Scotty Bowman (Screenshot from Detroit News video)
Hall of Fame Coach Scotty Bowman, 83, has opinions about why the Red Wings aren't very good this year.
Bowman, in town for the 20th anniversary celebration of the 1997 Stanley Cup winning Red Wings, says a good NHL teams needs good goaltending and a dangerous power play, Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News reports.
The Wings' power play has been poor this year. Goaltending had been fine, but Jimmy Howard's knee injury last week now casts doubt.
“If you don’t have those ingredients, you have to be pretty fortunate to win," says Bowman, who coached the Detroit team from 1993-2002.
“This team, I haven’t seen a lot of it, I go to all the games in Tampa (where he spends the winter) and I did see them in Pittsburgh, we had a ceremony there, they lost a tough game (to the Penguins), I felt they were getting pretty good goaltending last year and Jimmy Howard was playing good this year, ” adds the retiree.
"The NHL is now a lot like the NFL. You hear about how the NFL is a quarterback’s league. You see every time it goes going and someone loses a quarterback. In hockey now, it’s a different game. Goaltending is huge.”
The Wings lost Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres by 4-3.
