And the Long Summer Begins

And so it has ended. I realize I'm very delayed with this post, but work, being under the weather, and a variety of other life commitments have forced me to put this off. Not to mention I was still letting everything sink in. But here is my delayed and now irrelevant post.

I was sad when the Wings lost. Obviously disappointed. But not to the degree I have been in the past. After the free agent cluster fuck of last year (yes Jiri Hudler I'm looking at you) and the massive joke of injuries this season, I think deep down we all knew this wasn't the Wings year. Most of us didn't want to say it. There was something dirty and icky about uttering those words out loud. Like when you first start realizing the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause aren't real. You're afraid to admit it out of fear you might be wrong. Out of fear that if they are real, your presents won't be delivered. So you tease yourself and expect the most. But we had to know, it just wasn't meant to be.

This year the Wings overcame a great deal:

Folding new, young, inexperienced players into the line up

Torn ACLs

Broken Legs

Free agent deflections. How will they ever overcome the loss of Kopecky?

Fucked up MCLs

Concussions

Brett Lebda

Bad Backs

Rookie goaltending and a Chris Osgood melt down

Separated Shoulders

Sophomore slumps

Broken Wrists

The Olympics

And the list goes on and on and on. People are saying the Wings Dynasty is over. That it's come to an end. Like giddy school girls who just talked to their crush, Red Wings haters across the NHL are giggling and trying not to piss themselves with excitement. But I have this to say. If during a known transition year, the Red Wings can overcome even half of that list, and still manage a 102 point season, a fifth seed in the competitive Western Conference, and make it to the second round, well that to me is how a Dynasty would handle a transition year. How they would handle adversity. I'd like to see any other team deal with those factors and come out better and set for the next year.

What I'm trying to say in a horribly mixed up and drunken ramble is I am proud of this team. I am proud they made it into the playoffs for the 19th consecutive season. I'm proud they had another year of over 100 points. I'm proud they admitted the teams short comings and promises to improve next year. And I'm especially proud, that during game 4 at the Joe, against San Jose, they did not sit back and wait for the loss, they fought hard and demonstrated what is sure to come next year. I'm proud of this team.

And now with the season over we begin to anticipate next year. Sure it's farther away than usual, but perhaps that's a good thing.

It gives Holland a little more wiggle room before July 1st.

It gives players with two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances a longer, and much deserved break

Clearly we can see in the picture below the massive amount of PKs and playoff stress have turned Miller fully gray. Well now he has time to perfect his shade of Just for Men.

The seasons over but as Red Wings fans we have so much to be proud of and so much to look forward to. As Mike Babcock said, they still did better than 22 other teams. And in a transition year, that's pretty damn good.

I'll be posting more this summer. But I just wanted to say a quick thanks to anyone who managed to stop by my blog this season. I award you an honorary gold star for your attempts to decipher my ramblings.

And I'll end with this, while my gut tells me he will retire, Nick Lidstrom, please stay at least one more year. Pretty please.