5 on 5 with The Production Line

Awhile back Robert Discher, from the Wings site The Production Line (TPL), contacted us about doing one of their 5 on 5 posts. The 5 on 5 is where the folks at TPL exchange five questions with another hockey site. Given the recent history between the Red Wings and the Coyotes doing a 5 on 5 with TPL seemed like an excellent idea to us. With the teams final regular season meeting coming up on Monday there is no better time than the present to talk about the Wings.

Head over to The Production Line site for our answers to the questions they posed to us.

1. Being a Coyotes fan is sort of like being a Cubs fan, well minus the lame hipster vibe and overwrought sympathy from the media. How does it feel when your team actually wins a playoff series?

Remember the first time you drank Scotch? Of course you don't. I don't either. But the photographic evidence suggests that it was a time of great euphoria and an experience that you hope...and somewhat expect...to repeat throughout the course of your life. Some years there is more Scotch. Some years there is less. ...but there is always that first experience that you take with you, memorably or not, the rest of your life.

2. Enough talk about the Wings run of success. You all do remember the mid-60's through the mid 80's when your franchise was awful, right?

The dark years..."Dead Wings" and whatnot...extended a little further beyond that. I remember in the 90s, even after we started killing it, people were talking about how we'd never get over the top. History has made those people look like complete dickbags and I hope they're Munsoned somewhere on a random Nebraska outpost, carrying some highly irritable but non-lethal VD, with no clue of how their life went so wrong.

3. With the assumption that members of the current Wings roster like Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom will be retiring earlier in life than Chris Chelios did, what Red Wings prospects should we be on the lookout for in the near future?
Two words: Goose and Smith. Brendan Smith is a legitimate horse of an NHL defenseman who could have spent time this year with the big club. The Wings are pretty rigid about letting guys into the NHL too early, but we've seen glimpses of his development and he's legit. Gustav Nyquist carries the expectations on the offensive side. Coming out of training camp in Travers City, a lot of us thought that he looked NHL-ready. We've had both guys on our radio shows, The Production Hour and The Pipeline, and they were both awesome to talk to. (Links provided)

4. We all know that Detroit likes to build statues to fictional characters like Robocop. Will they continue the legacy of honoring things that don't exist by with a statue depicting a Red Wings fan who actually lives in Detroit?

Pretty sure the noise at The Joe ought to sufficiently answer this question.

5. Who is the player wearing the #11 jersey for the Red Wings? The Coyotes had a guy with the same name who played for the team back in the 2003-2004 season. No way its the same guy, right?

When we found Bear Cleary, he was like one of those transplanted high school students in a late 80's movie who's wearing glasses and absolutely not banging the quarterback. We gave him a nice little miniskirt, some pumps and a dose of confidence. The rest is history. Any by history, I mean "he's a regular NHL stud who came up LARGE for us against Vancouver last night." I'm sure that was implied though.