“You really do notice the talent depth of a team like the Bruins compared to what they saw earlier on with the Anaheims and Chicagos of the world,” Kulfan said on the podcast. “I wonder if the talent level overall is going to be good enough to stay competitive with the likes of Boston, Toronto, Tampa.
“Lucas Raymond is still looking for his first goal, Andrew Copp hasn’t set the world on fire yet, the goaltending has been good but I’m not sure it’s been excellent so you see some potential red flags.”
The Wings are tied for third place in the Atlantic Division with Ottawa, Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Montreal with eight points, only one point behind Toronto and Florida and six points behind Boston.
Other topics include Dominik Kubalik’s team-leading 10 points, Filip Zadina’s team-worst minus-3 rating and Moritz Seider’s slow start after his Calder Trophy-winning season.
As for the podcast interview, Bacon, the author of “The Greatest Comeback: How Team Canada Fought Back, Took the Summit Series and Reinvented Hockey”, is back from Toronto where members of the 1972 Canadian team celebrated the 50th anniversary of beating the Soviet Union in Game 8 of the historic series.
“The book I wanted to write was the team story,” Bacon said. “The politics had been talked about and the impact on hockey had been talked about. The biggest story that I thought hadn’t been reported thoroughly was how did these guys become a team. Back then, NHL rules prohibited you from playing in charity golf tournaments with opponents because they (owners) believed these nasty rivalries were what they were selling in the Original Six.
“The best comment I got was probably from Serge Savard, who said it’s the first book that shows you how we felt. They told me how they felt and that’s what you care about, emotions in sports.”
Here are highlights from episode 78 of The Detroit News podcast:
1:20: Bruins 5, Red Wings 1
3:55: Detroit’s aggressive penalty killing
5:15: Dominik Kubalik on Dylan Larkin’s leadership
7:10: Filip Zadina’s slump
9:00 John Bacon interview
32:10: The impact of the 1972 series
35:40: Moritz Seider’s slow start