Red Wings clean out lockers, prepare for summer and reflect on playoffs

 

By Michael Caples –

DETROIT – It wasn’t the end they wanted. But two days after the Red Wings’ season concluded, there was a positive outlook around the Detroit locker room.

A team that almost missed the playoffs took the best team in the NHL to overtime of a Game 7, and along the way discovered that some of their young budding stars are ready to excel next year.

“I think there’s mixed emotions,” captain Henrik Zetterberg said during locker room clean-out day at Joe Louis Arena. “We had a good run here in the playoffs and last two weeks of the regular season. It would be nice to still be playing, and we were really close to doing that. Being up 3-1 against Chicago, playing Game 7 overtime, we were right there, too, to play in the Conference Final. I’m proud of our guys for what we’ve done. A lot of young guys came up, played good. We went through a lot of injuries this year, guys came in and played well. Definitely looking forward to next year.”

The Wings, who extended their playoff streak to 22 consecutive seasons and also eliminated Anaheim, the No. 3 overall team, during the first round, saw a steep learning curve for a young group of players pay off down the stretch.

Veteran forward Dan Cleary, whose return is one of the question marks of the offseason, raved about both the fan support during the lockout-shortened season, and the play of youngsters Joakim Andersson, Gustav Nyquist, Damien Brunner and Clay Township native Danny DeKeyser.

“The fans support we had this year late in the season and in the playoffs was probably, maybe the loudest, most boisterous we’ve had since I’ve been here, personally,” Cleary said. “It was amazing, the treatment that we got, how they responded. I thought as a team, we really came together. We’ve got great leadership here on this club and we got a great injection of youth. It’s great to see with Andy, Ny, Bruns, Danny DeKeyser’s going to play in this league until he wants to quit. We had a great goalie, great pieces to build off. I think as a team we should be real excited for next season. Everyone should be excited. Work hard in the summer and get back to where everyone expects Detroit to be.”

Andersson and Nyquist, who both returned to Grand Rapids yesterday to help the Griffins in their AHL playoff run, combined for 10 points during the Wings’ two playoff rounds. Meanwhile, Brunner (now an unrestricted free agent) tied Cleary for third in team scoring with nine points in the playoffs, behind only Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

Justin Abdelkader said the pain and frustration of the Wings’ Game 7 defeat will only serve as motivation for the young Red Wings to work harder over the offseason.

“I think it can definitely help with a group like us, a young group,” the Muskegon native said. “We’ve had so much turnover and then with injuries this year, it can only help with our experience and kind of give the guys some extra drive and passion going into the summer, and get ready for next season. Camp is moved up a week, and with us going into June here, it’ll be a quick summer. Guys will work hard, train hard, and get excited for getting back here in the fall.”

Yet there are question marks of who will be around when the Wings show up for training camp. As mentioned above, Cleary and Brunner will both be free agents, as will Drew Miller and Valtteri Filppula.

Miller’s comments on the subject reflected the majority of the soon-to-be free agents during the locker clean-out.

“I would like to stay,” the East Lansing native said. “I’ve got to talk to [coach Mike Babcock] and to Kenny Holland, figure out what their approach is to coming back. I don’t have much more to say other than I’d like to come back. But being in a position to have options is something that could possibly be looked at but my first choice would be to stay and come back.”

Filppula, after scoring six points in the playoffs but only 17 in the regular season, may be Holland’s most difficult decision. Zetterberg talked about how it would be difficult to see him go.

” We all know his situation, his deal is up,” the Wings’ captain said. “They’re working on getting it done and I think everyone in here will try to do their part and have him back here. As you say, we’ve been sitting next to each other for many years now and it would definitely be really empty if he was not sitting there next year.”

But no matter what happens in the offseason, the playoff run gave the Wings confidence heading into next season. According to Abdelkader, they firmly believe they are Stanley Cup contenders, and they had a legitimate shot at winning it all this season.

“I thought we did,” Abdelkader said. “I thought we did this year. How we came together, how we played at the end of the year, I thought we were playing really good, playing as good as any team. I mean, we won a series against Anaheim, who had the third best record overall, and then took Chicago, who had the best record, into Game 7 and into overtime. I think right there it shows, we could beat one of the best teams and the best team during the year. I think we have a team that can compete for a Stanley Cup. You have to be healthy, a lot of things go into it, but I think we had a good mix of a group, a good mix of guys in here that could get it done.”