- On June ninth 2009, the Red Wings were in Pittsburgh, 60 minutes away from their
fifth Stanley Cup in 13 years. This team had continuously
raised and matched massive expectations as they became a regular favorite to win the cup. It began with a playoff
appearance in 1991. By 1995, they were in the finals where Detroit and the entire hockey world were stunned by the Devils. A year later, they were back in the Western Conference Finals, losing to the eventual
champion, Avalanche. But all of that led to Detroit
winning back to back cups in 97 and 98, the franchise's
first of the modern era. And by 2002, they were back, beating the Hurricanes
to win it all again. In those three championship years, the Red Wings only lost a
single game in the finals, as Carolina was the lone
team to avoid a sweep. And after, again, reaching
the Conference Finals in 2007, they returned to form a year
later and beat the Penguins to claim the Cup. Their new leaders, Henrik
Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, had learned under then replaced some of the guys that started it all. Parts of the original core remained, the grind line's Kris
Draper and Kirk Maltby, Tomas Holmstrom, a career
nuisance for opposing goalies, and the new caption, Nicklas Lidstrom, still one of the greatest
defensemen in NHL history, who was a year removed from winning three straight Norris Trophies. He made life just a bit easier
for Chris Osgood in the net, who rejoined the Wings in 2005 and became one of the
heroes of the 2008 Cup. They were coached by Mike Babcock, who had returned the team to
their championship winning ways in just his third season. And in the front office sat
Hockeytown legend Steve Yzerman, who worked alongside
general manager Ken Holland to keep the roster a
step ahead of the league and prevented them from
ever needing a full rebuild. So in 2009, with two
chances to close it out, not only did the outcome
feel like a given, there was no end in sight
for the Red Wings' dynasty. (light music) But after dominating the
previous matchup, in game six, Detroit found themselves down two-one in the closing seconds. And when this attempt from
Datsyuk and Johan Franzen was snuffed out by a pile of Penguins, a game seven became necessary. In front of their home crowd,
the Wings came out flat. They once again let the Penguins
take a two-nothing lead, and although Jonathan Ericsson
cut the deficit in half with six to play, they showed little urgency
until it was nearly too late. With six and a half seconds remaining, Detroit had one last chance. Staring at an open net, Lidstrom wasn't able to force overtime and they were left to watch as
Crosby carried his first Cup, and Pittsburgh began their
celebration at Joe Louis Arena. While no loss is easy, there wasn't a real sense
of panic in Detroit. Babcock made it clear they had no excuses, and needed to simply do better. The players knew as much, and recognized with the
talent on the roster, they had reason to plan for a return trip. Their GM echoed this, the core was there, they would be fine. And it wasn't just arrogance
that guided that mindset. Comparing what they had done
to the rest of the league made it more justifiable. The Penguins team that
had just beaten them, while they made consecutive
finals appearances, weren't that far removed from being in the league's basement. With Mario Lemieux hit by injuries while the team struggled financially, they played their way into
the second overall pick. A year later, the lockout led to them winning the draft lottery and
the Sidney Crosby sweepstakes. They managed to quickly
build a new foundation, and most of Detroit's
previous foes in the finals were nowhere near as lucky. A year after losing to the Wings in 98, the Capitals dropped 24 points
and missed the playoffs. The Hurricanes followed
up their loss in 02 by finishing with the
worst record in the league. So while a roster churn became
inevitable for any team, with Detroit's identity set, they were far from being in a tailspin. Even when they were unable to
resign their top goal scorer, Holland didn't panic. It would've been nice to
keep Marian Hossa around, but he wasn't the sole reason the Wings had led the league
in scoring by a wide margin. Hossa had come to Detroit
with the sole intention of winning his first Cup, ironically turning down a long term offer from the Penguins to do so. But when he left, they
still had 30-goal scorers in Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen. Hossa's year with the Wings represented just one of the ways that
Detroit stacked their hand. For opposing players, if you
can't beat 'em, join 'em. Free agents had often come to Hockeytown in search of a championship. Brett Hull and Luc
Robitaille signed on in 2001 and helped lead the Wings over Carolina. Chris Osgood returned to Detroit in 2005, and took over for a
struggling Dominik Hasek in the 08 playoffs that
ended with the Cup. It may not have always worked out, but the logic was sound. If you wanted to get your
name engraved on the trophy, Detroit was a good place to do so, and the architect of it all was Holland. He took over as general manager in 1997, but before that, had been
with Detroit as a scout, getting his fingerprints on
the dynasty from day one. The Wings' scouting department had beaten the rest of the league in building a pipeline for
European and Russian talent, funneling them to Detroit
via late-round draft picks. By the time Zetterberg and Datsyuk, two of the best examples of this, started to get regular ice time, they allowed Detroit
to rebuild on the fly. And as the duo entered their prime, they gave further reasons
for high expectations. The 2009, 2010 season began
with a challenge, though. Detroit was hit by injuries early. Zetterberg, Holmstrom, and other key Wings saw limited action to start the year. They found themselves
in unfamiliar territory, where even in January, every win mattered. But while the 2010 Winter Olympics caused a headache for the league, they seemed to come at a
perfect time for the Wings. Detroit did heat up out of the break, and finished as the
fifth seed in the West. But it was their worst
finish since the NHL went to the conference oriented
playoff bracket in 1994. For the first time in four years, Detroit wouldn't make it
out of the second round. The success that they
had become accustomed to started to have a different effect. The Wings had played at least 100 games each of the three previous seasons, and it looked to be taking a toll. Their man-games lost to injury
had skyrocketed as a result, and if that wasn't enough,
front office received a shakeup following the early exit. In May of 2010, Red Wings
owner and president Mike Ilitch approached his GM with a proposal. He wanted to promote
Holland to team president in order to move Steve
Yzerman to general manager. One of the most beloved players to even don the winged wheel, Yzerman had joined the front
office as soon as he retired. He gained additional experience as executive director for Team Canada, who was fresh off an Olympic gold medal. But for Holland, the move likely
seemed more of a demotion, and in his defense, he was still viewed as one of the best GMs across
all professional sports. So when Ilitch suggested it, Holland told his boss
“I’m a general manager, that's what I was hired to do.” Holland put the kibosh on the move, so Yzerman looked elsewhere. The Red Wings legend joined
the Tampa Bay Lightning in the same position he
had sought in Detroit. And while Yzerman was pointing out how long of a process rebuilding
the Lightning could take, Holland was signing an extension to continue his dynastic vision. But even Yzerman couldn't make hockey in Tampa Bay a thing, right? With one familiar face already gone, others followed suit. The wave of retirements
began with Kirk Maltby ahead of the 2010, 2011 season. His final year had been
derailed by injury, but over his 14 years in Detroit, he had played the role
of agitator perfectly. A year later, Chris Osgood
and Kris Draper retired, two of the key pieces both in
the Red Wings' championships and in their iconic rivalry
with the Colorado Avalanche. With them went defenseman and locker room leader Brian Rafalski, whose time in Detroit was
often overshadowed by Lidstrom. And even though they were
able to convince their captain to stick around for a 20th season, it presented a problem
being kicked down the road. On opening night of the 2011-2012 season, the average age of their
defensemen was over 30, with only one guy younger than 27. By the playoffs, things
wouldn't get better. They were the first team eliminated, falling in five games to Nashville for their earliest exit since 2003. That unexpected tough loss was followed by a more
expected but tougher one. On May 31st 2012,
Detroit's captain retired. The seven-time Norris Trophy winner and four-time Stanley Cup Champion was still Detroit's best
defensemen even at the age of 41. There's no doubt he could've
maintained his production, even when considering he had played an additional three seasons
worth of playoff games. Management had convinced themselves they could keep Lidstrom coming back. Instead, his departure created a hole that couldn't be filled
by just one player, or at least not by someone
currently on the team. Holland looked to free agency for a fix, and chased that year's top prize. He offered Ryan Suter a deal
that would have given him one of the longest and
most lucrative contracts in franchise history. If the star defenseman wasn't enough, they also tried to bring in
the other jewel of free agency, Suter's close friend, Zach Parise. But by 2012, the legacy wasn't enough for Suter and Parise
to come to Hockeytown. While that happens, fans weren't used to the
Red Wings being spurned, and especially not for a
team like the Minnesota Wild. Sure, the pair was from
Minnesota and Wisconsin, so it could be justified as
players choosing to return home, but as Greg Eno put it, it was like ice cream
losing out to spinach. And when Holmstrom retired the
day before his 40th birthday, the need for incoming
talent grew once again. One side effect of the big names passing on Detroit in free agency was they then scrambled
to sign replacements who were often past their prime. In 2012, they inked Stephen
Weiss to a four-year deal worth five million per. They signed Daniel Alfredsson
to a stop gap contract for the same amount, and a season later, the trend continued when Jonathan Ericsson was extended for over
four million per year. These moves were being made by the man once lauded for his roster construction. He had slashed a $77
million roster down to 34, and routinely got players to take pay cuts and agree to hometown discounts. But the moves to extend the playoff streak caused Detroit's ceiling to lower, and the expectations
shifted from Finals favorite to just another playoff
team hoping to get hot. At the end of 2014, Detroit failed to win at
least 50% of their games for the first time since 1996. That sparked the first
of back to back to back opening round defeats, two of which came at the hands of Yzerman's Tampa Bay Lightning. In the midst of that, they said goodbye to Mike Babcock, the coach that had led them to two Presidents' Trophies
and the two latest Cup finals. After failing to agree to
an extension in Detroit, he signed a record-setting contract with the division rival
Toronto Maple Leafs. His successor, Jeff Blashill, did extend the playoff
streak to 25 seasons, but he immediately ran into newer versions of the same hurdles. Ahead of the 2016, 2017 season, Datsyuk left the NHL in order to finish his career back home. While he was still one of
the more talented Wings, Datsyuk's age had been showing. Injuries forced him to miss time, and when he was out there, he rarely showed the magic that had helped bail out the team in years past. But for Detroit, his departure
wasn't a major surprise. Holland knew it was a possibility even when he gave Datsyuk a three year deal two seasons prior. Regardless, him leaving put
the team in a tough spot. They pulled off a trade that dumped Datsyuk's remaining salary on the actively tanking Coyotes, and Detroit actually
gained a second round pick, and only dropped four spots in the first. This was part of a delayed
shift in philosophy for Holland, he finally looked to stockpile picks instead of tossing them at rentals. But even he knew it was too late, and his future was no longer
the guarantee it once was. Without Datsyuk, Lidstrom,
Draper, Holmstrom, Yzerman, the Wings finally succumbed. For the first time since 1990, they failed to make the
playoffs, and a year later, they one-upped themselves. Not only did they miss the post season by over 30 points, but they did so with the
oldest roster in the NHL. With the playoffs out of reach, the team finally admitted
they were rebuilding. But the efforts made to
keep the streak alive had hurt their ability to do even that. Bloated contracts caused difficulty in resigning the young
talent already on the roster, and the money guaranteed to the vets locked them into roster spots that prevented the youth movement from fully spreading its wings. And that was all before one more obstacle, set this time by their captain. Despite playing three
straight 82-game seasons, Zetterberg's back wasn't
getting any better. In the 2018 off season,
Hank was forced to retire with three years left on his contract. That meant Detroit would miss more than just his abilities on the ice. While some relief would come thanks to the long term
injured reserve tag, he'd still be on the books through 2021. But at least that means he probably didn't
charge an appearance fee for the ceremonial puck
drop to kick off the season. For the first time, the Detroit Red Wings looked nothing like the
2008 Stanley Cup Champions. They missed the playoffs and
failed to crack 80 points for a third straight year. Long gone were the names that
had buoyed the organization. Plenty of work was still
needed for future success, but promise finally showed. By the end of 2019, the top
four point scorers on the roster were all 24 or younger. Before the prior season, no
Red Wings team since 1992 had even two of their top
scorers under the age of 25. And whatever would come next, there would be at least
one familiar face involved. On April 19th 2019, Steve Yzerman returned
to the organization. Hockeytown's favorite son was
finally named general manager once Holland relented to a new position. But that arrangement didn't last long. Holland found a new home in
Edmonton barely two weeks later. The final and most
instrumental piece was gone. He'd taken over while they were on top, kept them there longer
than most could have, and ushered in their downfall well before he was ready to admit it. The Red Wings proved success
can be a dangerous thing. Considering it's definition
can change for a team and be different depending
on the person involved, the pursuit can derail the future while the past blinds the present. It kept them from seeing
their fate was sealed, and there was nowhere to go but down. But when the Detroit Red Wings were good, they were really, really good.
This was a great watch and actually not as depressing as I thought it would be.
The only time I’ll ever be sad for a sb nation upload
In the past, this might’ve made me sad. With the return of Steve Yzerman, those times are gone.
It's gonna be one of those days boys
I absolutely love the SBNation Collapse videos (and their Beef History, and their Rewinders, and anything Jon Bois does...)
Schadenfreude always comes back to bite ya though.
How is there no mention of the death of Ilitch and how Ilitch (I'd argue rightfully, no matter how selfish) wanted to push to win one more? Absolutely absurd.
Haven’t watched, but does this video give any different information than the obvious we’ve all observed over the years? That being trading away picks for and signing high priced veterans?
How would have winning that ominous game 7 in 2009 changed the outcome of the franchise?
I feel like they try to make Ken look really bad when he didn't want to step down. The guy was a year or two removed from back to back finals, why would he step down?