Will We Ever See a Team Like the 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings Again?

Twenty-five years later, Detroit's legendary roster is remembered for its Hall of Famers. At the time, all that talent meant anything short of the Stanley Cup would have been a failure.

Steve Yzerman Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports Copyright Rick Scuteri / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Today, the 2001-02 Red Wings look almost inevitable. We know how it ends. 116 points, the Presidents' Trophy and Steve Yzerman eventually hoisting the Stanley Cup for his third and last time.

With a roster studded with stars like Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Pavel Datsyuk, Chris Chelios, Dominik Hasek, and Igor Larionov, the Red Wings weren't merely expected to contend. With that type of firepower, they practically had to win.

The Red Wings had won consecutive Cups in 1997 and 1998, but hadn't returned to the Final since. Then came the embarrassing 2001 first-round loss to the Los Angeles Kings, despite the Red Wings jumping out to a 2-0 series lead.

That offseason, general manager Ken Holland declared war on the rest of the NHL. On July 1, 2001, Holland started things off with a bang when he acquired the six-time Vezina Trophy winner Hasek from the Buffalo Sabres.

Four days later, Holland inked goal-scoring left winger Luc Robitaille to a two-year contract. Over a month and a half later, Holland would cap his summer by signing right-wing sniper Brett Hull to a two-year deal.

The resumes on the team looked absolutely absurd in terms of statistics and individual accomplishments. And with head coach Scotty Bowman at the helm behind the bench, the Red Wings were primed and ready.

The Regular Season Made Expectations Worse

Detroit Red Wings right wing Brett Hull Credit: Lou Capozzola-USA TODAY NETWORK / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Red Wings finished the regular season 51-17-4. They scored 251 goals while allowing 187. With those kind of numbers, it was hard to bet against the Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup. They had spent six months being the best team in hockey and now they had two months to prove it. The Vancouver Canucks almost ruined the party.

Coming into their first-round playoff series against the Red Wings as the eighth seed, the Canucks put a scare into the Red Wings and their fans by taking Games 1 and 2 on Joe Louis Arena ice. Imagine what the conversation was like at that moment. All those stars, all that money, the Presidents' Trophy and the Red Wings were two losses from one of the most embarrassing postseason exits in franchise history. Then came the turning point.

Lidstrom's center-ice goal on Dan Cloutier in Game 3 changed the course of the series. The Red Wings won that game 3-1 and never lost another game in the series, taking four straight to eliminate the Canucks. The Lidstrom goal wasn't just a bad goal allowed by Cloutier; it may have been the moment that prevented one of the greatest rosters ever assembled from being remembered as one of hockey's greatest failures.

After surviving the Canucks, the Red Wings took Hull's former team, the St. Louis Blues out in five games. Then came their despised rival, the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final.

The Avalanche were the defending Stanley Cup champions and they weren't going to lay down for the Red Wings because of how they looked on paper. The Avalanche took a 3-2 series lead but thanks to a 2-0 Hasek shutout in Game 6, the stage was set for a classic Game 7.

Or so the experts thought. Apparently, the Avalanche didn't get the memo as the Red Wings decimated them 7-0 at Joe Louis Arena to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final. Detroit's opponent would be the Carolina Hurricanes.

Red Wing Coach, Scotty Bowman Mandatory Credit: File Photo / USA TODAY Sports

The Red Wings beat Carolina in five games to win their 10th Stanley Cup in franchise history. Yzerman immediately handed the Cup to Bowman, who announced his retirement after the victory.

There is another reason the 2002 Red Wings have become increasingly remarkable with time. Hockey may never see a roster constructed quite like it again.

The Red Wings put together their collection of stars during the NHL's pre-salary cap era, when an organization with the resources and ambition to win could continue adding elite talent to an already championship-caliber roster. The salary cap introduced after the 2004-05 lockout fundamentally changed that equation.

Twenty-five years later, the 2002 Red Wings look like something out of an arcade game. Yzerman, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Hasek, Hull, Shanahan, Chelios, Robitaille, and Datsyuk shared a dressing room.

It was a collection of talent made possible by an NHL that no longer exists, and a collection of talent we may never see again on one roster.