Waiting for the Detroit Red Wings’ return to respectability

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Sports writers aren’t supposed to cheer for specific teams, but most of us have long-rooted favourites that we can’t shake in adulthood.

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WINNIPEG — Shamefully I have admitted before that my affection for the Detroit Red Wings began in Grade 2. While rummaging through our school’s Lost-and-Found basket, I discovered a red jersey bearing the NHL team’s iconic, winged-wheel crest on the front and a white “9” on the back.

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Star right winger Gordie Howe, the pride of Floral, Saskatchewan, wore Number 9.

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I took the Red Wings jersey home and never felt guilty about the theft. Sorry, kid. You lost it.

Decades later, I still cheer for the Red Wings. I should add that my father, Lorne Davis, played for the Red Wings and after their 1955 Stanley Cup victory he was given a commemorative clock that hung in our kitchen for many years.

There have been lengthy dry spells since Howe retired and subsequently handed the winged-wheel mantle to Marcel Dionne, Dale McCourt, Mickey Redmond and Reed Larson through ears when they were derisively called the “Dead Wings.” But the Wings again became a glorious franchise when centre Steve Yzerman was joined by the Russian Five (Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Slava Kozlov, Slava Fetisov, and Igor Larionov) and, kick-started by coach Scotty Bowman, won four Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008.

I have never made a pilgrimage to Motor City. I’ve seen the Red Wings play in Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, plus I’m now making an annual road trip to watch them visit the Winnipeg Jets. That happened this weekend.

Detroit won 4-2 on Saturday. Quite surprising, considering the Jets are among the NHL’s top teams while the Red Wings are scrambling, trying to make their first playoff appearance since 2015-16. That’s the league’s second-longest active postseason drought, trailing only the Buffalo Sabres’ string of 13 seasons without making the playoffs.

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Led by captain Dylan Larkin and budding stars Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, the Red Wings had some jump while winning their fourth straight game. They were sparked by the recent coaching change.

On Boxing Day, Yzerman — now Detroit’s general manager — fired coach Derek Lalonde and hired Saskatchewan-born Todd McLellan. Someone evidently forget to tell the Jets production crew because during pregame warmups inside the Canada Life Centre on Saturday a graphic appeared on the scoreboard comparing the records of the two head coaches, Winnipeg’s Scott Arniel and Lalonde. Oops!

Arniel is a former Jet who was hired in the offseason by general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, a Saskatchewan guy from Blaine Lake who played junior hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings. A serious knee injury shortened Cheveldayoff’s playing career, but I remember former Leader-Post sports editor Gregg Drinnan telling me that “kid” was one of the smartest people he had ever interviewed.

I interviewed Cheveldayoff for a book I wrote about the amazing number of pro players from our home province: “Fire on Ice: Why Saskatchewan Rules the NHL.” When Cheveldayoff heard the topic, he graciously invited me into his GM suite before a Jets game and we talked about the character of Saskatchewan hockey players. They work hard, appreciate the people who helped along the way and they love hockey. Those traits translate well to management, too. A decade ago there were 50 Saskatchewan-born players in the NHL, a number that has dropped to 21 alongside three coaches.

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Despite my respect for Cheveldayoff, I wondered 15 months ago why he would sign goalie signed Connor Hellebuyck and centre Mark Scheifele to identical, seven-year contract extensions worth $8.5 million annually.

It seemed exorbitant and misguided at the time. Not now. Winnipeg’s commitment to perhaps the league’s top goalie and one of its better two-way forwards, while rounding out its roster with terrific players like defender Josh Morrissey and sniper Kyle Connor, has made the Jets a Stanley Cup challenger. If they could only get through those early playoff rounds, according to my friends who are Jets fans and others who work in the Winnipeg media.

Sports writers aren’t supposed to cheer for specific teams, but most of us have long-rooted favourites that we can’t shake in adulthood. I could have gotten a press pass and sat among the media watching Saturday’s game. That’s not as much fun, but it meant I wasn’t able to interview McLellan post-game.

McLellan has also coached the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings. And did I mention he’s from Saskatchewan, having grown up in Goodeve and Melville? That gives us a chance to return to respectability. “Us”? One game and I’ve again lost my impartiality.

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