What a great way to start the season. No, seriously!
Despite the fact that I’m a die hard Wings honk, I also have enough perspective to realize that they REALLY need a top pick (fingers crossed it’s 1st overall/Jack Hughes) in the 2019 NHL Draft. After a quarter century of playoff berths, which spanned most of my life, it’s rebuild time. For some fans that means lots of beer, whiskey, weed or other coping mechanism as Detroit continues to rack up the L’s. Some will even go a step further and avoid games entirely (probably because they weren’t hugged enough, or hugged too much, as a child). Regardless, tonight’s overtime defeat at the hands of a playoff team in turmoil, the Columbus Blue Jackets, was the best thing that Red Wings faithful could hope for.
With rookie Dennis Cholowski putting the first score on the board for the boys in red, it felt like a start straight out of Hollywood. And despite Tyler Bertuzzi answering a Josh Anderson go-ahead later in the second, the Jackets star-power shined too bright in OT; winning on a snipe from Artemi “Bread Man” Panarin.
With such a nice start to their season, and the rookies holding their own, Detroit looks like everything their meant to be this season.