NHL Game Preview: Detroit Red Wings at Colorado Avalanche

Favorite: Colorado / Over-Under: 5.5

The sports betting is focused squarely on the NHL as the league makes its push to the playoffs. There is a lot going on this week with the teams resuming play from the all-star break and the trade deadline approaching. In looking at an NHL game preview it only made sense to discuss gold medal winning Team Canada coach Mike Babcock and his Detroit Red Wings.

There is some speculation that the NHL trade deadline will bring some changes in Detroit and that may be necessary if Hockeytown is to have any chance of re-claiming its status as a “team to beat.”

If you bet hockey then you are well aware of the sad truth the Red Wings are facing, and that truth is that they are old. It is now apparent that Chris Osgood had one more championship season in him, and now he is starting the downhill slope of what should be a Hall of Fame career. Right now the Red Wings are chasing the Calgary Flames for the eighth and final playoff spot, and they are only out of it by one point. Unfortunately for the Red Wings they have to start their playoff push against one of the surprise teams in the West – the Colorado Avalanche.

Last season the Colorado Avalanche were left for dead. They were a shell of the team they used to be, and the playoffs were a distant memory. Enter goaltender Craig Anderson. Anderson was a journeyman at best for years in the NHL, but he has found a home in Colorado. With 31 wins and a .924 save percentage, Anderson is one of the reasons why the Avalanche sit in sixth spot in the Western Conference and poised to make the playoffs this season.

Veteran defenseman Adam Foote, who has been on and off with the Nordiques/Avalanche since 1991, always adds toughness to the team and gives them the leadership they need to win. Leadership is important to the Avalanche because they are essentially a bunch of kids overachieving this season. While that probably sets them up to get clobbered in the playoffs, it also helps them to establish a foundation to work from for many years to come.

Most people still automatically assume that the Red Wings are a lock each season to make the playoffs and challenge for the Stanley Cup, and up until two seasons ago that was the case. But with very few moves being made to shore up an aging team, and musical chairs being played at goalie with no clear successor to Chris Osgood, the Red Wings find themselves on the cusp of a rebuilding year. It appears as though the many years of Stanley Cups and champions in Detroit will have to make way for new names and new faces for a few years. Hockeytown will be hurting while they attempt to re-define themselves, and this game against the Avalanche is a good indication of how far the Red Wings have fallen in a short period of time.

Pick: Colorado 4-1