Wating in the Wings

Well, for the first time in a loooooooooooong time, the Red Wings will take to the ice without No. 19 steering the ship. The retirement of Steve Yzerman, though not a surprise, is the start to a different kind of Wings team. Following him out the door is Brendan Shanahan, though not to the front office (where 'The Captain' currently is), but to the bright lights of Broadway, as he will be suiting up for the NY Rangers this year. So it is up to Nik Lidstrom to lead the way, with some help from the 'kids', Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. There could be worse situations. I think overall the Wings will be in a good situation for years to come, but for this season, there is two words that will make or break the Wings' season:

Dominick. Hasek.

The 90-year old goaltender (ok, he's not that old) is back for another stint in Detroit, and how he goes is how the Wings will go. If he has a good, injury free year, the Wings will be ok, and will finish in the top 2 of the Central. If he's hurt a lot, or is not effective, it will be a long hockey year.

I think the Wings will finish with about 45 wins, and get into the playoffs, but I don't think they will make it past the 2nd round. Although Hasek is very capable of stealing a game come playoff time (unlike Legacy, whom I did like, but I don't think we could keep him as our starter), he cannot steal 16, and I don't think we have the firepower to hoist the cup this year. But Kenny Holland (Wings GM) is very capable of pulling the perverbial 'rabbit' out of his hat (much like DD (Tigers GM)), so all this could change in an instant.