Wings bunched up in Atlantic race; Rich Kincaide interview

In this edition of The Detroit News’ OctoPulse podcast, Red Wings beat reporter Ted Kulfan takes a look at the team’s successful road trip heading into this weekend’s Centennial Celebration.

FanFest starts Thursday at MotorCity Casino and the Wings are home against two Original Six teams — Friday against the Rangers at 7 p.m. and Sunday against the Blackhawks at 1 p.m.

We’re also counting down the top 100 Red Wings in the last 100 years at detroitnews.com.

Tuesday was top players 76-100, Wednesday 51-75, Thursday 26-50 and Friday 1-25. The top 10 teams in Red Wings history will be released Saturday.

The podcast interview guest is former WJR broadcaster Rich Kincaide, author of “The Gods of Olympia Stadium: Legends of the Detroit Red Wings.”

Kincaide interviewed former players who felt the Red Wings should’ve won more Stanley Cups if owner Jack Adams didn’t trade nine players right after the championship season in 1955, which was followed by the departure of three other key players soon afterward.

Only two teams, the Montreal Canadiens (24) and Toronto Maple Leafs (13), have more Stanley Cups than the Red Wings (11), who are still the most successful U.S.-based team in the NHL.

Here are highlights from episode 132 of The OctoPulse podcast:

▶ 1:30: All Eastern Conference teams at .500 or better

▶ 3:10: Two rookies “take a step back”

▶ 5:00: J.T. Compher on fifth-ranked penalty-killing unit

▶ 7:20: Varsity Ford of Ann Arbor

▶ 6:15: Rich Kincaide interview

▶ 21:30: James van Riemsdyk on improved Elmer Soderblom

▶ 24:00: Ranking the top 100 all-time Red Wings

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Previous OctoPulse podcasts

▶ Red-hot Wings banking points; Jacob Truscott interview

▶ New-look Red Wings begin playoff quest vs. Canadiens

▶ JVR returns to Red Wings; Jake Davis interview

▶ Yzerman starts Year 7; Gibson in goalie spotlight

OctoPulse guests in alphabetical order

▶ A: Trey Augustine, Dave Andrews, Kenny Albert, Kashawn Aitcheson

▶ B: Riley Brengman, John Bacon, Red Berenson, Matt Beniers, Scotty Bowman, Joe Bowen, Cooper Black, Phil Bourque, Jason Bukala

▶ C: Steve Coates, Leo Carlsson, Mike Cammalleri, Logan Cooley, Caley Chelios, Cole Caufield, Mitchell Clinton, Mellissa Channell-Watkins

▶ D: Nate Danielson, Dave Drinkill, Jamie Drysdale, Ken Dryden, Jake Davis

▶ E: Cole Eiserman, Simon Edvinsson, Mike Emrick, Emerson Etem

▶ F: Jordan Forgione, Everett Fitzhugh, Jim Fox, John Forslund

▶ G: Cutter Gauthier, Dylan Guenther, Jerry Green, Stu Grimson, Gerard Gallant, Liam Greentree, Bruce Garrioch

▶ H: William Horcoff, Mark Howe, Cross Hanas, Luke Hughes, Murray Howe, Milan Hejduk, Brian Hayward

▶ I: Greg Innis

▶ J: Kent Johnson

▶ K: Joakim Kemell, Mark Kirton, Megan Keller, John Kelly, Mike Keenan, Emily Kaplan, Rich Kincaide

▶ L: Ryan Leonard, Nick Libett, Chaz Lucius, Brian Lawton, Pat Lafontaine, Nicklas Lidstrom, Craig Laughlin, Dave Legwand, Bill Lindsay

▶ M: Doug MacLean, Al Montoya, Tim Mayer, Wes McCauley, Dan Milstein, Max Namestnikov, Ken Morrow

▶ N: Ted Nolan, Frank Nazar, Dwayne Norris, Pat Nagle

▶ O: Mark O’Brien

▶ P: Madison Packer, Dave Poulin, Gabe Perreault, Jakub Petr, Doug Plagens, Cole Perfetti, Darren Pang, Zayne Parekh, Julie Petry

▶ R: Abby Roque, Jason Ross, Manon Rheaume, Lucas Raymond, Marco Rossi, Luc Robitaille, Marcus Ragnarsson, Sam Rosen, Daryl Reaugh

▶ S: Riley Sawchuk, Bob Stauffer, Will Smith, John Shannon, Paul Stewart, Moritz Seider, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Craig Simpson, Kirsten Simms, Mats Sundin, Brad Stuart

▶ T: Tripp Tracy, Bryan Trottier, Tim Taylor, Jacob Truscott

▶ V: Rick Vaive

▶ W: Paul Woods, Shane Wright, Bob Wilkie

▶ Z: Rick Zombo, Trevor Zegras

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