One thing you shouldn’t do is ask Detroit GM Ken Holland is if you need to have a big, physical team to win in the Eastern Conference.
That’s something a Detroit-area radio show did and Holland didn’t agree with that at all as the Detroit Free Press shares.
“A good team in the West is a good team in the East,” Holland said. He added that it’s a “complete fallacy” that the East is big and the West is small and used the Kings and Blues to demonstrate that.
Apparently seeing the Boston Bruins win the East last season provided the idea that being big in the East is what wins. Of course, the Bruins had tons of skill players to go along with their bruisers and had an easy time with the skilled, yet not-so big Penguins in the East finals. The Devils weren’t exactly monsters in 2012 either.
Perhaps the radio hosts were just stirring up another round of wondering if the Red Wings are physical enough to keep pace. They’ve done pretty well doing things how they have for the last 22 seasons.