I don't know. I'm not worried yet.

Oh. You say I should be? You say that you just watched your team lose two games in their superstars' homeland? That you saw them play ten or fifteen spectacular minutes at a time that were followed by twenty or thirty ridiculously awful ones? That they fell apart faster than tissue paper in the rain? That when you think about your goaltenders, you sort of throw up a little in your mouth?

If that's the case, I can't blame you. But I'm not worried yet.

Last year I was worried. I was worried that they couldn't win a game in regulation, that they couldn't win a game at home, that Marian Hossa was unable to score a single goal, that the Eurotwins being split up would signal the coming of the apocolypse, etc, etc - by the middle of October I was convinced that the Wings would finish last in their division, miss the playoffs, be laughed at by everyone and that Gary Bettman would move the franchise to New Orleans and rename them the Crawdaddies and Henrik Zetterberg would have to wear a picture of a shrimp on his chest while I wept and wept and wept.

In reality, the Wings had a winning record, and were doing pretty good given the ridiculousity of the schedule they opened with and especially given that there is some truth to the Stanley Cup hangover.

So I'm not worried yet. I can't let myself be, or I'd have to check myself into an institution.

Was there anything consistent about the Red Wings' game this weekend besides how they let it fall apart again and again? No. But in those moments before they fell apart, they were beastly. They could have been playing with an empty net for most of the first period today and the score would have been the same by the end.

Did Jimmy Howard let in five goals? Yes. But but most of them were on penalty kills, and he also made some spectacular saves.

Is Brad Stuart still scoring goals for the opposition for no reason other than to make me curl up in a ball and question the existence of god?

I don't actually have a positive for that one - I just wanted to point it out.

No, I could be really worried about what I saw in Sweden this weekend. And if you want to be, I can't blame you. But I'm going to focus on the positive and enjoy something that Wings fans don't often get to enjoy - the anticipation of how awesome the team will be when they finally work out all the kinks and rise to their full potential.

That could be fun, right?