Thanks For Playing: Detroit Red Wings

Each spring 16 NHL teams play for Lord Stanley's Cup. At the end one team is left holding the cup while the other 15 teams can only think of what might have been. 

This is about one of the 15 teams who wasn't so lucky. 

How They Finished: 

48-28-6   102 points   2nd in Central Division   5th in Western Conference. 

What Went Wrong: 

To answer that you have to go back to March 4th, 2012. That night Detroit lost at home to Chicago 2-1.

Throughout the final seventeen games of the season the Red Wings would go 5-9-3, conceding the Central Division to St. Louis and home ice in the 1st round of the playoffs.

As a result of their late season slump Detroit drew a Nashville Predators team in the 1st round that split the season series with the Red Wings 3-3 and were not intimidated by them.

The best bet for Detroit was to gain a split in Nashville in the first two games and then come home to Joe Louis Arena where they had won 31 games this year and hope home ice was friendly to them in the playoffs as it was in the regular season.

The Red Wings were able to win game two in Nashville to gain the split but were unable to do anything at home as the Predators took both games at the Joe.

In Nashville, the Predators scored first as Alex Radulov got his first goal of the series. Detroit would tie the game in the 2nd on a goal by Jiri Hudler but Nashville retook the lead 13 seconds into the 3rd period as David Legwand beat Jimmy Howard in the top corner of the net.

From that point Nashville was in complete control as they would hold to win the game 2-1 and eliminate Detroit in five games. 

Where Do They Go From Here: 

One reason Detroit coach Mike Babcock felt Nashville won the series was they their depth up front was better than the Red Wings depth up front especially on the 3rd and 4th lines.

The loss of Darren Helm to an injury in game one swung that matchup in favor of Nashville and Detroit from that point was never to match up with Nashville's depth at forward.

With their projected cap space going into next season being around $20 million this problem will be addressed.

Detroit has five unrestricted free agents, the biggest name being Nicklas Lidstrom.

Lidstrom turns 42 later this month and there was a lot of speculation that he may retire after this post-season. My gut feeling tells me he will return for another year as he still can play at a high level.

The other free agents for the Red Wings are Forwards Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler, defenseman Brad Stuart and goaltender Ty Conklin.

I don't expect Conklin to return. Stuart sounds like he may return to the West Coast (San Jose) to be closer to his family and Holmstrom may retire.

That leaves Hudler. I think Detroit would like to re-sign him but I don't think they want to commit a lot of money to him. The reason being that two free agents that are scheduled to hit the market this summer are Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter and New Jersey forward Zach Parise.

If Stuart leaves like expected Suter would be plugged into his position on the blueline. If they sign Parise as well his presence in the top six would give Detroit the quality depth at forward that they lacked in this series.

If both do hit the open market Detroit will be contacting their agents about playing for the Red Wings next season. If either player is serious about winning a Stanley Cup they will listen and consider any offer Detroit makes.

If the Red Wings are unable to sign Suter and Parise look for former Wisconsin Badger Brendan Smith to become a regular on the blueline next season.

At forward Gustav Nyquist, and Riley Sheahan should have the opportunities to become regulars in the lineup depending on what happens with Holmstrom and Hudler.

Detroit has some good young players in their system. Their preference is to let them play a couple years at Grand Rapids before bringing them to the NHL. After the way this year ended that process may be accelerated.

How good the Red Wings are depends on whether Lidstrom returns next season. If he does Detroit are Stanley Cup contenders once again. If he doesn't then a result like this season may become the norm instead of an aberration.