0204170194
DETROIT FREE PRESS
020417
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
METRO FINAL
1A
Photo JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press
Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman delivers the news fans wanted to
hear: He intends to play in tonight's playoff opener against Vancouver despite
a sore right knee. More coverage in the playoff preview section.
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
SEE RELATED STORY BY ROSENBERG, PAGE 1A
Copyright (c) 2002, Detroit Free Press
THE PUCK DROPS HERE
WINGS HAVE ALL THE PIECES TO WIN STANLEY CUP
WINGS VS. PISTONS: WHY THIS IS HOCKEYTOWN, NOT HOOPSTOWN
Ageneral manager is not a player, nor a coach. He doesn't skate or knock
pucks away, he doesn't blow a whistle.
What he does, in a front office sort of way, is paint. He paints a portrait of
a team he wants, he paints faces over each roster spot, and finally, when all
the trading and cutting and buying is over, he leans back to examine his
canvas.
Tonight, the Red Wings, with perhaps the most impressive canvass in NHL
history, take to the playoff ice in pursuit of the Stanley Cup. And Ken
Holland, the GM, the man who, more than anyone, painted their faces over these
roster spots, watches nervously to see how his masterpiece comes together.
Mr. Holland's Opus.
"Is it the best team you've ever helped assemble?" Holland is asked.
"You can't say yet," he answers. "It's the most high profile. Maybe the most
talent. But the best team is always the one that wins the Stanley Cup."
So for now, this may only be the most star-studded team to ever line up for
the NHL playoffs. Consider the roster:
Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Luc Robataille -- all with more than 600 career
goals, three of the top 10 scorers of all time.
Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov, all Salt Lake Olympians
and multi-time All-Stars, all in the front lines.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios on defense, the Norris Trophy winner and
one of the best plus-minus forces in the league.
And, backing them up, Dominik Hasek, considered by many goalie-watchers to be
tops in the business.
And that's without mentioning Kris Draper, or Pavel Datsyuk, or Darren
McCarty, Kirk Maltby, Tomas Holmstrom, Boyd Devereaux, Jiri Fischer . . .
No matter what happens, it is surely worth one satisfying pre-playoff glance.
Mr. Holland's Opus. As paintings go, it's Realist and Impressionist.
As in real impressive.
The right mix
OK. So much for appreciation. Now, for explanation. Why did it work? Other
teams, like the New York Rangers, were willing to spend money for stars --
Eric Lindros, Theo Flurry, Pavel Bure -- yet the Rangers didn't even make the
playoffs, while the Wings wrapped the NHL's best record while there was still
snow on the ground.
Holland has a theory: "Obviously, when we got Dominik, we knew we were going
to have to move Chris Osgood. So we knew Dom would have that position
outright.
"But in bringing in Brett Hull and Luc Robataille, you never know. These were
guys who had been really high profile on their team, and with all the guys we
have here, they weren't going to have the same roles they had before, maybe
not be on as many power plays, not get as may goals or as much ice time.
"But in talking to both of those players, and their agents, it was so clear
they wanted to come here. In fact, Hull did things with his contract to make
it possible. And other guys on our team -- four guys who have been here a long
time, to be particular -- did things with their contracts to make it possible
as well.
"That's when I knew we had a really good chance at the chemistry you need to
be successful."
And while Holland does not reveal which four players did the financial
shifting, the players know, and that's all that matters. It is part of what
makes the Wings' locker room as relaxed and familiar as a high school reunion,
a rock band's jam session, or a Friday night poker game in your buddy's
basement. There are quieter guys (Yzerman, Lidstrom) and louder guys (Hull,
McCarty) and foreign guys (Hasek, Fedorov, Holmstrom, etc.) and it just seems
to all come together.
At least in the regular season.
Which, as we say, no longer matters.
Starting tonight, we find out if Mr. Holland's Opus has a Dorian Gray up in
the attic.
The final test
Age. We hear it all the time about this team. Its marquee players have been on
the marquee for a while. Late 30's is pretty common on this team. And age
often means injury, and injury in the playoffs is a subject that makes Wings
fans break out in hives. Last year, this team lost Yzerman and Shanahan in the
playoff opener, and didn't got past the first round.
And then there's the matter of the last few weeks. The Wings have not played
playoff-level hockey. "We tried to lift our game here and there," says
McCarty, "but we didn't sustain it for three periods. We're not happy about
how we played at all."
The Wings went winless in their last seven. The smart money says so what, what
did you expect? You can't fool future Hall of Famers into acting like a game
counts when it doesn't.
But that still leaves the Wings with a big switch to throw tonight. They need
to come alive fast, and -- if we learned anything from last year -- they need
to play as if the worst thing in the world is enduring one more game than they
have to. No throwaway losses. No shrugging off a defeat as "no big deal"
because they still have a lead in the series.
Every game is a big deal. Every night saved is a night available for a better
performance against a more important team. We've seen how dazzling the Wings
are, and how friendly they are, and how expensive they are.
Now we'll see how tough they are.
"After we lost last year," Holland says, "I talked to Mr. Ilitch. He said he
was willing to spend if the moves would make us better.
"Right now, I'd say there's a lot of teams out there that are envious of the
commitment of our ownership."
Not to mention the team picture.
But a picture's worth a thousand words, and not a single win. A first-round
exit would be a coma for this team. A loss to Colorado would mean the grand
experiment still failed.
It's Mr. Holland's Opus. It hangs tonight. A portrait of talent. A canvas of
dreams. It cost a lot. Now we see if it pays off.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "Albom in
the Afternoon" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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