KEY ADDITIONS				KEY LOSSES
Name Ken Wregget Manny Legace Steve Duchesne	Pos. G G D	From Flames Kings Flyers		Name Bill Ranford Norm Maracle Wendel Clark Ulf Samuelsson Todd Gill	Pos. G G F D D	To Oilers Thrashers Blackhawks Thrashers Coyotes

Outlook
Fact: The Detroit Red Wings will finish among the top four clubs in the Western Conference this season.

		The Red Wings need to get back the fire they had in winning consecutive Cups. They have the depth in scoring and defense, and Scotty Bowman appears to want to change the style from the left-wing lock to a more pressure-style attack on the puck. They will have to get back to defensive hockey first, thinking of team goals like the Jennings Trophy,which the champion Stars won last year, giving up 34 fewer goals than Detroit. Players that need to step up will be Sergei Fedorov, Martin Lapointe, Darren McCarty and Kris Draper, while Chris Osgood knows there is always pressure on Detroit goalies. Age may be a factor on defense, but when there have been questions in the past about Chris Chelios and Larry Murphy, they always step up; this year should be no different. Winning the Cup is realistic for the talented Wings. For teams with their high standards, nothing else but the Cup matters. If we were to pick apart stats, they need a better power play than the 16.1 percent of last year, while dropping their goals against from 10th to the top 5.

Fact: The red Wings will get to the second round of the postseason.

Fact: No one knows what will happen after that.

Scotty Bowman is going for a record ninth Stanley Cup as head coach, and, believe it or not, he's doing it with a younger defense. Mathieu Dandenault, Aaron Ward and Yan Golubovsky will all play bigger roles on the blueline this season. Nineteen-year-old Jiri Fischer could also crack the lineup.

But Detroit is still weaving veterans like Chris Chelios and Steve Duchesne into the fabric of the club's defense.

Center Steve Yzerman enters his 14th season as Detroit captain. That's the longest consecutive streak in NHL history. And he'll be around for awhile after inking a contract extension earlier this month.

Things look pretty much the same up front for the Wings. The only question mark surrounds Darren McCarty, who is without a contract.

Even though it's a veteran group, Bowman, as always, will experiment with different line combinations, including putting Yzerman on the left wing with Sergei Fedorov as the center, while placing left wing Slava Kozlov at center with Brent Gilchrist in the middle.

If one rookie makes an impact this season, it will be center Yuri Butsayev, the 1997 second-round draft pick (49th overall) who was very impressive in training camp.

Chris Osgood remains the mainstay in net, but veteran Ken Wregget will back him up this season. Osgood should see the bulk of the action, but with Bowman behind the bench, you never know.

Bowman has been great over the years in getting the most -- and then some -- out of his players. That's why you can't count the Wings out as Cup contenders. A former player said it best: "You hate the guy (Bowman) 364 days out of the year. The other day you pick up your Stanley Cup ring."

'98-99 CENTRAL STANDINGS
TEAM	W	L	T	Pts.
Detroit	43	32	7	93
St. Louis	37	32	13	87
Chicago	29	41	12	70
Nashville	28	47	7	63

The bottom line
Better or not: Same
Most improved: Tomas Holmstrom
Most valuable: Steve Yzerman
Biggest disappointment: Brendan Shanahan

Charles Avellino is a lead NHL researcher for ESPN.