Just minutes after the Detroit Red Wings wrapped up their third Stanley Cup in six years -- defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in the fifth and decisive game of the 2002 Stanley Cup finals -- veteran left wing Brendan Shanahan held court in their champagne-drenched dressing room.

		Wed., June 12 This Detroit team ranks as a team that has had a great year, and is sprinkled with players who have had Hall of Fame careers. There are eight to 10 players on this team who could make it into the Hall, led by a Hall of Fame coach. But when you try to rank them among the greatest teams of all time, you can't. If the Red Wings win the Cup, it still is just one Cup. The best teams like the Montreal Canadiens (1956-60, 1976-79), the New York Islanders (1980-83) and Edmonton Oilers (1984-85, '87-88) won a ton of Cups in succession. Maybe those teams didn't have as many Hall of Famers as this one does, but they were together as a team for a longer period of time and won in succession all those Cups. This one hasn't done that. Davidson: Detroit not ready to join elite yet

Shanahan, who'd already shaved off his mangy black goatee by the time he addressed the media, told reporters that the club really wanted the third title because it would earn them a spot among the great teams in the game.

Shanahan didn't proclaim the Wings a dynasty, but he rightly figured that three titles in six seasons is something special.

And, he's right, it is something special. It is something very special. But, in this case, it isn't a dynasty.

Dynasties in professional sports come in two flavors, the short term or the long term. The NHL has seen several short-term dynasties.

The Toronto Maple Leafs of the late 1940s won the Cup four times in five years, including three straight from 1947-49.

The Gordie Howe Red Wings of the early 1950s won four Cups in six years. Those Wings advanced the Cup finals in six of eight seasons from 1948-55.

The New York Islanders won four straight titles from 1980-83, winning an amazing 19 consecutive playoff series before losing in the 1984 final.

And, the Edmonton Oilers won four Cups in five years -- and five championships in seven seasons -- in the second half of the '80s.

The Montreal Canadiens are the league's lone long-term dynasty. The Habs are to hockey what the Yankees are to baseball and the Celtics are to the NBA. The Canadiens have 23 Stanley Cups as a member of the NHL (they also won the Cup in 1916 before the formation of the league). Montreal won five straight titles between 1955-60 and four consecutive crowns from 1976-79.

If anything, the Wings would be compared to the league's short-term dynasty teams. But, they fail the test for one simple reason: They are a distinctly different team in 2002 than they were during their back-to-back title run of 1997-98. None of the aforementioned dynasty teams underwent such a major facelift during their run.

The 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings were a fantastic collection of great hockey players. A collection you'd be hard-pressed to put together with trading cards, no less in flesh and blood on the ice. They did have 10 players remaining from their '97-98 Cup teams. Among those 10 holdovers were potential Hall of Famers Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom.

In hopes of winning a third straight title in 1999, they added another future Hall of Famer, Chris Chelios, who arrived in Hockeytown via a trade deadline deal with Chicago. Despite the addition of Chelios, the Wings couldn't pull off the three-peat.

In 2000 and 2001, the star-studded Wings couldn't find their way out of the very competitive Western Conference. It seemed their time had passed as the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche ruled the top of conference.

Then, after a first round upset loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the spring of 2001, owner Mike Ilitch and GM Ken Holland had to make a decision. Simply, they had to decide whether to rebuild or reload. Wisely sensing they still had a good core of players, they opted for the latter.

Holland moved quickly to upgrade the club's goaltending (from two-time Cup winner Chris Osgood) when the Sabres decided to trade legendary Dominik Hasek. On July 1, the Wings outbid the Blues for Hasek, who was looking to add a Stanley Cup to his incredible resume.

But Holland didn't stop in the crease.

The GM felt the club needed more scoring depth. So, just one day later, Holland signed veteran left wing Luc Robitaille as an unrestricted free agent. Like Hasek, Robitaille was looking for a Stanley Cup ring.

More than a month later, Holland had a chance to add yet another legend to his lineup. Free agent right wing Brett Hull sat unclaimed on the open market -- like a Gucci bag on a luggage belt -- after being cut loose by the Stars. To get Hull, Holland needed to gain approval from ownership, then restructure some deals to settle his already booming budget. He managed to do both, adding Hull on Aug. 22.

In effect, Holland had added three Hall of Famers (not including the addition of Chelios in '99) to his core group. In this era of free agency and big-market/small market economics, Holland was able to make these incredible additions. In years past, teams could have only dreamt about such changes.

Yes, this Red Wings team was something special. In fact, we may never see so many legends on one bench ever again. (And, we haven't even mentioned coach Scotty Bowman.) But, unless they can win at least one more and probably two more, these Wings can't be called a dynasty. At least, not yet.

E.J. Hradek writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.