from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

What the Wings need is a franchise player. A new-age Yzerman. Hughes could be that player, and whether it’s by intent or accident, Detroit is positioning itself to get him. If they can, their stay on the bottom rungs of the NHL standings could be brief.

Right now, that’s the course the Wings appear to be on. They’re among the worst offensive and defensive teams in the league. That doesn’t, however, mean they’ve suddenly become a bad organization. In fact, it may mean they’re finally doing what needs to be done to get back to the top. Teams, of course, always resist doing this. Vancouver did, until the Sedins quit. Chicago and Los Angeles are doing it now.

But just as Toronto was ahead of Vancouver three years ago in terms of developing a top echelon team even when the Canucks had the more competitive club, Detroit is ahead of L.A. now despite the fact the Kings should have the better record this season with more established players in the lineup....

So it will be interesting to see what happens to the Detroit lineup this season. There are still quality veterans left to strip off the roster and use to acquire futures. Darren Helm. Justin Abdelkader. Niklas Kronwall. Do they go? It’s going to take a few more years for a messy cap situation to really clear up but that timing works for the likely target of when this team gets competitive again.

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