The past few years I've been watching the Red Wings and thinking about the Foundation series written by Isaac Asimov. As the summer has come and gone, and the season approaches, I see more and more similarities between the Red Wings and the fictional Empire that Asimov describes.
The series tells the story of a once great Empire that begins to decay and the actions that must be taken to minimize the time between the fall of that institution and the rise of the next great Empire.
For the last 25 seasons, the Red Wings have been a model institution for the NHL.