A Golden Age for the Red Wings?

As a fan of the Wings since the Dead Things era, and growing up with their rise in the 90s, I always thought the two Stanley Cup seasons of 1997 and 1998 would stand as the high water mark of recent Red Wings history. And those were special times, no doubt, as the Wings drank from the cup after a 40 year plus drought. It was a long road to respectability and to finally get there and stay there, a city went crazy in its adoration.

Then we continued to win and brought home another cup in 2002. That was awesome. Because it's great to win but it's even better to bring it back home again. This also coincided with an ever increasing payroll and some accused us of buying championships. Then we got into some early round exits and the lock out, and then the new salary cap and everybody began to think that the era of Red Wings dominance was coming to an end. But let us consider this.

• The Wings will qualify for their 17th straight post-season, the longest current streak in professional sports


• They will reach the 100-point mark for an NHL-record 9th consecutive season


• And, it is probable, they will put together their 4th consecutive fifty win season, tying an NHL record held by Montreal and Boston

And let's not forget we are defending Stanley Cup Champions. It's always a hard and uncertain road to the Cup especially when you are trying to repeat, but this team may be the most talented ever. We've got Zetteberg, Hossa and Datsyk. That is one ass kicking trinity. And if we can lock up Hossa into a long-term deal, we can ride this thing way into the future.

The only problem with all this success, is we Wings fan take the regular season for granted. I'm just dusting my hat, reading about what's going on with the team because I know they will take care of business in the regular season. It's automatic. They are money. They're golden.