A little chemistry goes a long way

June 2, 2008   ·   Lenny   ·   Jump to comments

A couple of days ago either Sam Weisman or Steve Zipay wrote about how the trend in the offseason following the Stanley Cup finals is to try and adopt the winning team’s style of play. When Anaheim won, the league got tougher, when Carolina won, the league got faster. Whoever wrote the entry on their blog wrote that the league will try and emulate Detroit’s puck possession style of play, but I pose a question. While Detroit is a highly skilled team, how do you mimic the amount of chemistry they have as a team?

Sure, Detroit is a highly skilled team. They aren’t a team of elite talent though. Mikael Samuelsson is an important part of this team, Henrik Zetterberg has quietly become one of the most underrated players in the league and the defense is led by old-timers Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski on the blue line and Chris Osgood between the pipes. One thing is apparent, however. This team functions as one well oiled machine. It looks like each player knows exactly where the others will be at any given time, and mistakes by one player are quickly overlooked because another player covers up and bails them out.

Even if Pittsburgh pulls out a triple overtime (or more) win tonight, Detroit is too good as a team to lose four games to any opponent. Chemistry is the main reason why they will be the victors of Lord Stanley’s Cup this year, if you ask me.

In the coming weeks, we’ll see what teams opt to do. Does Ottawa rid themselves of  Ray Emery to try and recapture some locker room sanity? Do the Rangers keep Michal Roszival, Martin Straka and Brendan Shanahan just to keep Jaromir Jagr, who looks like he’ll be back next season, happy?  Will new ownership cause the Tampa Bay Lightning to upset the tandem of Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavlier and Dan Boyle? We shall see. Until then, enjoy this amazing hockey game.