I'm a Detroit fan too. Love Michigan. Yes, the Red Wings are a much older team, but EXPERIENCE and playing with each other for so long counts for a LOT too. Either way, the season is definately going to go though many changes that will probably affect all the teams to some extent.

Totally agree, being a Red Wings hockey nut since childhood, Detroit will be greatly effected. It has the 2nd highest payroll in the league. Brett Hull doesn't play for Detroit anymore, he got let go a while back...so that's not a Detroit issue. Yzerman will probably hopefully be back, but if not, not because he didn't get a hefty salary, it would have to be a major MAJOR cut. He's of course slower than his youth days, but still a star. Watching the Calgary series showed Detroit was older but not only that series proved that, Detroit's age has been the factor for YEARS and their heavy payroll due to their high named starts, who most, are older. McCarty, Draper, Shanahan, Chellios will be question marks. Hull like you said, but he is not a Wing for over a year. Datsuk will be a keeper as a young, strong, player. The team will have to convert to a younger, cheaper roster which will hopefully still keep the wings strong, but lose a lot of the fun here in Detroit watching all the great names. A younger team will open it up and make Detroit faster, but it may take some getting used to. Mike Babcock as the new coach of Detroit may make it better, Lewis sucked...not the same coaching style as Scotty Bowman who led Detroit to 3 cups within 6 years, and their first after decades. Either way, after all is said, i'm sooo glad hockey is back. Watching college hockey just was not the same.

Totally agree, being a Red Wings hockey nut since childhood, Detroit will be greatly effected. It has the 2nd highest payroll in the league. Brett Hull doesn't play for Detroit anymore, he got let go a while back...so that's not a Detroit issue. Yzerman will probably hopefully be back, but if not, not because he didn't get a hefty salary, it would have to be a major MAJOR cut. He's of course slower than his youth days, but still a star. Watching the Calgary series showed Detroit was older but not only that series proved that, Detroit's age has been the factor for YEARS and their heavy payroll due to their high named starts, who most, are older. McCarty, Draper, Shanahan, Chellios will be question marks. Hull like you said, but he is not a Wing for over a year. Datsuk will be a keeper as a young, strong, player. The team will have to convert to a younger, cheaper roster which will hopefully still keep the wings strong, but lose a lot of the fun here in Detroit watching all the great names. A younger team will open it up and make Detroit faster, but it may take some getting used to. Mike Babcock as the new coach of Detroit may make it better, Lewis sucked...not the same coaching style as Scotty Bowman who led Detroit to 3 cups within 6 years, and their first after decades. Either way, after all is said, i'm sooo glad hockey is back. Watching college hockey just was not the same.

Detroit is one team which is facing the possibility of going through a complete roster change. Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Kris Draper, and Brendan Shanhan are over 40. I agree Steve Yzerman is great player. At 41, he's not the same player he was a few years ago. If you watched the playoff series Calgary vs Detroit in 2004, you could clearly see that Calgary was much faster and their players were harder checkers. Another aspect of the game is that the younger defensemen no longer go for the puck, they just try to nail the man down with a clean check. What it comes down to winning the cup is a combination of speed, quick plays, and a lot of aggression.

Hopefully not Steve Yzerman. Yzerman isn't one of those to leave if he has to take a cut or is not going to get a raise...he has taken a cut before and is still underpaid than a few of the wings all-stars, even though he is one himself. His passion is hockey and as long as he can play and move that puck well, hopefully, he should back. Granted, there has been some speculation in Detroit, but majority of stats say he'll be back. Messier----who knows what will happen.

Of course players will be ready physically and mentally, the majority have been keeping in shape by playing hockey for fun or in other leagues ... example) some of the red wings joined the motor city mechanics league. Others have gone back to Europe, played for fun etc, had competitions and I'm sure almost all have been working out to stay in shape physically. Mentally, I'm sure they've been dying to come back and play normal hockey. I'm just waiting to see how high payroll teams like detroit will be effected with having to let a lot of their top players possibly go and end up with a much younger roster, which the wings aren't really used to. We'll see... I for one am back into the games and have been dying to watch nhl hockey again!

It's great that that the NHL will have a season next year, but it will be very different. Expect a lot of teams to have complete roster changes. That means a lot of key players will have to be forced to take huge salary cuts. It makes me wonder if Tampa can keep St. Louis, Lecavalier, Richards, Modin, and Khabiboulin and thes rest of the team with spending under 39 million. Personally, I think the salary cap is too low. I know a lot of franchises aren't doing so well. But the reality is that there are franchises that should never have existed in the first place. 50 million would have been better as the max.

I'm still gonna wait till this whole thing gets past the ratifiction process. Rumor has is that a bunch of players aren't to keen on the new CBA.

But I'd still go to the games. I still think Hockey is the best game out there. I just want to see how the teams are going to look once the CBA is accepted.

Some people may not watch the game. But die hard fans certainly will. They'll be glad that an agreement was reached and that they'll get to see some action. Now, I wonder if the players are up for a season physically and mentally.