Red Wings Are Having Their Best Season in Years

From the start, this was going to be the year for the Red Wings.

Before the season, they appeared to have most of the ingredients necessary for a chance to win their first Stanley Cup in 34 years. They did not have a player the caliber of Ray Bourque on defense, but they did have Steve Yzerman; also, a work ethic, an outstanding coach in Jacques Demers, two good goalies, toughness, excellent penalty-killers, sufficient offense and a super place to play--Joe Louis Arena, where they sell more tickets than they have seats (capacity is 19,275) for every game.

“No question,” Demers said. “We talked about getting 100 points.”

In 1986, he had inherited a club that had gone 17-57-6 the previous season, worst in the National Hockey League, and had missed the playoffs for the 13th time in 16 years. In Demers’ first two seasons, respectively, the Wings went 34-36-10 and 41-28-11. “We went to the Final Four both years,” he said. “This year, we expected a lot more.”

They did not, however, expect these developments:

--Bob Probert, the NHL’s top fighter-goal-scorer, who last season had 29 goals and made the All-Star team, was expelled from the NHL, pending the outcome of his case, after a March 2 arrest for smuggling 14.3 grams of cocaine into the United States.

Probert, who had three previous alcohol-related arrests and at least three trips to rehabilitation clinics since 1986, had been in and out of the lineup because of club suspensions, and was a huge distraction. His season’s contribution: four goals in 25 games.

--Petr Klima, a 24-year-old Czechoslovakian defector who totaled 99 goals in his first three NHL seasons, was suspended with Probert in training camp, arrested Oct. 9 for operating a car while under the influence of alcohol, and demoted to the American Hockey League.

Klima did not play his first game of the season with Detroit until Nov. 6, played in only 16 of the first 40 and, after scoring in Sunday night’s loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago, has 19 goals for the season.

--Joe Kocur, who had 916 penalty minutes in the previous three years, was charged in November for the second time in three months with an assault on a woman after leaving a bar. He has sworn off alcohol and confined his punches to the ice.

The Wings have been sitting atop the weak Norris Division since November, but their record before is 32-30-12. A 6-3-3 surge in their previous 12 games indicates that they might be solidifying, but with two weeks left in the regular season, they remain a team shaken, if not devastated, by the year’s turmoil.

General Manager Jim Devellano, who tried to trade Probert, has a void on his team and no compensation. “I’m left holding the bag,” he said. “But, there is a sense of relief. You could feel it on the team when this finally happened. Now, they can’t use his presence as a crutch.”

Demers gave Probert more chances than he probably deserved. Why? One reason is that Probert was the rarest of hockey commodities--a big, strong winger who could check and score.

“There was our Clark Gillies,” Demers said, referring to the left wing whose physical play opened space for Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier on the New York Islanders’ four Stanley Cup teams of 1980-83.

“A lot of my coaching is done . . . from my heart,” Demers said. “I saw a man with a problem, and I could not help him.”

Demers said that Probert’s presence made other players uncomfortable. “We confronted Bob about the rumors (of cocaine use),” Demers said. “He always denied them. This is not a squeaky-clean team, but when you start hearing rumors about drugs . . . “

Center Shawn Burr said, “I don’t think anybody disliked Bob as a person. He just wasn’t grown up. Sleeping in all the time, being late, not asking what time practice was; things people take for granted, he didn’t do. You didn’t want to see it end the way it did, but it a relief. The cancer was removed.”

“It’s a relief to the coaching staff,” assistant coach Dave Lewis said. “The dark cloud isn’t there. It had been a lingering thing. There had been some animosity built up. But we still have a strong nucleus. I don’t think it’s devastating.”

There was a split between players on the issue of whether Probert, who was not pulling his weight when he did suit up, should take the spot of a player with less talent who worked harder.

“Some of the guys were getting mad,” Burr said. “We knew Bob had to play, but we were worried about whether Probie was going to show up, rather than doing our own routines.”

A seven-game winning streak early in the season gave Detroit an 11-5-4 record after 20 games, but it had a 15-21-5 mark in its next 41, falling to .500. “During that period,” defenseman Mike O’Connell said, “we weren’t getting a commitment from 25 guys. We had Bob’s situation, Petr’s situation . . . there was a lot of negative press. Now, we’ve hardened to it.”

The turmoil has obscured the season Yzerman is having. Generally accepted as the NHL’s No. 3 player after Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, Yzerman has set club records for goals (63), assists (84) and points (147). “I think he is the MVP,” Demers said of Yzerman, whom he is pushing for the Hart Trophy.

Yzerman runs the power play, kills penalties and centers for Gerard Gallant (37 goals) and Paul MacLean (34). The unit has broken the club’s records for goals, assists and points by a line, held by Alex Delvecchio, Gordie Howe and Frank Mahovlich.

Klima is back in form at left wing on a line with Adam Oates and Dave Barr. “That gives us good lines,” Devellano said, “which presents more problems for other teams.”

The Wings’ biggest problem has been failing to check as well as they did last season when they allowed only 269 goals, sixth fewest in the league. They had allowed 288 this year with seven games left. They rely on Kocur, Burr, Tim Higgins, John Chabot and Torrie Robertson as defensive forwards, but that group’s ice time has been limited because of Yzerman.

“He’s going so well,” Burr said, “they’re playing him against the other team’s top scoring lines because he can outscore them 4-2.”

Devellano tried to obtain James Patrick, who would have become Detroit’s power-play quarterback, from the New York Rangers in a deal for Probert. The Wings’ defensemen--especially Steve Chiasson, Rick Zombo and O’Connell--are tough in their own zone, but weak on offense. Devellano hopes Jeff Sharples, 21, hampered by injuries, can develop into a power-play controller.

Goalies Glen Hanlon and Greg Stefan each has missed a few games with injuries, and neither has had a hot stretch, which could be a big problem in the playoffs.

“I think we have enough firepower,” Demers said. “It boils down to, are we going to get good goaltending?”

Last season, the Edmonton Oilers ousted Detroit in five games in the Campbell Conference finals. If the Wings advance beyond their division this year, they will have to beat the Smythe winner--Calgary, Edmonton and Los Angeles are the favorites--to make the finals, where they likely would face Montreal. Detroit was 0-3 this season against both Calgary and Los Angeles, and 2-1 against Edmonton and Montreal.