"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." -- John Barrymore, actor

Over the summer, the Detroit Red Wings got older. Which is, of course, sort of like standing up and announcing that Bill Gates got richer.

	Luc Robitaille averaged 37 goals and 78 points in his last three seasons in L.A.

In the opinion of many, the Wings are not so much a viable Stanley Cup contender as they are a group of priceless hockey heirlooms. Yes, they're old and slow. But they're also cunning and, admit it, fascinating.

At MGM in the 1940s -- with Astaire, Gable, Garland, Tracy and Hepburn, to name just a few, under contract -- the publicity department boasted that the studio had "More Stars Than There Are In the Heavens." Within hockey's ever-expanding orbit, Detroit's glittering constellation can with justification make a similar sort of claim.

Think of it. Coach Scotty Bowman, captain Steve Yzerman, defenseman Chris Chelios, center Igor Larionov, along with summertime acquisitions Brett Hull (37), Luc Robitaille (35) and Dominik Hasek (36) are all certain first-ballot Hall of Famers. Winger Brendan Shanahan, center Sergei Fedorov and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom are headed in that direction and could increase the enshrinement total to an even 10.

The Wings have unbeatable names. But do they have an unbeatable team? Are they merely very well-seasoned, as their supporters claim? Or completely overcooked, as their doubters fear?

Now veteran savvy is one thing, a vital ingredient in the makeup of any champion, surely, but this ... this is going way off the dial. If the Wings somehow manage to pull this off, they'd rival the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs, the last Geriatric Gang to hoist aloft the Stanley Cup.

The Wings certainly lack the nice balance of power between young and old so successful in Colorado and New Jersey recently. Outside of -- arguably -- Tomas Holmstrom and Mathieu Dandenault, all Detroit's key components are mid-to-late-thirtysomethings. Unlike, say, a Chris Drury or an Alex Tanguay in Denver or a Peter Sykora or a Patrick Elias in Jersey. It's absolutely astounding that a team could bid adieu to a 40-year-old (Larry Murphy) and a 37-year-old (Pat Verbeek) and actually tack on years. In Detroit, the gag goes, the trainers don't use liniment, they just keep stocking up on WD-40. The last time there were this many oldies in one room at one time, the band was fronted by Lawrence Welk.

"Certainly we're aware of the focus on the age of our hockey club," says general manager Ken Holland, the architect of this restoration project. "We understand that the only way we're going to be judged on the regular season is if we play poorly. If we play well, we won't be judged until the playoffs.

"Do we think that's fair? That's not the point. It's what we have to deal with."

Certainly opinion is divided on the well-worn path Detroit has chosen.

The fanatics in Hockeytown believe that the unbeatable amount of star wattage assembled will be enough to rule the day; that in Hasek, the Vezina Trophy winner last season, Robitaille, a 37-goal man last season, and Hull, who sniped 39, they've added a few new wrinkles (pardon the pun) to what was already a legitimate Cup contender.

And the skeptics? Well, they're convinced these guys are going to run out of gas surer than the lovesick kid in the jalopy driving the most popular girl in school along a deserted, lonely, moonlit road up by Lovers Leap; that they're going to break down more certainly than a household appliance with a two-year warranty heading into its 25th month.

Not only did the Wings reel in the three extra veterans this summer (at a cost of $15.5 million in base salary), they lost two of their thin-to-begin-with under-30 corps -- Slava Kozlov to Buffalo in the Hasek deal, and Martin Lapointe, to the Boston Bruins via free agency. The last time the Wings gambled on adding a bunch of decorated warhorses -- the trade deadline, spring of '99, when Chelios, Ulf Samuelsson, Bill Ranford and Wendel Clark came over in one memorable, frenzied 24-hour period -- they were ousted in a second-round playoff loss to the younger, faster Colorado Avalanche.

Why should they believe this time 'round will be any different?

	“	We didn't want to sit still. And I ask you: How do we go about that? Nobody's going to trade you a 26-year-old, 80-point guy. Sorry, it's just not going to happen. ”
		— Ken Holland, Red Wings general manager

"After losing to L.A. (in the first round last year), we felt we needed changes," explains Holland. "We didn't want to sit still. And I ask you: How do we go about that? Nobody's going to trade you a 26-year-old, 80-point guy. Sorry, it's just not going to happen. So your only option is go to out and sign Luc Robitaille, a 35-year-old, 80-point guy. Your only viable option to change, to try and improve, is through unrestricted free agency. Oh, we could re-tool by bringing in a bunch of 22-, 23-, and 24-year-olds who aren't mature enough to get done what we want to do, which is win the Stanley Cup, or you can go out and add great players who just happen to be 35 or 36 and have been there before.

"We knew we had to do something important; something dramatic. In mid-June, when we heard Hasek was available, we felt we had to at least try and land him. From there, it was a domino effect. We had to give up (Slava) Kozlov to get Hasek, so then from an offensive standpoint Hull and Robitaille became important acquisitions."

Holland points out, and quite rightly, that it is one thing to be old, in relative terms, of course; quite another to be old and past it. The three men he recruited are, if not at the peak of their careers, still at the top of their games.

Yzerman was one of the initial top eight selections by Wayne Gretzky and Team Canada for their challenge at Salt Lake City. Hull and Chelios were two of Team USA's top 12. Hasek likely will be the goalie for the Czech Republic.These are not creaking old geezers on their last legs. What will be interesting this season down at The Joe is how Bowman handles this group; what kind of time off he gives them from practices, and in some instances, games he gives them to rest and recuperate and be ready to roll at playoff time.

"I've talked to Igor Larionov, for instance, and he doesn't harbor any misconceptions that he's going to play 82 games," says Holland. "He's knows his body pretty well, what it is capable of now and what it's not. One of the problems we're going to have is spreading the minutes around. You can't please everybody. Just because somebody is used to 23-25 minutes a game over the course of his career doesn't mean he's going to get that here, get that now.

"And in the end, that could wind up being a very big positive for our hockey club.

"Scotty's a veteran coach. He understands how to use players."

And what an array of players. If only, the doubters murmur, this was, say, 1995 ...

"Will we run out of gas?" asks Holland. "Will we suffer through a rash of injuries, as some people are predicting? How can I answer those questions? I wish I could honestly tell you flat-out 'no.' But I can't. We all know how long and tough it is for any team to go through four rounds of playoff hockey.

"If we don't win, people are going to point to our age. We know that. We also know that the players we got are great players, we set high goals for this hockey team and do our best to meet them.

"I guess we'll just have to see how this plays itself out."

In a season that has yet to begin, yet has already seen Eric Lindros resurface and Peter Forsberg step away temporarily, watched an exhibition game abandoned in a show of patriotism and perspective, the oldtimers from Detroit will continue to be one of the most intriguing storylines.

Has time finally run out on them?

Or for such a stellar cast, regardless of age, can time, just once more, stand still?

George Johnson of the Calgary Herald is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.