i don't know if chelios becomes a red wing without the loss of konstantinov...
i seem to remember it as an attempt to "fill the void." also we gave up 3 first rounders and cheli was 37...thats a desperation move
also how do we know vladdy would've continued to help the team? what if he lost his skill, or his motivation, or his edge, or he couldn't play in the league once obstruction rules got reformed, or what if someone shortened his career with a dirty hit
there are lots of players who would've seemed like future HHOFers after a couple great seasons...dion phaneuf comes to mind
Then we don't get Chelios, though I think we pursue that deal regardless. I don't see it as a desperation move, but just the sort of thing the Wings could do then because their wallet made up for the lack of picks. More likely we don't trade for Ulf, sign Uwe, sign Hatcher, etc. If we don't go after Chelly, maybe we're more in play for Borque, too. A Lids-Borque pairing would have been a thing of beauty.
I also just don't buy that Konstantinov was just going to become complacent and not be the player he always was. Phaneuf came up and had a couple of big years in his early 20s before his play started to slip a bit to where it is now (which is still better than given credit for). Vladdy was 30 at the time of the accident. Yeah, his play would slip a bit with age, as most do, but he wasn't going to become a shell of his former self - especially not within the next three years.
Odd argument to try and make. The blue line was stable for as long as Nick Lidstrom was on this team. It's only been unstable the last 5 years or so, and there are no excuses for that.
We signed Krupp, who screwed up his back. That season we traded for Ulf and Chelly. We signed Hatcher who screwed up his knee. We dealt for Schneider. We lost Fischer to a heart ailment.
Yeah, Lids was a rock back there for 30+ minutes a night. The rest of that blueline was often a mash unit that Holland&Co. had to constantly try patching to keep that blueline going and running guys like Lilja, Bykov, and Dandeneult out as Lids' partner because he had to carry the weak link for the rest of the blueline not to be exposed.