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Arizona Coyotes 2015 Opponents: Detroit Red Wings

By William Grigsby

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The Arizona Coyotes have really had many hard fought games against this tough rival. Today we look at the Detroit Red Wings and how they will do this season.

 Today we look at: Detroit Red Wings

2014-15 record: 43-25-14, 3rd in the Atlantic. Lost in seven games to Tampa Bay in the Conference Quarterfinals

How the Arizona Coyotes did against the Red Wings: 2 games, 1-1-0

Schedule this year against the Arizona Coyotes: Thur  12/3  at Detroit, Thur 1/14  Home

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Team Newcomers:  D Mike Green, C Brad Richards

Now Ex-Players: D Marek Zidlicky

Coached by: Jeff Blashill (1st year)

Who’s in Net:

Will it be Jimmy Howard, or Petr Mrazek in between the pipes? Mrazek may be the starter, but not sure Howard will go along with that. Something’s got to give. For salary cap reasons, Howard may be vulnerable due to the Red Wings being right at the cap limit.

Quick thoughts about the Red Wings:

  • They just may end the streak of qualifying for the post-season for a quarter century this year. They made it by the height of a puck last season, but their fortunes may change.
  • They were thrilled to acquire Mike Green, and have been looking for someone to pick up the slack left by Niklas Lidstrom’s departure. Green is no Lidstrom, but he’s a step in the right direction.
  • This team (like the Canucks) is getting ancient. Their stars Pavel Datsyuk (37), Henrik Zetterberg (34), Johan Franzen (35) and Niklas Kronwall (34) are all starting to show the effects of getting up there in age. Do they have enough gas in the tank? Good question.
  • How much of an impact will the departure of Mike Babcock have on this team? How do you replace his ten years as a very successful coach? 458 wins, 223 losses, 105 overtime losses, and a .649 winning percentage is a stellar record. Good luck Jeff Blashill, you’re going to need it.

Why the Red Wings will win the Stanley Cup:

They certainly can’t be counted out, whenever you do that they come back and make a liar out of you. They gave Tampa Bay all they asked for in taking them to seven games in the playoffs last season, only to be eliminated. They are still a competitive team, but the clock is ticking on them.

Why the Red Wings won’t win the Stanley Cup:

The age factor along with injuries will be their demise. The core of their team will need to be more injury-free to go all the way to win the Cup. They aren’t off to a good start in that area, as they already had a couple of injuries the first day of training camp.

Three Things We Like About You:

  1. Not an easy endeavor. These two teams just don’t like each other.
  2. That you have gone to the playoffs 24 straight years, that’s quite a feat.
  3. That you moved to the Eastern Conference so we don’t need to put up with you as much.

Three Four Things We Don’t Like About You:

  1. Your fans who do come to games in Glendale are usually so inebriated that they act like fools. I actually witnessed one Red Wings fan jump the protective barriers put up in the Westgate plaza to go up on the platform where Tyson Nash and Jody Jackson were doing a post-game wrap-up. The unruly fan was quickly removed by security.
  2. We hate that there are almost as many Red Wings fans present at a Detroit game against us. They are transplants who have not given up their allegiance to the Wings. Give it up —  you live in Arizona, and should follow your local team.
  3. That you think just because you are one of the original six teams in the NHL, that other teams are insignificant. Sorry, we have just as much significance as you.
  4. That no matter how well we play against you, you always seem to eliminate us from playoff contention. The only reason we went on to play in the Western Conference Finals in 2011-12, was because our good friends in Nashville eliminated you in the quarterfinals. Thanks, Preds… can you do again real soon — oh say in three years or so?

Prediction:

We don’t know if you’ll get to that 25 years in a row of making the playoffs. IF you stay healthy, it could happen, then again things could go south on you. If you don’t start getting some younger players on your roster, you could see some downfall of your success.

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