The Detroit player development system strikes again. When discussing the best players in the league the names Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin are usually the ones that get mentioned. I consider Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk to be part of that group, and there's not much of a gap between him at No. 4 and the No. 3 player on my list.
The Detroit Red Wings have been one of the most successful teams in sports the past two decades, qualifying for the playoffs an incredible 18 years in a row, winning six conference titles and four Stanley Cups.
One of the primary reasons for their consistent success is a player development system that is second to none in the NHL. I remember watching the Stanley Cup teams of the late-90's, and even the 2001-02 team, and foolishly thinking that once they lost players like Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan and The Russian Five (my goodness, those teams were stacked) they would eventually fall back to the pack and have, at the very least, a couple of down years. Not even close.
It was only a matter of time until it came to this, but the NHL is reportedly looking into the long-term contracts given to Marian Hossa and Chris Pronger this offseason. Bruce Garrioch originally reported on Friday morning that the league was investigating whether or not the Blackhawks and Hossa had worked out, or discussed, the possibility of an early retirement, which would clear Hossa's salary cap hit off the books in the future. Hossa signed a 12-year, $62.5 million deal with Chicago on the first day of free agency after spending one season with the Detroit Red Wings.
Garrioch quotes an NHL executive as saying that the league is looking to put a damper on these types of deals, and that "they are building a strong case against Chicago to make an example of them. This issue won't just go away. Lots of other GMs are supporting the league here."
One general manager that's probably not supporting the league? Paul Holmgren of the Philadelphia Flyers.
While it's true they lost some talent and production, and haven't added anything of consequence in the early stages of the offseason, it still shouldn't put much of a dent in the Red Wings' Stanley Cup chances for 2009-10.
Let's take a look at what Detroit is really losing, and what it has coming up through the Grand Rapids pipeline.
The Philadelphia Flyers raised quite a few eyebrows at the NHL draft when they acquired defenseman Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks. It was a bold move, and one that solidified the Flyers as a contender for the Stanley Cup this season. The concern was that Philadelphia traded away what amounted to three consecutive first-round picks and Joffrey Lupul, for what appeared to be one year of a soon-to-be 35-year-old Pronger.
On Tuesday, the Flyers raised a few more eyebrows when they locked up Pronger to a seven-year contract extension that will reportedly pay him close to $35 million. The key phrases to repeat are "35-year-old" and "seven years."
The real NHL awards will be handed out Thursday night in Las Vegas, so FanHouse decided to hand out its own special awards for the 2008-09 season.
It's designed to maintain competitive balance and parity across the league, but if you waste valuable salary cap space on free agents that don't pan out or contribute the way you expected, you're pretty much stuck without a paddle because nobody is going to bail you out and take that albatross contract off your hands.
Introducing the FanHouse nominees for the Wade Redden Award for Wasted Cap Space.
It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We'll be running our division-by-division preview of the offseason beginning later in the week, but we wanted to give the two top dogs their own space. Today: the summer outlook for the Red Wings. Tomorrow, the Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
The Red Wings came within one game of repeating as Stanley Cup champions. A goal or two here or there, and their mission – and Marian Hossa's – is accomplished.
Instead, Detroit's first question mark going into the summer months is Hossa. It's widely expected he'll re-sign with the Wings for five years or so, but that will push Detroit essentially to the limit when it comes to the cap, which is projected to be about $57 million again.
The handshake line that follows every NHL playoff series is a great tradition. The teams battle it out for four, five, six, or seven games. When it's all over, the two teams line up at center ice, take the gloves off their right hands, and shake hands with each other.
That disastrous Game 5 performance by Marc-Andre Fleury seems like an eternity ago, doesn't it? The Penguins' 24-year-old goaltender was brilliant in their Games 6 and 7 wins, and in each contest was responsible for the game-clinching, game-saving and game-winning saves to help the Penguins claim the third Stanley Cup in franchise history.
On Friday night, with 6.2 seconds to play in the season, Fleury made two of the biggest saves of his career as he not only turned aside a shot from Henrik Zetterberg through traffic, but he also stopped future Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom on the rebound as time expired. Video after the jump.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings have combined to play 209 games this season, and at 8 PM ET Friday, not one of those games will matter, as everything these two teams have accomplished this season will come down to 60 minutes. Perhaps the biggest 60 minutes any of these guys will ever play in their careers.
If you like the historical perspective of a Game 7, and if you're the superstitious type (and who among us isn't?) there's plenty of odd facts and dates that will make fans for both teams feel good about their chances in this winner take all game. From the department of stats that sound cool but don't really mean anything, consider the following.
FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 8 is Detroit Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg.
It was only a matter of time until it came to this, but the NHL is reportedly looking into the long-term contracts given to Marian Hossa and Chris Pronger this offseason. Bruce Garrioch originally reported on Friday morning that the league was investigating whether or not the Blackhawks and Hossa had worked out, or discussed, the possibility of an early retirement, which would clear Hossa's salary cap hit off the books in the future. Hossa signed a 12-year, $62.5 million deal with Chicago on the first day of free agency after spending one season with the Detroit Red Wings. 
It's been a one-way street out of Detroit this offseason, as the Red Wings have watched Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Ty Conklin and Tomas Kopecky sign with rival teams in the Western Conference, while Jiri Hudler attempts to make a jump to the KHL (even though the NHL isn't all that happy about it). Such losses would be a sizable blow to most teams, but the Red Wings aren't like most teams. 
The Philadelphia Flyers raised quite a few eyebrows at the NHL draft when they acquired defenseman Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks. It was a bold move, and one that solidified the Flyers as a contender for the Stanley Cup this season. The concern was that Philadelphia traded away what amounted to three consecutive first-round picks and Joffrey Lupul, for what appeared to be one year of a soon-to-be 35-year-old Pronger.
The real NHL awards will be handed out Thursday night in Las Vegas, so FanHouse decided to hand out its own special awards for the 2008-09 season.
The Red Wings came within one game of repeating as Stanley Cup champions. A goal or two here or there, and their mission – and Marian Hossa's – is accomplished.
The handshake line that follows every NHL playoff series is a great tradition. The teams battle it out for four, five, six, or seven games. When it's all over, the two teams line up at center ice, take the gloves off their right hands, and shake hands with each other.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings have combined to play 209 games this season, and at 8 PM ET Friday, not one of those games will matter, as everything these two teams have accomplished this season will come down to 60 minutes. Perhaps the biggest 60 minutes any of these guys will ever play in their careers. 
