Hate to say it, but Wings streak is toast.

Submitted by Michifornia on

Been a die hard Red Wings fan for about 40 years.  Started out listening to Bruce Martin and Sid Abel on WJR as a kid and watching Hockey Night in Canada on CBC (when there were only about 5 total TV stations).  Even when they were the Dead Wings, I was hooked.  Listening to the passion from the radio announcers was incredible.  Suffered through many painful seasons.  Then Stevie Y came to town.  And the Wings were like the Sharks of today.  Winning Presidents Cups but always losing in the playoffs to a hot goalie.

THEN, if finally happened.  The 1997 Finals against the Flyers!!!  Yzerman, Shanahan, Fedorov (the Russian 5).  I almost couldn't believe they won.  When McCarty scored on a beautiful breakaway like he was an actual skilled forward, I think I laughed out loud I couldn't believe it.  Winning back to back in 1998. The tragedy of Konstantinov.  Unreal.

Then 2 more Cups followed.  The best front office in sports.  Drafting talent in the lower rounds.  Getting lifers like Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg.  Adding the right pieces in Shanahan, Chelios, Murphy, etc.  Never having a great goalie (see Ozzie and Vernon).

The streak was taken for granted.  But losing all world Lidstrom and then Datsyuk.  Too much to overcome.  Fast forward to today.  Blashill, not a known coach.  Howard has played great finally, and is now injured.  Mrazek is terrible.  Coreau has been a pleasant surprise.  Larkin is injured.  They have gone from a borderline playoff team to one that is almost certain to miss the playoffs.

This is painful for me because I love the Red Wings.  Grew up in Ann Arbor (kindergarten through college).  Always root for all Michigan and Detroit Teams.  The Wings were always my favorite.  Live in Cali now but have traveled to other stadiums to see Detroit.

Sorry, no question to ask.  Just sharing my sorrow.  Hopefully, we can be back before too long.

LET'S GO RED WINGS!

 

BigOzzy86

January 25th, 2017 at 9:48 PM ^

the one of Ericksons foot... another off Mrazeks arm... another that Mrazek just missed...

Wings are not getting the bounces we need on the offensive end either...

Eat Your Wheatlies

January 26th, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^

Agreed. And I'd argue with the OP that the streak was "taken for granted." If anything, the streak is the reason we haven't already begun to rebuild. Hopefull they get this thing figured out sooner rather than later. 

DrMantisToboggan

January 25th, 2017 at 9:50 PM ^

I played hockey since I was 4 until I had to drop it in high school for time management reasons with football and other activities. I was an avid Wings fan all those years. 

 

Now, in between accidentally seeing highlights on sportscenter, I forget that the NHL even exists. I'm sure part of this is tied to the Wing's downturn and my exponential growth in football obsession, but it just seems that the NHL has completely lost the nation's interest.

DrMantisToboggan

January 26th, 2017 at 8:56 AM ^

Eh, probably not. Stanley Cup finals average ratings:

1995-1999: 3.54

2000-2004: 3.22

2006-2016: 2.5

 

6 of the 8 most-watched NHL finals games ever were in the 1970's, which is insane considering the population is ever increasing.

 

Combine that with the ever declining participation in youth hockey, so much so that they tasked the broadcasters with begging people to get their kids to play hockey in the last Cup Finals that I watched. 

 

Do you think that America cares about hockey as much now as it did in the 90's or 80's or 70's? 

Kevin13

January 26th, 2017 at 9:26 AM ^

is not in line with the nation. Hockey is doing well and is actually expanding next year with a new franchise in Las Vegas. I see numbers increasing and more kids playing today then ever before. Here in Colorado it has become huge and there are more leagues, more high school teams and even more rinks being built for the game.

The NHL has 2-3 outdoor games a year and fans are filling stadiums to see this game. Did you notice the game in the big house a couple of years ago with more then 100K in attendance? The game has grown and America is much more into the game then they were 20-30 years ago, at least from what I see.

DrMantisToboggan

January 26th, 2017 at 9:52 AM ^

Yes, do you notice that the NHL is expanding their "novelty" events to get people interested? Adding a team to drum up interest and publicity? I guess declining TV ratings for 20 years isn't proof enough. The Harris Poll polls sport interest of 2500 Americans every year and the NHL has been about 5% for the last 10 years - so interest is at best stagnant. If you combine all forms of each sport (i.e. pro, college, men's & women's) then hockey is as popular as soccer (obviously not very popular in America) at about 5%, and much less popular than Football (43%), Baseball (15%), Basketball (11%), and slightly less popular than Racing (6%).

 

It's hard to deny that hockey is less popular in America now than in the 70's and 80's. The 4 lockouts since the 80's have drastically hurt the league, and the salary cap has damaged it even further. Teams thrive on die-hard, loyal fans - the Wings will always be able to fill a 20k seat stadium in Detroit - but nationally people are not becoming NHL fans like they used to, and many are losing interest in the league.

WestQuad

July 21st, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^

When I was a kid in the 70's and 80's Hockey wasn't a thing unless you were a "rich" kid that could afford ice time or lived on a lake.   The RedWings seemed to make Hockey a lot more popular when I was in college and just after.  Plus I went to Michigan with a bunch of rich kids.  

Now I live in Buffalo and everyone is gonzo for hockey.  I go to 2-3 pro games every year and I'm not even a fan.  2/3rds of my male friends play in leagues and have their kids on travel teams.  

It's hard to judge popularity by media ratings these days because viewership is so fractured.  Networks get a fraction of their audience from the 70's to 90's.

kdhoffma

January 26th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^

Just an FYI, I have 3 kids that play hockey and have been an admin for a youth hockey org for 7 years... youth hockey particpiation in this country has not been declining.  Outside of the NHL lockout years, participation numbers have been climbing every year over the past 15 years or so.  Feel free to check the numbers for yourself:

http://www.usahockey.com/page/show/839306-membership-statistics

kdhoffma

January 26th, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^

Here's another relevant article:

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/08/11/american-youth-sports-particip…

"The only major team sport with an upward participation trend since 2009 is ice hockey. According to the report, USA Hockey, after an internal study revealed 43% of children quit the sport by age 9, made major changes by reducing its emphasis on travel and changing rules to facilitate safety, contributing to a reversal in the sport’s decline and a 44% increase in participation." 

lilpenny1316

January 25th, 2017 at 10:58 PM ^

Franzen, Ericsson, Abdelkader, Zetterberg and Nielsen are all making north of $4mil per year through the 2020 season.  They are either old (Z and Nielsen), overrated (Abdelkader, Nielsen again), hurt (Franzer), or awful (Ericsson). 

Abdelkader is actually signed through 2022-23.  So we could look forward to six more years of stupid ass penalties in the final seconds of periods.  

 

WFNY_DP

January 26th, 2017 at 11:52 AM ^

You cannot have him!

I don't think he's ready to leave here, TBH. The team has finally started to bubble up some of the young talent he and Jarmo Kekalainen (mostly Jarmo) have found, and they've been starting to see dividends from the later rounds as well (which we hardly ever did under previous FOs). I think Davidson wants to stay and see this group mature a bit.

Honestly, us even getting him was a coup in and of itself. If the Blues' ownership wasn't pennywise, he'd probably still be there. I don't think ownership here is ready to cut him loose like they were in St. Louis.

MGoRedemption

January 25th, 2017 at 10:01 PM ^

Ken Holland is 100% to blame. Wings have been in a nose dive since 2009. All he cares about now is barely making the playoffs and making money. He clearly has no motivation to compete for cups. Clean house Mr. Illitch

not TOM BRADY

January 25th, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^

All downhill since Lidstrom retired. I understand trying to go for it when he was still here. Once he retired they should have started to rebuild. At the very least the rebuild should have started between then and now. Doing long term damage with these bad contracts on a bad team.

They could have started the process a couple of years ago and been most likely competitive moving into the new arena. Now they will probably have to wait 5-6 years for all these bad contracts to expire. At least they are going to start having top 5-10 picks.

UMxWolverines

January 26th, 2017 at 12:45 AM ^

I don't watch them like I used to but it's just hard to watch when I do like tonight. They're just average. I don't expect them to win cups every year. I'm sure we'll never see another streak like they had from 1997 to 2008 again. But it's time to start over. There's no Russian pipeline to build on anymore. Just going to have to have some bad years.

TB12

January 26th, 2017 at 12:04 AM ^

Mike Ilitch is no longer running the show. He's been in bad health over the past few years and his son Chris doesn't seem to be as big of a sports fan as him. If he doesn't have the same passion as his dad, I hope he ends up selling the team. There have already been rumors about selling the Tigers.

not TOM BRADY

January 25th, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^

It was never the streak for me. It going for the cup all those years. The streak was just something to cling onto these last couple years. I think it gave the organization a false sense of accomplishment.

WolveChip

January 25th, 2017 at 10:22 PM ^

It's been a long time coming. I never thought Howard was a championship goalie, the league has passed the leadership by (Zetterberg, Kronwall...), and this is a team full of support players.

We thought the team would be fine after the cap was implemented because of the talent in GR but as it turns out they are what they always were - late round picks who could contribute but would never be elite in the NHL.

ADKGoBlue

January 25th, 2017 at 10:35 PM ^

They lack an elite defenseman, Zetterberg can't carry the forwards on his aging back, and the younger scorers are still adjusting to the league (not to mention Nyquist and Tatar being streaky as all hell). Couple that with Mrazek struggling this year, and Howie being injured, and you have a pretty bad hockey team. 

I'm sad for the streak to go, but even more upset we're shitting the bed in a lackluster draft year. Sure could have used a Matthews/Liane type talent on the wings.

FatGuyTouchdown

January 25th, 2017 at 10:39 PM ^

Thank god the streak is over. Now the Front Office can stop holding on to that. It's like being the 15th best team in the league was good enough. I'd much rather take the lumps of a 3-4 year rebuild than continue slogging through crappy hockey and first round exits. Blow this shit up, bring back Stevie!!

San Diego Mick

January 26th, 2017 at 2:02 AM ^

People who are from California or have lived here a long time don't use the term Cali, only tourists or people who don't know any better say it, it's SoCal or NoCal, FYI.

As for the Wings, it's depressing to watch them most of the time anymore, Holland is not a good GM under the salary cap system. He's been pretty bad at FA signings, might be time for him to shift his strategy or GTFO.

With the new arena opening next season it's time to be a Cup Contender again!!!

alum96

January 25th, 2017 at 10:53 PM ^

It's fine in theory but ask Edmonton and Toronto fans about tanking and rebuilding. They have been on that gerbil wheel for a decade. Sometimes it works like Chicago, sometimes you just turn into the Carolina Hurricanes ...

Growing up post dead wings and in probert gallant Stevie y era it's been a hell of a ride. No real stars to build around now but a few young 2nd line forwards and 2nd 3rd line defensemen. It's going to be tough to be bad enough to get 2-3 A+ players to build around.

Franzen over Hossa.... #neverforget

lilpenny1316

January 25th, 2017 at 10:45 PM ^

But we gave up a first round draft pick to reacquire Kyle Quincey, who never had first round value.  We traded away Mattias Janmark and a 2nd rounder for a grand total of 11 games from Erik Cole.  All Janmark did last year was score 29 points and finish +12.  

And everyone sang the praises of Ken Holland when he dumped the last year of Datsyuk's salary so we could at least say we tried to get Stamkos.  Too bad that also meant trading the rights to Jakob Chychrun who's got 11 points in 38 games.  Knowing Holland/Blashill, he'd probably still be in Grand Rapids so Ericsson can continue coughing up the puck in front his own net.  Illitch should've forced out Holland to make room for Yzerman in 2010.  If he could do it to Dombrowski last year, he definitely could've done it back then.