Book excerpt: In the tradition of John Feinstein's best-selling A Season on the Brink, Nick Cotsonika will draw back the curtain on one of the most compelling stories in the history of sports. Never before has an NHL team brought together such a dazzling number of big names. Chris Chelios. Sergei Fedorov. Dominik Hasek. Brett Hull. Igor Larionov. Nicklas Lidstrom. Luc Robitaille. Brendan Shanahan. Steve Yzerman. And, of course, legendary coach Scotty Bowman. With this unprecedented talent comes the potential of unprecedented problems: competition for playing time and limelight, the burden of expectations in a Stanley Cup-crazy place like Detroit, a city that calls itself Hockeytown. With access to the players and coaches, Cotsonika will be witness to it all, how the players deal with themselves, how they clash with the mercurial Bowman, how they handle being part of the richest payroll in the sport's history, thanks to deep-pocketed, aggressive owner Mike Ilitch. Cotsonika will provide, in sharply engaging fashion, many details of a season in the NHL usually hidden from view.