MOP's NHL Previews return as your intrepid hockey editor embarks on a new quest: to do one division a day so that the entire Western Conference is finished by the time the puck drops on Wednesday. Can it be done? Will I go mad in the attempt? Can I break my habit of using two spaces at the end of a sentence, which I was recently told is incorrect, or my tendency to write 'centres', even though this is an American web site? Stay tuned...

And now, the new schedule: these previews did appear two a day but will now be five a day (hopefully) until the season starts on October 5th.  They will be put on-site by division, roughly in order of predicted finish.  Note that the rookies listed are only those most likely to make the team, not necessarily ones who have already sewn up a spot, and surprises always occur in training camp, though with camps out at this point the guesses are more solid than they were two weeks ago.  The In/Out portion represents significant players added and lost since the end of the 2003-04 season.  And now, on with the show...

In: Andreas Lilja, Chris Osgood, Andy Delmore, Dan Cleary, Mikael Samuelsson

Out: Curtis Joseph, Mathieu Dandenault, Brett Hull, Boyd Devereaux, Ray Whitney, Derian Hatcher, Jason Woolley, Steve Thomas, Darren McCarty, Dominik Hasek

Rookies: Johan Franzen, Jiri Hudler, Brett Lebda

Things could’ve been worse in Detroit, where the team was looking at a 2005-06 roster that possibly could’ve been without veterans Steve Yzerman, Chris Chelios, Mathieu Schneider, and Brendan Shanahan if GM Ken Holland hadn’t worked to re-sign them.  The team also went through a pre-season scare when it appeared young star Pavel Datsyuk was going to spend the season in Russia, but that too did pass.  Still, the team will have to get over the loss of some good players, most notably Dandenault, Hatcher, Whitney, McCarty and Joseph, and adjust to a new head coach in Mike Babcock.  It’ll be an interesting season in Detroit, who could conceivably compete for a Stanley Cup but are almost as likely to struggle for a playoff spot.

Strengths: 1. Even with a number of buyouts and losses, this is still a deep, veteran team that knows how to win.  Six players on this roster were with the Wings through all three of their Cup runs of 1997, 1998 and 2002, and this is certainly a team that knows what it takes to win.  The Wings depth doesn’t completely come from their veterans, however, as the team has always done a nice job of drafting despite their success and the resultant low draft choices.  Not only that, but the Wings have also been committed to letting younger players mature at their own pace and work themselves into the lineup slowly.  As a result, younger players such as Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Jiri Fischer, Niklas Kronwall, Jason Williams and possibly Johan Franzen, Jiri Hudler and Matt Ellis are set to play a big role in whatever success this team has in 2005-06.  The Wings might've looked a bit better had they been able to add another scorer (they talked seriously to Petr Bondra before he signed in Atlanta), but in the end this is still a solid roster.

2. While the Wings are uncommonly deep, they’re also rather top-heavy with some elite-level talent.  If not for an injury that cost him 13 games in 2003-04, Robert Lang likely would’ve led the league in points.  Datsyuk’s mid-season hot streak had him in that position at one point as well, and both have the potential to be up there this season.  Zetterberg could conceivably do so too; his 2004-05 season in Sweden was a great success, as he led the Swedish Elite League in points.  On defense, Schneider was touted as an early Norris Trophy candidate in 2003-04, and despite being 36 he still has excellent puck skills.  Of course, no talk of the Wings elite players is complete without at least a mention of Niklas Lidstrom; no defenseman has played the game better in the past decade than he has.

Weaknesses: 1. It’s been a perpetual cry in Detroit for years now, and while it doesn’t always turn out to be as big a problem as projected, it is still a concern.  Namely, is this team too old?  The Wings do have a number of young players they’ve worked into the lineup, true, though Kronwall's knee injury, which  will likely keep him off the ice for four to six months, hurts, and while the roles aren’t quite as big for the older veterans they are still fairly sizable.  Chelios will turn 44 mid-season, Yzerman is 40, Schneider is 36, Shanahan will be turning 36, Lidstrom is 35, Lang will be 35 in December, Kris Draper is 34, Tomas Holmstrom will be 34 in January, Kirk Maltby will be turning 33 in December, Osgood will be that age in November, and Manny Legace the same in February.  Those are all players that the Wings will be depending heavily on night in and night out to make this team competitive, and while it’s worked in the past this season could easily be a different story.

2. Speaking of Osgood and Legace, Detroit’s state of goaltending flux since Hasek’s first retirement after the 2002 Cup win continues.  Curtis Joseph is out after a short, inauspicious time as Detroit’s starter, during which time he was widely blamed for the team’s 2003 playoff loss to Anaheim, then put on waivers and assigned to the team’s minor-league affiliate after Hasek’s brief Red Wing comeback the next season.  Not helping Joseph the entire time he was a Red Wing was the fact that Legace, his backup, consistently put up better numbers than he did, but though Legace’s numbers as Detroit’s backup for four seasons are great, being a starter is very different.  Osgood, on the other hand, has roamed a bit since being replaced in the Wings goal by Hasek, first to Long Island, then to St. Louis, and while his 2003-04 numbers as a Blue were decent (2.24 GAA, .910 SP in 67 games), Osgood has never put up Vezina-Trophy type numbers.  The two will compete throughout the season, though Osgood will start the season on the injured list with a bad groin, for the right to start in the playoffs, presuming the Wings get there, but whether either can be successful as a starter at this point in their careers is questionable at best.

Don’t be Surprised If: The Wings adapt very quickly to new coach Babcock’s systems.  This is a team where many of the players lived under Scotty Bowman’s thumb for years, and as a result are quite coachable.  The fact that Dave Lewis wasn’t a very systems-oriented coach and didn’t take advantage of that is regrettable.  Basically, as soon as Babcock can get Yzerman to buy into his system and the style of play he chooses, be it defensive, heavy-forechecking, whatever, the rest of the team will follow.  Unlike some coaching changes that are rife with problems and player unrest, this one should go quite smoothly.

Outlook: The Wings are a bit unsettled early on this season, but so is much of their division.  With the roster Detroit has and the continuity they have after bringing back so many veterans, something quite a few teams can’t claim heading into this season, the Wings are still probably the class of the division, if only because they’re a bit lacking in terms of serious contenders and could easily be the only team in the Central to make the playoffs.  Don’t count on Detroit to vie for the President’s Trophy again, but bet on them getting a high playoff seed.

Centres: 1. Robert Lang  2. Pavel Datsyuk  3. Kris Draper  4. Johan Franzen  5. Jiri Hudler

Wingers: 1. Brendan Shanahan  2. Henrik Zetterberg  3.  Steve Yzerman  4. Kirk Maltby  5. Tomas Holmstrom  6. Jason Williams  7. Mikael Samuelsson  8. Darryl Bootland  9. Dan Cleary  10. Mark Mowers

Defensemen: 1. Nicklas Lidstrom  2. Mathieu Schneider   3. Jiri Fischer   4. Niklas Kronwall  5. Chris Chelios  6. Andreas Lilja  7. Andy Delmore  8. Jamie Rivers  9. Brett Lebda

Goalies: 1. Manny Legace   2. Chris Osgood   3. Jimmy Howard

Restricted Free Agents: none.