AGRI Biz

Nov. 12, 2000. Anaheim, CA. On our way to a (then, Mighty) Ducks-Red Wings game, my friend and I engage in a discussion about who the best players on either team are. Halfway into the conversation, he mentions "Lidstrom" and "overrated" in the same sentence. After threatening him with physical violence should he ever string these two words together again, we move on to other subjects. We had good seats that day. Just this side ...

We all know this team's story, but a quick review of some of the highlights can't hurt. So, after making some strategic draft, trade, and free-agent moves, they've emerged into a contender. In fact, they're the odds on favorite at the beginning of the season. They make the playoffs, and, no championship. The next year, they have one of the best regular seasons in NHL history, surely, they will win the Cup now. Nope. They fizzle ...

First off, in case you missed it, the Detroit Red Wings lost a couple of players over the summer. With over 80 goals and a solid backup net minder leaving the Motor City, and slightly more than $3 million in cap space available to replace them, the Detroit Red Wings waited out most of the summer looking for "close-out deals." Such deals are typically exemplified by slightly-damaged, irregular, or older model ...

For a coach, having a depth of talent on your roster is sometimes a curse. Trying to preach attention to detail and defensive awareness to a team that knows, on most nights, they're going to bury the opposition in goals is a tough task. Your words often fall on deaf ears. Last season, the Red Wings knew their firepower was unmatched in the league. Boasting Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Johan Franzen, Nicklas ...

"Why have you changed?" "It never used to be this way." "I miss the old you." Sound familiar? A bit like an ex-girlfriend? Hell, maybe your current girlfriend? Given the chance, these are the types of things Red Wings fans would ask their team right now. Sitting 10th in the conference, 15 games into the season is hardly what fans have grown accustom to over the past decade and a half. And, despite the fact that there's ...

Parity. That one word was used countless times by the NHL to justify closing the league down for an entire year. The cap imposed on all 30 teams at the beginning of the 2005-06 season was designed to lessen some teams' ability to spend wildly on free-agents and increase other teams' competitiveness as a result. Five seasons into the cap era in the NHL, this has largely been achieved. On any given night, against ...

In the immortal words of LL Cool J, "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years." Despite the fact that the Detroit Red Wings that began the 2009-10 season looked shockingly different than the team that made back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Finals the past two seasons, there was no denying that team was always there. True, they saw a lot of goals skate away in the summer.á And ...

Admittedly, Red Wings fans are a tough bunch to please. Over the past decade and a half, we've come to expect, if not demand perfection from our Big Red Machine. Often times, winning isn't enough. We want big wins, shutouts, blowouts, embarrassments, and beat-downs. Some fans are so obsessed with perfection that even Detroit's current two-game winning streak has been made out to be a negative thing. A 3-1 win over the ...

The Red Wings won their last game of a five-game road trip by doing what they could not do consistently the past four: play as a team. Facing an offensively potent Calgary Flames squad, the Red Wings appeared to be off to what has become their typical start. Calgary forward Curtis Glencross nearly converted on a rebound less than one minute into the game. Detroit goalie Chris Osgood scrambled to make the ...

Individuals who go through most of their lives succeeding at school, sports, work, etc., often have a hard time when first faced with adversity. They've become so used to things going well for them that when trouble does come, they have difficulty even identifying why it's happening, let alone what to do about it. That's kind of what's going on with the Detroit Red Wings right now. Off to their worst start in ...