



[stuff deleted]



The last year before Bryan Murray took over, the Wings did not make the
playoffs.  While they had been considered a possible contender when Jacques
Demers first arrived, in his last two years they were, respectively,
embarrassed in the first round by Chicago, and then failed to make the 
playoffs (at a time, a might add, when there were only five teams in the
Norris).

It's true that Vancouver did not make the playoffs for many a year before 
Quinn came, but in those years the Smythe Division was a lot--I mean *a lot*--
tougher division than the Norris, also known as the "Snorris", division.
Vancouver had to play Edmonton and Calgary, both very legitimate Stanley
Cup contenders, eight times a year, while Detroit got to play such 
powerhouses as Toronto and Minnesota.  Now, Edmonton is hardly even a force
in the league, and the Smythe even has the mighty San Jose sharks, while
over this same period of time in which Vancouver was improving, so was 
everybody in the Norris (except St. Louis).  Detroit had to improve just
to keep up with the competition in their division.  They had to improve *a
lot* to get better than their competition in the Norris.

Bryan Murray inherited a team with very little talent.  For really good
players, they had Yzerman, Burr, and Probert, and that was about it.  (And
no doubt some will dispute whether Burr and Probert were that good). The
rest were either very green rookies or washed up veterans.  The only reason
they got as far as they did in the years before Murray came was due to the
coaching of Demers, who, at least at first, got every last ounce of effort
possible out of his team.  Then, even his coaching began to degrade.


There are a number of reasons why Detroit wasn't in as bad a shape standings
wise when Murray took over as Vanc. was when Quinn took over, some of which
I outlined above, but Murray did not have any better personnel to work with
at the outset than did Quinn, with the exception of Yzerman.  And one player
cannot alone make a team into a Stanley Cup contender, as I'm sure everyone
reading this will agree.  

We'll be able to see better which team is really the most improved when they
face each other in the conference final (assuming they don't get knocked out,
like last year).
