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Detroit Red Wings: We all Love…..or Love to Hate them.

Posted: Wednesday, May 18th Filed in: General

Detroit Red Wings: We all Love.....or Love to Hate them.

By: Ruthie Sudderth, Detroit Blogger and Journalist 

Three NHL teams have come back from 3-0 deficits in the Stanley Cup Playoffs; the Detroit Red Wings are still not one of them.  But they sure came close.

Despite the 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference semifinals last week, the Red Wings showed once again why their fans love them and, well, everyone else hates when their favorite team plays against them. They demanded to live to shave another day, and so they did. Three times, until there was nothing left – they turned a near sweep into the most exciting series I have ever witnessed and made me fall in love with the sport all over again.

This was Detroit’s 20^th consecutive playoff appearance, the longest streak in professional sports. In that time they have won four Stanley Cups.  Yet in the last few seasons, analysts, fans and critics have begun questioning the Red Wings ability to win, their goaltending, their age and their toughness. With an injured Chris Osgood no longer starting in goal, the team turned to Jimmy Howard this season and trusted him to play above his pay grade in the playoffs.  Veteran leaders like Captain Nicklas Lidstrom have threatened retirement in recent seasons, and may finally hang up his skates this summer. With the famed Grind Line out of commission for so many years, the team has struggled to keep up with younger, physical teams.

In addition, late injuries to key players like Johan Franzen interrupted head Coach Mike Babcock’s line match ups and put additional pressure on his teammates to produce offensively and have a physical presence on the ice.

Yet through all these challenges, the Red Wings nearly emerged from the semifinals a victor. Their goaltender stood on his head, Pavel Datsyuk created a highlight reel all his own, defensemen Niklas Kronwall… well, he “Kronwalled” anything that got in his way, and leaders like Henrik Zetterberg and Lidstrom were solid as could be. Jimmy Howard said after his team lost game three that there was no reason Detroit could not come back from this huge deficit. “Why not us?” he said. And so, just as Howard said, they came back.

This offseason will no doubt bring changes to the Detroit locker room. Arguably the greatest defensemen of all time – Lidstrom – could retire and a new captain could be named. Osgood, with whom Detroit fans have a love-hate relationship, could join his captain in retirement, making Howard a permanent starter and rookie Joey MacDonald the new go-to backup netminder. But fans and foes alike can rest assured that the Detroit Red Wings are still the same old Wings we all love… or love to hate.