Playing Catch Up

Staring down another blown lead…

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It’s been pretty quiet over here at MW the past few days, but it’s not for a lack of wanting to write. Actually, yes it is. Well, that and the combination of a nasty bug that shelved me all day yesterday. For the most part though, I’m tired of trying to come up with different ways to sugar coat the fact that the Wings flat out suck right now and aren’t showing any signs of getting better or figuring it out.

I’m tired of watching the leads get blown. I’m tired of watching the injuries happen. I’m tired of watching the defense stand around and surrender loose pucks in front of the net that are inevitably going to get behind Jimmah. The effort and intensity of this team doesn’t even come close to that of the two-time defending Western Conference champions. The team on the ice this season is a mere shell of those contenders, a hollow and empty reminder of what once was.

Perhaps all of the critics were right when they said the Wings were no longer the team to fear in the West. There’s no question that the Wings have suffered greatly from the loss of scoring and point production of guys like Marian Hossa, Jiri Hudler and even Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. We all know that Jonathan Ericsson is looking like the biggest bust to hit the ice in a very long time. If it wern’t for his excellent play in the playoffs last season, the fans would be asking for his head on a silver platter.

It’s funny to think that Ken Holland and the rest of the staff saw this coming as soon as the offseason rolled around, and yet for so many of us who hold the Wings brass in the highest regard, we simply put our heads in the sand and pretended not to hear him. How could a team that has been so good for so long drop to a level where they may not even make the playoffs? Impossible. Sure, I don’t know that the front office thought it would get THIS bad, but it had to be in the back of their minds at some point. Parity is now king in the new NHL, and the Wings knew that. They knew the transition from the old guard to the “kids” was going to have to happen at some point, and this was the year Holland pegged for it to go down, for better or for worse. Right now, it’s worse.

Supposedly tonight is the night that marks the turnaround for the team, as Johan Franzen returns to the lineup after being out pretty much the entire season. Sure, it’s great to have a guy like him back in the lineup, but there is no way he’s going to singlehandedly turn this team around. Even if Mule scores four goals tonight, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the defense and Jimmah will surrender five to the Blues. No lead is safe anymore for the Wings, and that’s probably the most back-breaking realization of them all.

For the record, this is not a “I’m giving up, the Wings can’t make the playoffs” post. With the way the West has looked this year and the caliber of players the Wings have inthe lineup, there is a chance the Wings can still claim a berth in the postseason. But there’s also a much greater chance that they won’t, and unless the win over 62% of their remaining games, it won’t happen. Holland said it: .500 down the stretch and it’s tee times at Oakland Hills.

There’s no more begging or pleading or sending ultimatums at this point. The Wings will either play or they won’t. They will either win or they will lose. They will either make the playoffs or they won’t. It’s all up to them and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Tags: Henrik Zetterberg, Jiri Hudler, Johan Franzen, Jonathan Ericsson, Marian Hossa, Pavel Datsyuk, St. Louis Blues, The Jimmah Howard Experiment