I am now a fan of Bob Duff.
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/ne...2-ec257ee017d6
Too soft. Too old. Too European. Too weak. No heart.
To listen to the National Hockey League's talking heads talk about the Detroit Red Wings, if the Wings don't set up a meeting with the Wizard of Oz and fast, their chances of capturing the Stanley Cup are non-existent.
Some of hockey's loudest voices --Don Cherry from Hockey Night In Canada's Coach's Corner, Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury from TSN and NBC and Mike Emrick of NBC, gathered Monday to offer their assessment of the impending National Hockey League playoffs, and much Detroit bashing was on the agenda.
Sadly, it was simply a case of perpetuating the same tired, old myths about the Wings, who open the playoffs Thursday against the Nashville Predators.
You'd think the most recognizable analysts in the game could see past the stereotype.
"Detroit is a team that won the Jennings Trophy, won the Presidents' Trophy, has a strong candidate for the Norris and the Hart Trophies (Nicklas Lidstrom), a coach who's been mentioned as coach of the year in (Mike) Babcock and two of the top six scorers in the league (Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg) and yet there seems to be questions about them," Milbury said.
"I think the reasons are two. The first is their goaltending. Is (Dominik) Hasek going to be able to perform at the level he has done in the past and drive them deep into the playoffs? If he can't, will (Chris) Osgood?
They've been just OK.
"The second one is character. Nashville has it by the bucket load. The Europeans have smashed a lot of stereotypes, but it still raises its ugly head when you talk about Detroit. Do they have enough character, or are they going to be stamped as the Euro skill players and can Nashville intimidate them?"
TESTY RESPONSE
It's the latter criticism that causes steam to rise from the ears of the Wings' brass.
"Didn't we answer those questions last year when we went to the conference final," growled Wings general manager Ken Holland regarding his club's supposed lack of toughness.
Cherry is also of the belief that Hasek, 43, is the weak link that will cause the Wings to break.
"Hasek doesn't seem as he's got that bounce," Cherry said. "He's stopping pucks, don't get me wrong. I think he's a good goaltender. But to me, he doesn't look as alive as he used to."
Babcock was perplexed by the criticism launched at his netminders.
"Didn't we just win the Jennings?" he asked, obviously aware of the answer. "Didn't we allow the fewest shots in the league. Chris Osgood led the league in goals against all season.
"What more do they want?"
Apparently, nothing less than a Stanley Cup celebration will silence Detroit's critics.
McGuire took the Wings' secondary scoring to task.
"If Detroit can't get consistent scoring from Datsyuk and Zetterberg, it puts a lot of pressure on Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen to produce," he said.
You mean the two guys who combined to net 47 goals this season, among 10 Wings who netted double digits?
The funny thing is, all of these experts are picking the San Jose Sharks to win it all. Those would be the same Sharks who folded up their tents at the first sign of adversity in their series with Detroit last spring. Now there's a team whose character rightfully deserves to be questioned.
For these hockey mavens to raise the same issue about the Wings merely shows that they haven't been paying attention.