This is a goal that all franchises have – to win Stanley Cups - and to be in the hunt year after year after year. It is amazing that the Red Wings have been in the playoffs for 17 years and are now close to winning their fourth Cup in 11 years with this core team. The team’s core was built through the draft then through trades and free agency. They created a philosophy and culture and have stuck with it and it works. They should be proud of what they have created. If they win this evening and close out the series, one would have to say that they are a dominant team – best record in the league for the season and winners of the Cup – but that they have become a generational dynasty.
Ted's Take
The NHL actually has come up with a definition for a dynasty: 3 Cups in a row, 4 in 5 seasons or 5 in 7 seasons.
I would be reluctant to call the Wings a Dynasty yet since the core of the team has changed from 1997 to 2008, although there are some players who have been in Detroit for all four seasons.
What is actually interesting to me is the fact that from 1995 until 2003, four teams truly dominated the NHL: Detroit, Colorado, Dallas and New Jersey. There won all 9 Stanley Cups in those seasons (Detroit 3, New Jersey 3, Colorado 2, Dallas 1) and in three of those nine years, another of the teams was the losing finalist (Detroit in 1995, Dallas in 2000, New Jersey in 2001). During those years, only six other teams got a whiff of the Cup (Florida in 1996, Philly in 1997, Washington in 1998, Buffalo in 1999, Carolina in 2002 and Anaheim in 2003), and all six of those teams combined to win 6 games in their finals appearances.
The Wings could have been a Dynasty to be sure, had there not been two other strong teams in the West at the time, meaning every year they had to go to war with Colorado or Dallas (or both!) to get to the finals…
This Red Wings squad is a very different core. Holmstrom, McCarty, and Lidstrom are the only players who were on all 3 of Detroit’s last 3 cup teams. Players like Yzerman, Larionov, Shanahan, Fedorov, and coach Scotty Bowman are gone. Chelios, Datsyuk, and Hasek only won in ’02, and Osgood was the backup for one of his 2 cups. Then you have a lot of interchangable players, like Hull, Robitaille, Larry Murphy, etc. In reality they have had two cores since the mid 90′s, which is even more amazing.
You’re beginning to see this a lot places. In the NFL, teams are building cores through the draft and plugging holes through trades and free agencies. Vic Ketchman at Jaguars.com is a big proponent of the build through the draft and fix through free agency.
Hats off to Detroit and New Jersey, both teams have been very savvy in finding new talent, through the draft and free agency, and being playoff and Cup contenders year after year, after year. I suspect, and hope, the Caps and McPhee can do the same, based upon the track record so far. The new season cannot get here fast enough.