will the red wings ever b a powerhouse again?

well... the glass is half full and half-empty for this team. letting legace go was a mistake for he was not totally to blame for the loss against edmonton. the fans demand that the goalies play great and not flop during the post season. they get run out if they lose. anyway, they need to rebuild through the draft. not signing a washed piece of crap goalie in belfour was a blessing. i think they need to give this jimmy howard a shot. he is better than osgood. goaltending is the least of their concerns. they should trade for a center to replace the void that shanny left. they are weak in the center position . datsyuk and zetterberg peaked too early last season and disappointed the fans. they will never have a greater leader than stevie y. the most qualified leader in my opinion would be lidstrom. as far as detroit being a powerhouse again... can't say until the season starts. they did not sign any free agents but there are still some out there that can help detroit. they are taking a wait and see approach. they won't dominate the west but will be at or near the top in their division becuz the st. loser blues, columbus and chicago all are crappy teams. they will place fourth or fifth in the west this season or at least what i am guessing. not all of the wing fans wear their jerseys everywhere. i could care less what anyone thinks of the wing fans.

The Redwings have been very quiet during the free agent signings and that worries me! With Stevie and Shanny gone that is a lot of goals to give up and leadership to pass up. I was suspect when the wings were looking at Belfour to be the answer in goal. Now the team is down a center and leadership with Yzerman's retirement and Shanahan's defection to NY Rangers. They still have a great nucleus of players but they are no longer the best in the west.

Oh my, barelyliterate has some social problems, no?!?

I think the Wings will rebuild from within in and will be a powerhouse again. Maybe not this year but in the next few years. All depends on what they do in goal. We don't need Hasek back, thank God they didn't sign Belfour and we could have done without Osgood. They should have kept Manny. I don't know what they are going to do now but the in goal situation will be a big factor on what happens this season.

I'd say retool time. They've had their great meaningless regular seasons of late and reverted to the first or second rd. flops of the '90s (remember Borchevsky and Baker?).

Given the organization, they can return to the top. The guy that worries me is Datsyuk--he's been a total playoff bust so far in his career.

I will say it would be worth gambing on Hasek for 06/07. I think he got a bad rap. He doesn't get hurt at Olys and Ott would've won the Cup, methinks.

The Red Wings will always be a powerhouse. When you have Scotty Bowman picking players for your team you cant go wrong. Their young talent has proven to be a valuable asset but they still need someone behind the bench that can get them through the first round of playoffs. So to answer your question it will be a difficult season but they will flurish like always. The franchise is not a dynasty for no reason.

I think that the Red Wings will never not be a powerhouse. It seems to me that whenever I watch them play they always seem to be bigger, faster and stronger. Personally, I hate the red wings because they destroyed my Colorado Avs couple years ago but it is with the bruisers like McCartny and "Shanny" and speedsters like Federov that have made the wings that powerhouse and soon they will get more like them. Sad but true

I hope not. Detroit fans are all *******. The Red Wings are my number one most hated team (followed closely by the Rangers) because the fans suck. Any skill the team may ever build is completely shrouded by the psychotic jerky fans. For crying out loud... you don't HAVE to wear your Red Wings jersey to your sister's rehearsal dinner. You don't HAVE to wear your Red Wings Jersey to a football game in FLORIDA between Miami and Tampa (or two other teams that have nothing to do with your city or state or to other sports that have nothing to do with hockey). You don't have to cover your car with Red Wing paraphernalia. And, for ten seconds, you could try and turn the conversation to something else. And if you have to talk about hockey, you could be reasonable, see it as a sport, support your team because you love them and not because it's some nut-job calling you can't seem to escape. And you don't have to be a jerk. (And most of you are.)

No matter who the Red Wings are playing, I pull for the other team.

I think its going to take a couple of years before they get the rhythm that they had.

They really screwed up losing Manny and keeping Osgood.

They should have let Osgood go kept Legacy and then brought Jimmy Howard up from the Griffins. Now all we got is a team that has to get a feel for the loss of the players and then the addition of the new.

Never, they should sign Legace in goals if they plan to get a chance this next season. Chelios is an oldee and Lidstrom is asking way to much salary wise and it hurts Detroit's salary cap.

Ottawa Senators all the way!

barelyliterate - I'm sorry you met fans that are jerks, but not all of us are. We just like our hockey. And you're right, the Tampa/Miami thing is completely out of place, as is the rehearsal dinner incident. So I'd like to apologize for the ones that actually are ******* - I'm sorry. But please, please don't generalize it to all of us.

As for the question, I think it might take a while to be a powerhouse. I'm really missing the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons right now though...