The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features. Subscribe now to view the full THN Archives here Also, go to thn.com/free [http://thn.com/free] to subscribe. RINGS FOR WINGS: PART III - APR. 19 2002 - VOL. 55, ISSUE 32 - MARK BRENDER On the morning of an April battle with Original Six rival Toronto, a surprise awaits Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]backup goalie Manny Legace as he comes clomp-clomping down the hallway for the game-day skate. When he gets to the bench he stops, pulls up his mask and takes in the scene. “Holy kids day!” he exclaims. Chris Chelios and Brett Hull and a few other Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]are already out there, but so are a dozen shinny-playing squirts and peewees and five-footers in ‘Robitaille’ sweaters, some wearing hockey gloves, some wearing shin pads (no socks), none with any idea it might be time to get the heck off of Joe Louis Arena ice. Legace shrugs, heads to his crease and assumes the position. The rest of the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings] don’t seem to mind much, either. Soon they’re all out there, skating, stretching, and the kids - one is Luc Robitaille’s son, another a Chelios boy - stand out like baby pines in a redwood forest. Some wiseacre points out the pint-sizers to associate coach Dave Lewis. “That’s your lineup tonight,” he offers. Hey, could be. Anything to keep things interesting. In the final weeks of the season other teams fight for a playoff spot or to firm up their position. These Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]fight apathy While they talked of getting prepared and doing the little things right – and they are in a grumpy mood following a 5-4 OT loss to the Leafs the truth is Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]needed to accomplish : only three things before the post season: One, get some downtime for key veterans such as Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chelios. Competitive balance be damned, the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]felt they earned the right to rest by clinching first place overall before anyone else clinched a playoff spot. Two, get Steve Yzerman fully healthy from his knee injury. As strong and deep as the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]are, last year provided the perfect example of how losing their captain can change everything. A fractured ankle kept him out of all but Game 1 of the opening round series versus Los Angeles The Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]fell in six. Three, pray nobody else gets hurt. Now, if all those are accomplished, can the Stanley Cup be far behind? What Will It Take For Detroit to Be Considered a Cup Contender? [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/5f5e00fc-4cda-4ab5-8bfc-0c2a020d4385.webp] What Will It Take For Detroit to Be Considered a Cup Contender? Exploring benchmarks the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings">Red Wings</a> must hit if they want to be a Stanley Cup contender next season [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/latest-news/what-will-it-take-for-detroit-to-be-considered-a-cup-contender] Consider that over the regular season, the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]have been the NHL’s best offensive team and second-best defensively. They have the second best power play and fourth-best penalty killing. With Yzerman, Fedorov and Larionov, they are ’ unrivaled at center. One of their defenseman, either Lidstrom or Chelios, will win the Norris Trophy The other will finish second. There’s also this Hasek fella. They say he can play some. They have the playoff experience– ten players remain from the Stanley Cup teams of 1997 and ’98 - and the hunger. Hasek and Robitaille have never won Stanley Cups. The rest of the corps believes it hasn’t won enough of them. Funny how just six months ago, this team had its doubters. Too few pucks on the ice, too much Geritol in the medicine cabinet. It has been a long time since anyone worried about either one. “The question was could (coach) Scotty (Bowman) find enough ice time to keep, everybody happy and I think Scotty has done that,” says GM Ken Holland. “It’s a happy bunch.” Sure, the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]have the NHL’s highest payroll, but the Rangers aren’t far behind and look where it got them. Holland deserves credit for bringing in the type of players that could coalesce around a single goal. “Guys don’t care this year who gets it done as long as we get it done,” says winger Darren McCarty. “That’s really the secret to our success. No one’s got another agenda than to win. Unless we win the Stanley Cup this year it’s an unsuccessful season. Is that pressure? A little bit in a way, but nothing we haven’t all felt before.” Any jealousy that has surfaced in the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]’ midst has come from their opponents. Larionov and Fedorov have both heard from friends who say Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]has such a great team they wish they could be part of it. They are awed by Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]’s magical puck possession and its roster of stars. “I got that sense,” Fedorov says, “but I said we still have our own problems.” Michigan-Based Universities Dominating Recruiting With Top Class of 2025 [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/13108717-17f0-4ba9-a424-b2916e358edf.webp] Michigan-Based Universities Dominating Recruiting With Top Class of 2025 Michigan-based universities have solidified their dominance in the world of college hockey by securing top-tier recruiting classes for 2025, according to recent rankings. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/latest-news/michigan-based-universities-dominating-recruiting-with-top-class-of-2025] Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/] team site to stay connected to the latest news [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/latest-news], game-day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/game-day]coverage, and player features [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/players]. POPULAR TARGET Players such as Tomas Holmstrom provide more than enough grit to see Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]through in close games. “We feel we’ve got a team that can win 2-1 in the playoffs,” said GM Ken Holland. Like, say, which future Hall of Famer’s mass-marketed T-shirt to wear in the dressing room? After the Leaf game, trade deadline pickup defenseman Jiri Slegr sports the Hasek model. It’s a caricature of a goalie with an angular head sprawled out in front of a net, bending like a boomerang. The bottom reads “Dominik Hasek Fan Club.” “One thing surprised me,” Slegr says, sitting in his corner stall. “There are so many superstars and you don’t even know about it. They don’t act like superstars. They are just so friendly” It is easy to be over-whelmed by this cast of active hockey heroes, to think that they have fundamentally changed the complexion of the team. At first glance, not only & are these a far cry from your father’s Red Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings], they’re not even your older brother’s. Along with the star-factor, it seems, has come decrease in the prominence of Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]’s grit. McCarty is the prime example. Four years ago, if you were asked to identify four key Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings], Claude Lemieux’s hit-man would be on every list. This season McCarty was a healthy scratch nine times. His dream of stepping into the scoring bruiser role vacated by Martin Lapointe has never materialized. “I was looking forward to that,” McCarty says. “But then after you sign guys like Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, you’re bringing in 1,300 goals or 1,200 goals or whatever it is, so that sort of squishes the spot for that offensive move you’re looking for.” McCarty’s ice time, as much as 17:04 in 1998-99, has fallen to less than 12 minutes a game. And his old Grind Line center Draper has been moved to right wing where his speed can be used in an offensive role. But Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]without old-time sandpaper doesn’t quite fit. This is a team that honors its Stanley Cup and award winners in red paint on white cinderblock in a hall-way under the stands. The Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]still have stanchions holding up their glass. A routine scrum can propel 20,000 Joe Louis fanatics their feet, hollering for blood. And the truth is the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]haven’t lost their grit; if anything, it’s only spread out better among the four ever-changing lines. Shanahan, Tomas Holmstrom, Draper, McCarty, even Robitaille all get dirty in battles for pucks along the boards. If the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]weren’t such a great skating team, you could even say their wall work was a strength. As always, in the post-season they’ll need their hard hats as much as their talent. Foes may be awed by the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]’ glitter, but that doesn’t mean they’ll abandon the fight in the alley “You think they’re going to lay down with all that (superstar) baggage in the background?” asks center Sergei Fedorov. “It has never happened and it never will.” If Fedorov and the Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings] believe their own words, that might be the best sign of all. They certainly have so far. HALL OF FAME AWAITS WINGED RETIREMENTS Detroit [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]’s star-studded lineup includes nine potential Hall-of-Famers. Players are given four stars (shoo-in), three (a good shot) or two (on the bubble) to indicate their chances. FROM LANDSLIDE TO CUP? Detroit’ [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]s projected 17-point margin over the next-best regular season team would be the third-highest since 1967 expansion. The Wings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings]had a 27-point margin in 1996, when they lost in the second round. Here’s how the runaway first overall finishers have fared come playoff time. Detroit Red Wings 2025-26 Promotional Schedule [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/52238316-96ca-4625-8e16-746fada9ef7d.webp] Detroit Red Wings 2025-26 Promotional Schedule The Red Wings announced their promotional schedule for the 2025-26 season [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/latest-news/detroit-red-wings-2025-26-promotional-schedule] Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwnuDfCA?ceid=CA:en&oc=3] favorites!
