April 10, 2006
Red-hot Red Wings can't wait for playoffs
Red Wings closing in on yet another Presidents' Trophy.
By Wendel Clark

Boasting a league-best 54-14-8 record (116 points), the Red Wings rank second in the league in goals-for (287) and goals-against (196), have the best powerplay percentage (22.7%) and the third-best penalty kill (85.6%), and possess the best road-record (29-6-3).

The Red Wings have always been in a position where they have spent money, but have also drafted exceptionally well. They have always been so balanced; nobody took them very seriously at the start of the year.

With a solid core of veteran players, Detroit has always been able to obtain quality youngsters, and Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are as good as they get.

The 27-year-old Datsyuk leads the team in scoring with 28 goals and 59 assists for 87 points, while Zetterberg, 25, has registered 36 goals and 43 assists for 79 points.

Nicklas Lidstorm, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, among others, have led the organization from a veteran's perspective.

Lidstrom, arguably the best skating-defenseman in the league, is having the best offensive-season of his 14-year NHL career, notching 14 goals and 61 assists for 75 points. 

After getting a chance to play with him for the short period that I did, Lidstrom is able to play the game without being overly physical. With the new rules in play, the 35-year-old has been able to execute his game plan perfectly, and it's shown on the scorecard.

Shanahan, meanwhile, has always had a great set of hands, a good head on his shoulders, and knows where to stand and fire the puck. He is also having a fantastic year and his best in several seasons.

The Red Wings have consistently been able to have the right character players who know and accept their role, and that is what every championship organization needs. The key to having a great hockey team year after year like the Red Wings have had (probably as good or better than any club in recent years) is that your role players accept their role.

Take Kris Draper for example. He is more-or-less a defensive-player for the entire season, but all of a sudden he's a big name come playoff time, because he is the type of player who becomes a bigger and bigger part of the picture. 

Your third- and fourth-line guys know that they are going to get anywhere from three to ten minutes of ice time per game, and have to play that to the fullest. These players are not looking to become second- or first-line men. As soon as your "role players" want to be top-line forwards, your team, all of a sudden, does not perform. 

No matter how good a team's best players are, each club needs its role players to play at their fullest and accept the positions given to them. 

If you are a physical, up-tempo forward and plays that way for six or seven minutes, your team is going to do well. Every organization needs the energy guys, even if they pot in 10 goals a year, to understand that this is their main role on the team, and that is what makes them successful.

In Yzerman, you just know what he is a true competitor who loves playing the game. He is a great role model and a quiet guy who leads by example. In his 22nd NHL season, he has accepted a role that is much different than what he has been used to. 

There is your consummate leader.

The younger guys who have come in to this Red Wings team may not have known the Steve Yzerman of the 80s and early 90s, but they look at the stats and look at how he has changed his game and accepted to alter his role in order for the team to win, and that illustrates a great point for his teammates. You cannot demand a role while watching one of the best offensive players of all-time change his game to fit the mold of the team. 

While questions continue to rise over their goaltending, the gentlemen in the Wings' dressing room are very confident with Manny Legace and Chris Osgood between the pipes. 

Legace has performed game-in and game-out, and has proven that he can handle the No.1 duties, while Osgood is a great team player and his teammates know what he's done for them in the past.

The Detroit Red Wings are a great organization, from the top-down, and they have acquired the right players that know how to fill specific roles. 

With Datsyuk and Zetterberg leading the offensive charge, Lidstrom and Mathieu Schneider piloting the defensive crop, Draper, Kirk Maltby and Co. taking care of defensive and role responsibilities, and Shanahan, Chris Chelios and Yzerman guiding the team, the Wings are in good shape for post-season action.
 

Wendel Clark, drafted first-overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, played in 793 career NHL games with six different organizations. Over his career, the former Leafs captain accumulated 330 goals, 234 assists and 1,690 penalty minutes. Now, as a columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com, he offers his "17-cents" on the NHL throughout the entire season. Check out Wendel Clark's column every Monday, exclusively on TheFourthPeriod.com.