Remember the circumstances: The Red Wings had won the Stanley Cup in 1997 and 1998, lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1999 and 2000, and lost in the first round in 2001. They looked like they were in decline. A Detroit Free Press headline asked, "PAST THEIR PRIME?"
Then general manager Ken Holland traded for Hasek and signed Robitaille as a free agent. Holland declared that was it for high-profile additions because of his budget. But Hull wanted to play in Detroit, owner Mike Ilitch wanted him to play in Detroit, and the players wanted him to play in Detroit. So the Red Wings signed him as a free agent too, blowing out their budget even though Chelios, Lidstrom, Shanahan and Yzerman deferred salary to help make it happen.
With so many players in the winters of their careers, many already had Hall of Fame credentials. Entering the season, they had combined for 25 first or second postseason all-star teams, won 27 major individual postseason awards, made 60 All-Star Game appearances and scored 90 hat tricks. They had four of the top 10 active goal-scorers. They were thought to have nine potential Hall of Famers, plus Bowman.
"Even then during the time we were talking about, 'This is a great team,' " Lidstrom said.
What no one knew was Datsyuk, a 23-year-old rookie from Russia who had been selected in the sixth round (No. 171) of the 1998 NHL Draft, would become one of the best players ever as well.
"There was a great deal of pressure, I think, in being the favorite from Day One and having so many people root against you," Shanahan said. "It's never easy. But I think when you get a group like that, the hallmark for me was unselfishness and just a commitment to the team.
"A lot of people were skeptical about whether we could get along and share the ice and come off the ice after your 60 seconds on the power play and not complain if you weren't getting 21, 22 minutes. And it just didn't happen all year."
The Red Wings won 22 of their first 27 games. They hit milestone after milestone: Shanahan's 500th goal and 1,000th point; Robitaille's 600th goal and 611th goal, passing Bobby Hull for the most by a left wing in the NHL; Yzerman's 1,000th assist. At one point, at least briefly, they had three 600-goal scorers on one line: Hull, Robitaille and Yzerman.
They sent five players to the All-Star Game in Los Angeles in 2002 -- Fedorov, Hasek, Lidstrom and Shanahan as starters, Chelios as a reserve -- and Fedorov won the hardest-shot competition. Datsyuk played in the YoungStars game. They sent 11 players to the Salt Lake City Olympics, where they also had a prospect playing for Sweden named Henrik Zetterberg. Shanahan and Yzerman won gold for Canada, defeating Chelios, Hull and the United States.
Resting down the stretch almost derailed them. They lost their first two games of the Western Conference First Round to the Vancouver Canucks at home. But then Lidstrom scored from center ice in Game 3, and they turned it around.
