Where the Wings can build

  Detroit suffered a serious swing and miss this past off season when striking out on both free agents, Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.  It seemed destiny for the two stars to come to the franchise with the winning tradition, a place where Suter could take over the place of an icon and Parise could grow into even more of a star while playing with the NHLs magician in Pavel Datsyuk and newfound captain, Henrik Zetterberg.  The table was set with Detroit having copious amounts of cap space and available slots to fill.  Detroit fans were on the edge of their seats for the majority of the summer, just waiting for the good news.  Then....Minnesota cashes in....Minnesota?  The Mitten state heard a collective "What the hell?  Minnesota?"
   Minnesota swooped in and stole the prized free agents and came out on top of one of the biggest off-seasons in recent memory, leaving Detroit with close to 18 million in cap space, a retired captain and a team that is in desperate need of players who can change their fortunes.  There is no denying that Datsyuk and Hank are still great players.  We saw Hank hustle just about as hard as you'll ever see to complete a hat trick in a game against the St. Louis Blues that was already decided.  Already, we have seen a few jaw dropping passes coming from the stick of #13 to lead to scoring plays.  But how long can this last?  With the league getting younger and more finesse, aging players like Datsyuk (34) and Hank (32) could be less and less effective on the game in the coming seasons.
   Lets look back to the past 4 Stanley Cup Champions.  Last year Los Angeles cruised through the playoffs on the skates of Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards, all under 30 years old.  Kopitar may be the best of the three and he is only 25 years old.   The year before that, Boston took out the older Vancouver, mostly on the shoulders of Tim Thomas dancing on his head, but Boston was loaded with players born in the late 80s and Tyler Seguin is young enough to be MY younger brother.  In 2010 the Chicago Blackhawks ended their Stanley Cup drought with then 22 year olds, Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews leading the way.  Their defense was also loaded with young stars in Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien and Brent Seabrook. Last, and most unfortunately, we saw the young Pittsburgh Penguins win the rematch against our Red Wings in a most agonizing game seven.  Who were their key players?  Sidney Crosby who was 21 at the time, Evgeni Malkin, 22, a 20 year old Jordan Staal and a 24 year old Marc-Andre Fleury.  See a pattern?
  Today, the NHL is an incredibly different game, even from 5-6 years ago. The Wings are still living in the past. Young players are coming into the league with more size and skills than ever before, something that age cannot withstand.  Experience can only  do so much against players who have more size, speed and hustle.  Sure, Darren Helm is loved among Detroit fans for his hustle and determination, but he is only one player on a roster that is aging.  Chicago and Pittsburgh have multiple players on their roster with the hustle of Helm, but they are also players that can be depended on to come through with timely goals.
   Odds are I will be ostracized by my family and friends, but I am suggesting a semi blow-up of the team.  Johan Franzen has been a great piece of the Red Wings for the past several years, but age has slowed him down recently.  The expensive part of his 11 year contract has mostly passed and the cap hit will be lower and lower until he contract is up.  Why not shop Franzen for a young defensive stud like Kieth Yandle out of Phoenix or Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary.  Teams would love to get a veteran scorer like Franzen with some smaller names added to the package.  The Wings would clear up some cap space for a big summer while gaining young talent to sustain the blue line for years to come.  When Jonathan Ericsson is the biggest defensemen on your team, it is obvious that there needs to be some shaking up.  Ericsson may have the size to be a dominant blue liner, but his play is about as aggressive as his baby face.  
   The summer of 2013 brings a few big, young names to free agency, with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf being the cream of the crop.  Perry would bring a legitimate scoring threat to compliment the play making ability of Datsyuk or Hank, while the physical play of Getzlaf would be able to rival that of Los Angeles or Chicago. With only 17 filled roster spots and roughly 18 million to spend on next season, there is no reason to believe that the Wings won't push hard for the two best players on the market.  Detroit fans need to come to the realization that our team will most likely look entirely different for the 2013-2014 season.  Obviously defense is a priority for the Winged Wheel, but you can't ignore the explosiveness of the possible combination of Hank, Pavel, Perry and Getzlaf.  Defensively, Ryan Whitney of the Edmonton Oilers is a name that comes to mind for available players in the upcoming off season.  Whitney has plenty of post season experience, is relatively young (29 years old) and has experience of playing for teams with lofty expectations (2010 Team USA).
   There are plenty of places where the Wings need improvement, defense being the biggest need.  It's obvious something has to change.  I am hoping, begging, praying, that the Wings will swallow their pride of making the playoffs for 20+ years and do some serious realigning to be the pinnacle of success in the National Hockey League.  Our current talent is great if we were in the mid 2000s, but unless something changes quick, we will continue to be talking about 'The Glory Years' instead of being defending champs.