a place to relive the turtle, Stevie Y’s heroics, and the Irish jig. And it’s true that guys like Pavel Datsyuk have stumbled taking their first unsure steps in the very difficult arena that is the NHL playoffs. With Shanahan and Yzerman moving on it is understandable that there is a somewhat muted build up for this postseason run. This year in particular is understandable because it is the first postseason run without both players.
On the eve of the first playoff run without those war horses the team is going to build a new identity. Henrik Zetterberg stepped into a larger role last season against the Oilers, and Datsyuk likely will elevate his game as well. All of the talk from the doubters about Datsyuk’s ability to perform during crunch time provides the necessary backdrop.
There are obviously some key characters who return: Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, and yes, Dominik Hasek. But if you have complained how the team performed in the past couple playoffs you have to accept that change was necessary and inevitable. It is perhaps comfortable to see familiar names out on the ice as the team continues to lose the luster of those championship runs. But the new leaders have the opportunity to create their own history, generate their own buzz and excitement, and to carry the franchise forward.
It starts tonight.
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