Detroit Red Wings

Go ahead and spare me your words of warning.

Yes, I realize training camp is more than a month away.

Agreed, we still don't know what is going on with Mike Modano.

Understood, we've yet to sign Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader.

I get it.  We've yet to see a perfectly clear picture of the 2010-11 Detroit Red Wings roster.

But, I submit to you that we can see enough of it to start postulating on whether or not they can still challenge for a shot at ordinary greatness.

For the last 20 years, every NHL team dreaded the time in its season where it had to play against the Detroit Red Wings.

In a situation that's so frustratingly ambiguous, one becomes almost starved for anything resembling clarity.

No one really knows what Mike Modano will decide to do this summer.

He may retire, he may play on. If the latter, he may play for Detroit, or he may not.

Simply put, 2009-10 was a rough year for the Red Wings.

Everyone knows what they went through on the injury front and no player was as big of a loss to the team as Johan Franzen.

October 8th, Detroit's first game back in North America and their first real home opener, Johan Franzen suffered a torn ACL that would sideline him for 55 games.

Ken Holland comes from a world where the TV announcers say, “He’d probably like to have that one back.”

He comes from a world where, when you make a mistake, they turn a red light on and 15,000 zealots with leather lungs might try to boo you out of the building.

It’s a world where you’re assailed with dozens of vulcanized rubber discs every night as the last line of defense. And when Holland played goalie for the Red Wings, he was often the only line of defense.

Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk on one line.

Any team in the NHL would love to have both players on their team, let alone on one line.

This past year, as we all know, Detroit suffered a ton of injuries that no one could've ever imagined. With the injuries that Detroit suffered, it wasn't the best move to have both players on the same line because the second scoring line wouldn't be as potent.

But even when they did play on one line, which was very limited, they didn't seem right.

Big news today, as the Red Wings have signed forward Drew Miller to a one-year, $650,000 contract.  

This comes as a big relief to some Wings fans, as talks of signing Mike Modano caused many to believe that Miller was possibly on the way out.

What was it that Ace Ventura said?

"Man, I'm tired of being right!"

On June 29th, the day the Dallas Stars made it official that they would not be making an offer to franchise icon Mike Modano, I wrote this piece .

They threw a party at Joe Louis Arena on January 2, 2007. The guest list was A+.

Alex Delvecchio. Gordie Howe. Ted Lindsay. They brought Sid Abel’s ghost in, too.

It didn’t stop there.

Dino Ciccarelli. Brett Hull. Luc Robitaille. Scotty Bowman. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

And on and on. Dozens of Red Wings players, coaches, and management types—past and present.

All the former players wore Red Wings jerseys with their name and number sewn on the back.

The Associated Press reported today that retired Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks forward Bob Probert died after experiencing chest pains while boating with his family in Windsor, Ontario.

Probert was a fan favorite with both Detroit and Chicago. His style of play was a throwback to a previous era where players were considerably tougher than they are today.