Duffer’s Dabbles: Red Wings In NHL Legends Game Aren’t Exactly Red Wings Legends

Past players partaking in the NHL Legends Game is an annual part of the festivities in the planning for next month’s Hockey Hall of Fame weekend in Toronto. And while several former Detroit Red Wings will be suiting up in the game, calling them Red Wings legends is a stretch.

Certainly, Hall of Famer Mike Modano of Livonia is a hockey legend. But the four goals he scored in 40 games for the Red Wings in 2010-11 weren’t legendary.

Likewise, Wendel Clark was a legendary Toronto Maple Leaf. The 6-5-11 totals he assembled in 22 regular-season and playoff games with the Red Wings in 1999 were not the stuff of legend.

Mike Commodore is more legendary for his social media ranting against former coach Mike Babcock than he is for the 17 games he wound up playing under Babcock with the 2011-12 Red Wings. Dmitri Mironov won a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 1997-98. However, including regular-season and playoff contests, he played all of 18 games for the team.

The most legendary Red Wing associated with the game is former GM Ken Holland. One of his year’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, Holland will be coaching one of the legends teams.

Around The NHL

Vegas: Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is feeling the excitement about the chance to play for Canada at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Detroit: The plenty to to feel good about around the Red Wings’ preseason play. But there’s also been a number of things going wrong as well.

Boston: The Bruins are naming defenseman Charlie McAvoy an alternate captain for the upcoming NHL season.

NYI: There was good news happening on Long Island. Islanders captain Anders Lee was returning to the ice on Tuesday for a preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Lee was seeing his first game action since March. Suffering a torn ACL just prior to the beginning of the Stanley Cup playoffs, his season was over.