Red Wings will be disappointing this year?

@Markus--LOL

letting Rob Scuderi and Hall Gill wasnt too ideal if the pens want to repeat..losing hossa is whatever considering THE WINGS WON A CUP W OUT HIM..Hudler was the only true loss, but replaced by Lieno...on the other hand... Scuderi and Gill were easily in the pens top four of defensemen. Losing Peter Sykora's experience will hurt, as well as losing Satan. Only one team has repeated as champion in the past decade, with the Detroit Red Wings winning in 1996-97 and again in 1997-98. The Penguins will have a big target on their back every time they enter an opposing building, as every team in the league will be looking to upstage the champs, esp since every team knows Sid the Kid was handed the cup!!!

Good call on Bertuzzi too..lol he has a knack for scoring when playing w BETTER PLAYERS ie zetterberg..

To say wings wont make it and the pens will is very very stupid..wings have proved throughout the past 20 years that they can make it back to the finals at any time , while the pens are hoping they can at least make the playoffs so their fans at least support the team..bc most likely marcus, your a bandwagon junkie

@CrosbyPenguin.."The average age for Pittsburgh, Stanley Cup Champions, this year is 27.7! Much lower than the Red Wings! This is only proof that soon a new, crappier era will be dawning in Detroit." HAHAH OK BUDDY

Think all you want about the depletion of the wings...if you really want the truth this will be the only year they may have a downfall. by downfall i mean a top 3 seed or 4 seed. May not 1 but def. wont be below 4 and this is an off year. see what you fail to realize and this goes for any NHL fan..the wings have 13.2 million dollars to play w next year. w zett dat and franzen cleary fillipa all locked up past 2013...now w 13.2 million off the books, and lidstroms 7.5 / yr being reduced to probably 2 mil / year..look for the wings to re up on defense w one big signing and look for them to grab a 5-6 mil / year type of forward... look for Kane, Towes, or Ilya Kovalchuk to get an great offer from the wings...o and the wings ahl talent of helm, lieno, tatar (nasty- aka datsyuk) DANIEL LARSON ( 6'4 220 GOALIE) that you seem to forget about...it just another year where the wings may or may not go deep into playoffs, but once that 13.2 comes off the books, the league and crosby should pay close attention. the wings havent gone anywhere and will continue to be a threat in the league for the next 10 years...its too hard not to when your ahl team / prospects have high high ratings and could play on any NHL team..

wings have better scouts than the pens so i highly doubt long term success for a team like pitt.

I agree partially. I think they will have a so-so year this year, making it into the playoffs but not as the 1st seed as we have seen so much in the past. Their offense will still be good with Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Franzen- I think we saw that in Sweden. They had 6 goals in the 2 games they were there, which isn't too shabby. This is not to say that Hossa won't be missed- he was a great addition to the team last year.

The defense should be OK, but I think they are sort of dying out. Lidstrom is nearly at the end of career, and will not be good for points like he has been in the past. Rafalski will be retiring soon as he is coming on 37, and Andreas Lilja, 34, is in a similar situation.

And for goaltending, the Lidstrom situation will repeat in Osgood, 36. Chris is getting older and will retire soon. He should be good for 30 plus wins this season but does not have an obvious heir apparent. Jimmy Howard is young and likewise untrustworthy as we saw when he gave up 5 goals during game 2 in Sweden.

In conclusion, in a few years, you will see what fans of 29 teams have been waiting for for decades: a weaker Red Wings team. Osgood will retire in 5 or less years and will be good for less wins as time progresses. The rookie goalies will improve, but not to the point of dominance in 3 years. Lidstrom, now at 39, will dismantle a capable defensive corps when he retires. Lilja and Rafalski will do much of the same. The only aspect of the Red Wings game that looks solid through to the future is offense. But we all know that a good defense is the best offense, and goaltending is likely the most important part of hockey. Without defense and a star goalie, you can't succeed.

Let's just say I don't think there will be a stanley cup rematch between Pittsburgh and Detroit. Pens might make it to the finals but Detroit won't. Signing Bertuzzi was a bad move and letting Hossa, Hudler and Samuelsson go wasn't exactly ideal either.

Wings still bla bla..... You're so way of the mark with everything you say that pointing out all the bullshit would take an eternity!!!

I think there are more tired than anything. And yes, people love to hate them. But in a reality, in a few years everyone will find someone new to hate. Probably the Penguins. People get sick of the same franchise winning over and over again.

The team needs work. No doubt about it. They will make a few trades. They should be fine.

Yes, Hossa will be missed. 40 goals. But, they did win it without him. He was just nice to have, LOL. Hudler, I liked him. I'm going to miss him. But hey, life goes on.

Knowing Ken Holland, he'll come up with something.

I think they'll have a 100 point season, but will get knocked out off the playoffs early. I think the cup finals gonna be the sharks or hawks against the flyers or pens.

as a pen fan I thought detroit was the better team last season during the finals, but they have 2 loaded lines and don't have a 3rd that could compete w/ the pens 3rd, since talbot was on fire during the end of the season.

If you think that not going to the Cup finals is a dissapointment then yeah.... this is the problem with the Wings' nation right now: they are used to winning and dominance. I expect them to win and get a 95+ point season (hell, I'll even say they get 100 pts) but they won't make the Western Conference finals.

I won't be disappointed with that... but I am not a Wings fan. I also don't hate them, I am just a realist.

I trust the 1st answer.... as long as the two team's rosters stay the comparable basicly... I see a Stanley Cup finals rematch for next season. As for the purple Wings prevailing it, my hats off to them. They gained the sequence, no IF and yet approximately it. Penguins performed their appropriate. We under no circumstances gave up and that's the reason i'm a proud Penguin fan, even after the loss.

idk if its the begginig of a new era just the beggining of a rebuilding stage with the goalies and defense.