It just seems to me there's a weird implication to the idea that the Wings are trying to be trendsetters instead of following current trends. The reason the current trend is the current trend is because that's what is working in the NHL right now, and other teams want to duplicate it. So it seems to me that the Wings are sort of implicitly admitting that they're not drafting the kind of guys who would be the most successful with the way the game is played right now. But they're hoping the style of play changes, and the trend along with it, which could mean they're one of the only teams poised to take advantage of this new style of play.
But is the league really going back to big, physical, defensive hockey? I don't really see that. The game is less and less physical every year. I suppose the Wings think this could give them an advantage, because they'd be one of the few big, physical teams around. But the game isn't less physical because it's magically unpopular, it's less physical because (1) that stuff is called a ton more/garners suspensions much more often, and (2) the entire hockey world is re-evaluating the place physical contact should even have in the game. Is this really a smart gamble for the Wings? I just don't think so.
And if the Wings are building a team around drafting big, defensive players, but not necessarily physical ones... what style of play are they even envisioning? The new dead puck era? If that's management's vision for the future, I might have to re-evaluate how I feel about Red Wings hockey.
