commentary...

in a recent interview,Pavel Datsyuk,of the Red Wings,said that he hopes the Red Wings is not bitten by the injury bug too hard this upcoming season,because they basically have the same roster,as last season... this is good and also bad... last season,the Red Wings were a walking M*A*S*H unit,having as many as twelve players on the injured/reserve list,at one time,and most of the year,they had ten players on the injured/reserve list,including Datsyuk,and Henrik Zetterberg,their two big guns on the team... the good element of the injured/reserve list of players is that fact that the players on the Grand Rapids Griffiths (the Red Wings' American Hockey League affiliate)got major exposure in the NHL... in fact,twelve different players had game time in the Motor City,with the Red Wings,and nine players had their NHL debuts,most since 1991,when the Red Wings had thirteen players make their NHL debuts,that year... even though,the Red Wings have made the Stanley Cup playoffs twenty three straight years,they had only thirty nine regulation wins,and Datsyuk(a knee injury)and Zetterberg(back surgery)played in only about 54 games,apiece,before major injuries took them out of the lineup... now looking forward to this season,general manager Ken Holland has not signed any major free agent during this off-season,and does not seemed to be panicked about it... the fan base,however,is not too happy about the inactivity of the team over the off-season,period... the young players on the roster is actually a very good thing,but the inexperience of those players is also a major drawback,for the Red Wings,as they go through this upcoming NHL season... if the Red Wings can be a relatively healthy team,they will be a very good team,this year... let us talk about the Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins,even though the Red Wings got Pavel Datsyuk back into the lineup,he was not 100% healthy(he was struggling through most of the second half of the season,including the Sochi Olympics,with a very painful/injured knee),but he won game one with a highlight goal,1-0,no other Red Wings' player had a very good playoff series... that is where the inexperience of the team came into focus,because of the experience of the Bruins,during the past few playoff runs paid a dividend to the Bruins,against the young,but undermanned,and inexperienced Red Wings,because the Red Wings played poor defense,and had a non-existent offense,during the Stanley Cup playoffs,scoring only six goals during the series with the Bruins,in five games,losing four games to one... back to Holland,he has done very little to change the roster,since Nicklas Lidstrom retired,except improve the Griffiths' roster,which does help,and the free agents from last off-season did very little to help the main roster,so the fans are more than a little nervous,about this upcoming season... i guess Holland is hoping that the roster remains intact,and last year's free agents(i.e. Stephan Weiss,and Daniel Alfordsson,who remain unsigned,but could sign during training camp-contempting retirement)have much better seasons... Weiss had four goals in twenty six games,before being on the injured/reserve list most of the season... Alfordsson had very good numbers last season,but also was injured a few games last season,like most everyone on the roster,at one time,or another... so what team is going to show up-the very good team,whose roster can be a playoff team,or is it the walking M*A*S*H unit,that was the Detroit Red Wings,last season??? simply flip a coin,and see for yourself...