Red Wings Daily: 2002 Detroit-Colorado Battle Well-Represented in Conference Finals

It had been 20 years since the Colorado Avalanche played in the Stanley Cup final, their epic 2002 series with the Detroit Red Wings. That set went seven games and as was the case with all three Western Conference final series between the Wings and Avs, the winner carried on to win the Cup.

As the conference finals of this spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs continue, three of four teams still in the hunt for Lord Stanley’s mug are being run by major figures from that memorable 2002 Detroit-Colorado series.

Joe Sakic, captain of the 2002 Avalanche, is now the club’s GM. Chris Drury, whose Game 5 OT goal at the Joe put the Avs up 3-2 in the series, is GM of the New York Rangers. Ken Holland, who as GM of the 2002 Wings added Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and a rookie forward by the name of Pavel Datsyuk to the team that season, is currently GM of the Edmonton Oilers.

Only Julien BriseBois, GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is excluded from this club. However, if you wanted to stretch a point, it could be noted that it was Steve Yzerman, captain of the 2002 Wings, who originally hired BriseBois to work for the Bolts.

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

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• Looking inside the numbers of the Red Wings’ 2021-22 season
• Detroit prospect Sebastian Cossa is pursuing a Memorial Cup berth with the Edmonton Oil Kings

Take The Day Off

Oh, and in case you’d forgotten, Sunday was the 37th anniversary of this great moment in Red Wings history.

Ferris Bueller went to Wrigley Field on his Day Off, June 5, 1985. pic.twitter.com/ZqJTKTIK0t

— Baseball In Pics (@baseballinpix) June 5, 2022

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