In a few short hours, the Detroit Red Wings will officially begin their residency in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
The Eastern Conference is known for its rough and tumble ways. A conference so intimidating that many believe the conference’s physical style will eventually have the Wings cowering in fear.
Alright, that’s probably an exaggeration, but one of the biggest questions heading into this year’s NHL campaign is how well will Detroit, a powerhouse form the Western Conference compete in the East?
It’s a fair and legitimate question, one that the Wings began to address at the conclusion of last season.
When the Wings gathered for the final time last season at Joe Louis Arena, head coach Mike Babcock told reporters that during the offseason, he and his assistants would each be assigned several teams from the east to thoroughly breakdown.
Every aspect of a team would be scrutinized and once they all assembled again to start this upcoming season, the Wings would have a detailed assessment on every Eastern Conference team.
“We’re going to be fine,” Babcock said. “That assessment on video is fine, but the reality is when you start playing them head-to-head is when your start learning about them.
“We have all the thumbnails, the descriptions of all the players of what they do and all that stuff, but again the reality is until we see them head-to-head, that’s what we think, that’s not what we know.”
Babcock didn’t know if Detroit or the teams in the east would have an advantage over the other. The Wings would have to prepare for essentially 14 new opponents, while the eastern teams would have to become familiar with only two - the Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Babcock is correct. Until Detroit starts playing day in and day out in the east, it’s anybody’s guess of how they’ll fare. A few years ago when the Wings and the Bruins played back-to-back games, Mike Milbury proclaimed the Wings the toughest team in hockey.
After the Wings had blown out the Bruins on their home ice by a 6-1 score on a Friday night, Detroit hosted Boston on Sunday afternoon and won the second contest, 3-2.
During the intermission between the second and third periods, Milbury, an analyst for NBC, was incredulous. He was seething.
Milbury began a rant about Detroit, calling the Wings pacifists and concluding that the Red Wings were hockey’s toughest team.
In between his start and end points, Milbury told his audience that the Bruins had been hammering Detroit for two games, trying to get the Wings to engage in some fisticuffs, only to have the Wings drop their arms to their sides and skate away.
“Detroit’s not going to fight you,” he bellowed in front of the camera. “They just turn around and skate away.”
After he briefly calmed down, Milbury said that you have to be mentally tough to skate away from an altercation. That toughness isn’t about fighting. It’s about doing whatever it takes to win, including turning the other cheek. That’s why Detroit is hockey’s toughest team – anybody can fight, it takes toughness to refuse to be baited.
The Red Wings are the Red Wings. They will continue to play their puck possession, high-paced two-way game whether they’re in the Eastern Conference, Western Conference or some intergalactic conference on Mars.
And in a few short hours we’ll begin to witness which clash of cultures will be standing at the end, Detroit’s or a conference regarded as too brutish for the Wings peacenik philosophy.
