Salary Cap finally hits Red Wings

It took several years longer than many naysayers and doomsday predictors foresaw, but the "Yankees of Hockey" the Detroit Red Wings have officially been slapped by the cap. I still stand by the mantra "In Ken Holland we Trust" but loosing Jiri Hudler to the Russian Superleague on top of loosing Hossa, Kopecky, and Samuelsson made it official and guarantees a markedly different looking team next year. It is a testament to the Red Wing Organization thru drafting, signing free agents, and player development, that they kept getting better and better during the salary cap era. When most experts said the cap would affect high pay roll teams like the Red Wings the most.

It just wasnt realistic for a team that had 5 20 goal scorers plus Samuelsson at 19 goals and Tomas Holmstrom's production being greatly reduced by missing 30 games to injuries to stay intact. I still stand by the team's track record of bringing in talented, young, and cheap talent to replace the 80 goals and 160 points they lost to free agency. If the playoff production of players like Darren Helm, Johathan Ericsson, and Justin Abdelkader are a sign of things to come, the Wings are still in great shape. They might have to revert to a more defensive style and Osgood will show more focus during the regular season I have no doubt. They will still easily be among the pre-season Stanley Cup favorites for the umpteenth year in a row it seems. I still trust Ken Holland's judgment implicitly as the best GM of any sport and continuing the Wings run of unprecedented success for many years.

Jason