stripethree

Did you feel that chill? That chill would be the start of another hard-hitting hockey season. Granted, it has already officially started with a handful of overseas bouts between Eastern Conference foes, but the real action starts tomorrow. Eight teams open their 2008-2009 seasons tomorrow, including my beloved and defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings. The Wings open the season at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs and will raise their 11th Stanley Cup Banner, and 4th in the last 11 seasons, to the rafters at the Joe. I still vow that I will see a Wings game at Joe Louis before I die, but this season, once again, I will settle for tickets to both games where the Wings will visit the Phoenix Coyotes. It appears that it will be another season of high expectations because in addition to losing almost no players from the ’08-’09 championship team (Dallas Drake did retire), the Wings landed arguably the most coveted free agent on the market in Marian Hossa. Formerly of the Pittsburgh Penquins, the defending Eastern Conference champions who lost to Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals, Hossa adds yet another talented piece to an already robust franchise. The only foreseeable question mark is at goaltender. Osgood is listed one the depth chart at #1 in front of future Hall of Famer Dominic Hasek, but will Osgood hold the line? Last season both net minders split time before Hasek faltering in the opening round playoff series again Nashville. Coach Mike Babcock made the decision to go to Osgood and luckily it paid off. Osgood, who has a reputation of sometimes cracking under the playoff pressure, went save for save and provided everything the Wings needed while breaking into the bank safe that was Marc-Andre Fluery in the finals. I can only hope that Babcock can continue to find the right mix to protect the net.

The word is, as it seems to be every year that the Wings are getting old. I think they’ve been getting old since somewhere around 1993. Steve Yzerman may be in the front office and Scottie Bowman may be managing for the Blackhawks, but Nicklas Lidstrom is still anchoring the defense, the second coming of the Grind Line (Draper-Maltby-McCarty) is upon us, and we still have those kids named Zetterburg and Datsyuk that seem to score at will. It’s going to be a great year, and I can only hope Versus carries enough of the games.