The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe takes a reader question and attempts to answer which NHL team would be considered to have the best “team” of starting players by nationality. He suggests that the Russian Five don’t count because Detroit’s not had a Russian goaltender–so he gives Red Wings one of the best American-born teams:
Detroit Red Wings — USA
We already realized we can’t use the Wings for their Russian stars, and building something around Nicklas Lidstrom falls apart due to the franchise’s lack of top-notch Swedish goalies. So let’s play this one on easy level and see what we can do with American stars.
The obvious place to start is the blue line, where we don’t get the very best of Chris Chelios but can claim a decade of solid play. We’ll pair him with Mark Howe, who actually played for both the U.S. and Canada internationally but was born in Detroit. We can give them some solid goaltending in Jimmy Howard, whose 246 career wins are third-most among American goalies who only played for one franchise.
Unfortunately, things kind of fall apart up front, where the Wings’ penchant for collecting old stars means they wouldn’t get anywhere near the best years out of Mike Modano or Brett Hull. We end up using two guys off the current roster, but for an all-time squad from an Original Six team, it’s not a great group.
Forwards: Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Jimmy Carson
Defense: Mark Howe, Chris Chelios
Goalie: Jimmy Howard
Continued (paywall); McIndoe admits that his exercise is a bit of a time-killer.
