Sports

Huffman: Even With Mike Babcock Gone, Red Wings Have Bright Future

May 20, 2015, 2:40 PM


Bryce Huffman

By Bryce Huffman

The Toronto Maple Leafs are paying upwards of $50 million over the course of eight years for Babcock, and every Detroit fan knows that he’s worth it.

Even though the coach who led the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup seven years ago is leaving, there are plenty of reasons for fans to remain optimistic.

First, the talent is still here.

Although the Wings lacked some defensive depth for the past few seasons, the American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, has a talented team which not only won the 2013 Calder Cup, but is also in a position to win another one this year.

Also, the Red Wings have veteran players like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall leading the likes of younger guys like Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and Danny Dekeyser.

The veterans and young players alike have proven themselves in the regular season, keeping the Wing’s playoff streak alive at 24 seasons in a row.

The next thing to remember is that the Red Wings have a promising goaltender, Petr Mrazek, who showed some impressive skills, particularly in the playoffs.

With a more experienced Mrazek stepping in net for the Wings next season, some of those tough overtime loses the team suffered could be erased.

Lastly, the first person in line to be head coach of the team is Grand Rapids’ coach Jeff Blashill.

Although nothing is official yet, Blashill is a former assistant coach under Babcock, he’s coached at several levels of the game and, most importantly, he has won at several levels of the game.

 Blashill led the Griffins to the 2013 Calder Cup and has spent time coaching and developing many of those players drafted by the Wings.

Players like Tomas Jurco, Riley Sheahan, Luke Glendening along with Tatar and Nyquist all won a Calder cup with coach Blashill, therefore, he has coached and won with some of the young leaders of the Wings.

It is sad to see a great coach like Babcock leave, but the Red Wings are in good hands and will continue to win.



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