Detroit Red Wings host Anaheim Ducks in season opener
Home ice seemed to be the determining factor between the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks as they split their series last season, each winning two games on their own rinks. The Red Wings will be hoping that the Joe Louis Arena will be rocking on Friday
night and give them the edge in their season opener.
How they match up
Looking at the Red Wings roster one can't help but notice that they are a little long in the tooth with eight players on their starting roster aged 35 or older. No one can deny the importance of having a veteran presence in your lineup to provide the younger
players with leadership. But after so many seasons in the NHL the body does begin to breakdown and the legs do get a bit shaky – especially when logging 20+ minutes of ice time as veteran defencemen Niklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski will be expected to do.
As great as some of the legends in Detroit's lineup have been in recent history, many of those players are on the decline and it will affect them late in the season. Many have predicted that the Red Wings will compete for, and potentially win, the Stanley
Cup this season, but such predictions are like something out of a Hollywood comeback story starring Sylvester Stallone and, like the Italian Stallion's acting career, shouldn't be taken too seriously.
The only significant off-season acquisitions made by the Red Wings were signing 40-year-old Mike Modano who was let go by the Dallas Stars where he had spent his entire career, and 35-year-old free agent defenceman Ruslan Salei. The Red Wings will tell you
that their 3-5 record in the pre-season doesn't matter, but it could well be an indication that, after almost 25 seasons near or at the top, they are a team that is finally on the decline.
Given the fact that they boast arguably the best top line in the entire league in Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Bobby Ryan, the Ducks had to have been disappointed by the fact that they did not make the play-offs last season. All three will be back and
looking to improve.
The Ducks' first-round selection in the summer's draft, Cam Fowler, will make his debut for the Ducks, who are hoping the rookie will be able to adapt quickly to the pace of the NHL. "You don't look at him as an 18-year-old kid. You look at him as a hockey
player," Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. "He's done everything to earn the opportunity to play. We think he's a special kid, but we always have to caution ourselves. You don't want to put him in situations that he can't possibly survive in. It's a feather
in his cap that he's made it this far. For him not to play, something drastic would have to happen."
What to expect
Although the Red Wings are getting old as a team, this is only the first game of the season and the lineup is strong. Fifty games into the season and it would probably be a different story, but for the moment, with recent history in their favour, and their
lineup almost completely healthy, the Red Wings should have enough to win this one 3-2.
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