Do we recall months ago when the lead story around the Detroit Red Wings was Holland and Blashill have no idea what they are doing? This was mostly true of engrafting young talent into the team.
Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland was too slow introducing young players to replace aging veterans to whom he had become too attached, stunting the franchise. Blashill was too reluctant to give young guns ice time as fading veterans were making mistakes as bad as promising novices needing experience.
I don’t hear that narrative anymore. What happened? Well, we began the season with a roster dominated by young guns, particularly on defense, whose ranks were decimated with injuries. So we glimpsed the future as not only Dennis Cholowski but also Joe Hicketts, Filip Hronek, and Libor Sulak launched us. Because of injuries, fans essentially got what we had clamored for as the roster tilted way young.
What did we learn? There is much to like about these prospects—their mobility, their first pass, their offensive instincts all project well into the future. But they are still just prospects and not ready for prime time. The Detroit Red Wings didn’t win one game among the first ten we played.
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At the same time, as the Greens, Kronwalls, and Daleys returned, the Red Wings went 10-1, catapulting from a dark cellar. This not only gave hope for Red Wing fans fearing the season could be much worse than last year’s frustrations. It gave this new writer for the Octopus Thrower relief from the stress dream having to write about baby seals getting clubbed several times per week.
Suddenly, Holland and Blashill no longer looked backward and dumb for insistence upon a mix of veterans slowly augmented by burgeoning young talent. Suddenly, we were reminded this is the way gaps between winning cycles of franchises get bridged–not out with the old, in with the new.
Suddenly, the fresh narrative, after an impressive winning streak and striking victories against elite teams, is: we’ve got a shot at the playoffs!
Do we remember the last two years we made the playoffs? We got bounced like a tennis ball in the first round as predictably as Federer beating a pimply teen in the first round of a Grand Slam. Are we content to prop up a pretender? Or are we about nurturing a contender? I hope that we understand the answer to that question even before we ask it, moving with stealth and patience.
Our two last games against the Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals is a bellwether here. I attended the first game in D.C. Though the score was a tight 3-1 victory for the Caps, the margins the teams exhibited for gaining victory were divergent. Capitals: wide margins. Red Wings: slim margins. This became more evident in the recent 6-2 drubbing the Capitals gave the Wings. This is the measuring stick, everyone. Exceeding projections is wonderful, but let’s not ignore reality.
The question of pretender versus contender matters with regard to the trading deadline. If we hope to contend now, no way we would consider trading Jimmy Howard, Mike Green, and Gustav Nyquist, who are among our best players. How could we imagine going anywhere without them?
If we astutely tamp down excitement around an overachieving pretender, and stay dedicated to a longer view, we give thanks to the hockey gods that all of the three veterans now shine brightly. We recognize this as a harmonic convergence for development to gain precious elite prospects for the system. Can you say Joe Veleno and two other high draft picks for Tomas Tatar, anyone? Do you realize none of these three will be with us for our next Cup, and their value is spiking now?
If you clamor for Steve Yzerman inevitably replacing Ken Holland, I’m with you all the way. But Steve Yzerman understands the inexorable logic of NHL development as well as Ken Holland does.