If Hollywood wrote the script for the Detroit Red Wings rising from the ashes, the tipping point would have been Z to Z. That is, Zetterberg’s surprise retirement yielding and blessing young and talented Zadina as the team skates happily off into a sunset that makes us smile. That didn’t happen, of course. And the point is the tipping points are unpredictable. We can imagine we know where they are, but we really don’t.
That is why sports in general and hockey, in particular, fascinate us so. It is the ultimate reality TV, never mind silly teens living together on the beach in Santa Monica.