ESPN.com - NHL/PLAYOFFS2004 - Johnson: Swan song for the Winged Wheel?

Next to relegation, the Red Wings are in about as bad a spot as you could hope to find. Sports franchises don't face many situations much worse. If there is a lock-out or strike next year, the Red Wings will cease to be what I have known and loved for the last decade. "End of an era" talk is not needlessly apocalyptic in this context.