Don’t look now, but the Detroit Red Wings are on their way back up the National Hockey League standings.
After a season filled with injuries and disappointments, the Red Wings are getting a firmer grip on a playoff spot in the Western Conference and there is no doubt in my mind they are going to get one.
And if they do get to the playoffs for a 19th consecutive season, watch out – this is a team that has been to the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row remember and knows how to win.
"This is the best run we've been on all year," coach Mike Babcock told reporters this past week. "We're desperate to try to get into the playoffs. We have proud players who have done a lot of winning over a long period of time.
"We'd all like to get into the tournament and we think we have a shot if we get in."
That they do. How much fun would a first round playoff match-up between the perennially playoff choking San Jose Sharks and the perennially playoff winning Detroit Red Wings be this year? I am not a Sharks basher but boy oh boy, the pressure would really be on them facing the 8th seeded Red Wings.
Detroit may not even finish eighth, they could be higher. Since the Olympic break and as of this writing, they have been one of the best teams in the NHL with an 8-2-1 record and could wind up moving up another notch or two before the regular season is done.
Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are rounding into fine form, and the great Nicklas Lidstrom is doing a tremendous job once again. No doubt, he has one more dominating playoff run in him – and maybe more, even though he’s nearing the end of an amazing career.
One thing is different this year with the Red Wings too – they are an after-thought in many people’s minds. After so much success and so many great regular seasons, they will enter the playoffs this year as a lower seed with much lower expectations.
That only makes them that much more dangerous in my mind. They will not be an easy opponent for any team in the first round…or in the second or third or fourth round either, should they make it that far.
A recent 3-1 win over the team that beat them in the finals last year – the Pittsburgh Penguins – showed that conclusively. The Wings will be a force to be reckoned with once again, without the pressures of being a heavy favourite.
Look out for the Red Wings folks. Again.
The Ontario Hockey League playoffs are only a week old but already I’m loving what I’m seeing.
The two heavy Conference favourites – the Barrie Colts in the East and the Windsor Spitfires in the West – are firmly in control in the opening round and just about everyone following the OHL has them all set to meet in the OHL final.
That may very well happen, as it’s hard to argue against the high-flying Colts and the defending Memorial Cup champion Spitfires meeting for the OHL title. But I think both teams face enormous challenges further down the playoff road.
Barrie will likely next face Brampton and after that, perhaps Mississauga. Both teams play that stifling defence all season and now that it’s the post-season, they are the two East teams that are the most likely to find a way to stop Barrie’s title march.
Windsor will face somebody really tough in the second round and the probably the powerhouse London Knights in the third round. The OHL Western Conference is loaded with solid teams in the lower half of the playoff grid so whoever emerges from the pack will be very tough. And London is, well, London after all. If they make it through those 9,050 fans very night at the John Labatt Centre will make life tough on the Spits.
Bottom line is that week one of the OHL playoffs has already shown there is going to be some terrific hockey down the playoff road. And it’s only going to get better as the playoffs continue.
No doubt, it SHOULD be Barrie and Windsor in the final, given those two teams spectacular regular season records. But the best hockey of the junior hockey season is still to come before that happens.
Can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.