Where’s That Button?

I apologize for the lack of posting around here recently. I have two exams coming up this week, so naturally I’ll be posting more as I procrastinate from studying.

I was unable to watch much of either of the Wings’ games this weekend (yes, Thursday evening is the weekend when you’re in college), but from what I can tell most of the Detroit faithful are scrambling in search of the panic button. The Wings have lost three straight contests, albeit two in OT, and have looked (for lack of a better word) slow. Even in the games they have won this year, the Wings have been consistently beaten to pucks by their opponents. But despite the February-like losing streak, I’m not worried about this team.

Through 9 games, the Wings are 3-4-2. For those doing the math at home, that’s 8 points in 9 games, good enough for 4th in the division and 12th (out of 15) in the conference. Their goal differential is currently sitting at -6 (25 for, 31 against). There’s no sugar-coating these stats, because they downright suck from a Red Wings standard. These are the types of numbers we expected out of the conference-leading Colorado Avalanche 9 games into the season. We expected the Wings to be the team sitting at 8-1-2 (or better) with a +12 differential. We expected the Wings to come out this season with guns blazing after an embarrassing letdown in Game 7 of the Finals in their own building. We expected the Wings to solve the economic crisis, cure cancer, find Osama bin Laden, create peace between Israel and Palestine, and fix whatever Donald Trump calls his “hair.” And that was just supposed to be during the trip to Sweden.

My point is this: the expectations on the Wings this season have been too large. This is not to say that winning the Stanley Cup isn’t still the expectation in Hockeytown. I don’t think there’s a Red Wings fan alive that hasn’t expected Lord Stanley to come to the D every year since the mid-’90s. The expectation that the Wings would blow through the regular season a la Neo destroying Agents in the Matrix trilogy is what is causing mass panic among Red Wings Nation.

They are still the uber-skilled roster that we expect year-in and year-out. When you have guys like Ville Leino and Valtteri Filppula on your third line (on opening night at least…), you’re stacked. I’m not familiar with most of the Wings’ prospects, but I’m willing to bet we have a handful of guys in Grand Rapids that would be playing in the NHL right now if they had been drafted by other organizations.

They still have the best coach, general manager, and owner in the entire NHL, regardless of any distractions in place. Mike Babcock knew exactly how to run this team last year coming off the Stanley Cup run. He knew when to push, when to lay off, and when to go to the media. I’m still iffy on his calling-out of Henrik Zetterberg last week, but I trust that Babcock will have this team in contention come April.

They are still the flawless organization that the salary cap was created to control, and they still have made a mockery of the rest of the league. Ken Holland prides himself on keeping the Wings at the top of the NHL after the salary cap was put in place. If he was a player, his number would be retired the day he calls it quits. He’s that good at manipulating the numbers in a way to keep the Wings both under the cap and in contention. Look around the league. Pittsburgh has about one-third of their cap allocated to Crosby and Malkin alone. Chicago won’t be able to re-sign both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. To keep the talent this team has under the bare-bones salary cap they have been given is truly unbelievable.

They are still the motherfucking Detroit Red Wings, and they will still flip the switch at some point this season. There is too much talent on that roster and too much pride in that locker room to let this season go down the drain. It might not be pretty at the start, but this team has the ability to get back to where they belong.

Keep this in mind: last year, the Penguins were 4-4-0 in their first eight games after losing the Cup in their own building. Like I said, I’m not worried about the Wings.