The history of the Detroit Red Wings begins in 1926, when the franchise began play in the National Hockey League (NHL). The professional ice hockey club was founded as the Detroit Cougars on September 25, 1926, one of three teams to join the NHL in 1926. With the demise of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), the rights to the players of the Victoria Cougars were purchased by a Detroit group led by Charles A. Hughes who kept the name "Cougars" for their NHL club. The new team struggled financially; in 1930, the Cougars changed their name to the Detroit Falcons, and after being bought out of receivership by James E. Norris were renamed as the Detroit Red Wings in 1932. The team played their first game on November 18, 1926, and won their first two Stanley Cup titles in 1936 and 1937. The Red Wings have won the Cup eleven times, more than any other American team in NHL history.
The franchise played their first season's home games in Windsor, Ontario, at the Border Cities Arena. The Detroit Olympia opened in 1927 and served as the team's home arena until the midpoint of the 1979–80 season when the Wings moved into Joe Louis Arena. "The Joe", as it is known, had been their home arena until the end of the 2016-17 season. Starting in the 2017-18 season the Wings moved into Little Caesars Arena. The team, led by head coach and general manager Jack Adams, found success throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, making 14 appearances in the finals and winning the Stanley Cup seven times. Led on the ice by the Production Line of Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, and Sid Abel (later replaced by Alex Delvecchio), along with goaltenders Harry Lumley and then Terry Sawchuk, the Wings appeared in the finals six times from 1948 through 1955, winning the Cup in 1950, 1952, 1954, and 1955.
After Adams was fired in 1963 the team reached the finals three more times prior to the 1967 NHL expansion, however they qualified for the playoffs only twice in the next 16 years until being purchased by Mike Ilitch in 1982. Ilitch revitalized the club, hiring Jim Devellano to manage the team; one of Devellano's first actions was to draft Steve Yzerman in the 1983 NHL entry draft. Yzerman went on stay with the team for his entire 22-year NHL career, 19 as team captain, winning the Stanley Cup three times as a player and once as an executive. With Ilitch as owner the Wings won the Cup in 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008.
Fifty-eight Red Wings players and 14 builders have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Lester Patrick Trophy has been presented to 24 former or current Wings and the club has retired the numbers of seven players.
Founding At the April 18, 1926, NHL meetings to discuss expansion of the NHL, five applications were received from Detroit along with three from Chicago, one from Cleveland, one from New Jersey, one from Hamilton and one from New York. The New York application by Madison Square Garden was approved, allowing the Garden to create the New York Rangers. The NHL decided to investigate all applicants before deciding at their next meeting. At the time, it was known that the Western Canada Hockey League was folding. Other than the Rangers, there was opposition to adding any other teams to the NHL. The NHL constitution required unanimous approval on adding new teams and the New York Americans were opposed to the plan to add one team in Detroit and one in Chicago, as the Americans favoured two teams in Chicago. This was overcome at the May 2, 1926, NHL meeting by amending the NHL constitution, which required only a approval, to allow a simple majority vote for the approval of new teams and it became expected that Chicago and Detroit would receive franchises. At the meeting, what were now two competing syndicates vying for the Detroit franchise, one from Townsend and McCreath, and one from Bierer, were ordered to amalgamate by the NHL.
The next day, May 3, it was announced by Detroit promoters Morris Caplan and Morris Friedberg that they had purchased the 1925 Stanley Cup champion Victoria Cougars in expectation of an NHL franchise being awarded to them at NHL meetings later that month. Similarly, the Portland Rosebuds were also purchased that day by Chicago interests. On May 15, 1926, Detroit was tentatively awarded an NHL expansion team to a group of investors led by Townsend, Seyburn and McCreath, not Caplan and Friedberg, on condition of the arena being ready for the upcoming season. At the time, the arena was expected to be ready for December 1. The Victoria Club was sold by Lester and Frank Patrick to the Townsend group for $100,000, of which $25,000 went to Caplan and Friedberg.Coleman(1968), p. 8 Although the arena was not ready, the franchise was permanently approved by the NHL on September 25, 1926. The franchise was established as the Detroit Cougars, retaining the Victoria name. However, the NHL does not consider the Red Wings to be a continuation of the Victoria team. The Rangers had been issued a franchise on May 15, while the Chicago Black Hawks joined the league the same day as the Cougars; the additions of these clubs increased the number of teams in the league to ten.
Early seasons (1926–1942) 1926–1932: Cougars and Falcons
Without a Detroit arena, the new Cougars played their first season in Windsor, Ontario, at the Border Cities Arena. Frank Patrick of Victoria did not come east to manage Detroit. The Cougars signed former Calgary Tigers player Art Duncan to play and coach the team, but the NHL, in its distribution of WHL players ordered Detroit to send players Art Gagne and Gord Fraser to the Chicago Black Hawks for Duncan.Coleman(1968), p. 9 The Cougars played their first game on November 18, 1926, losing 2–0 to the Boston Bruins, and finished their first season with a record of 12 wins, 28 losses and 4 ties for 28 points, the worst record in the league; the 12 wins and 4 ties remain club records for fewest wins and fewest ties in a season.
The next year, the 1927–28 season, the team moved into the Detroit Olympia, playing their first game on November 22, 1927. This building would be the home arena for the team until 1979. Also in that year, Duncan was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was replaced as coach and general manager by Jack Adams, recently retired from the Ottawa Senators. Adams would be the face of the franchise for the next 36 years as coach or general manager. The Cougars finished with a record of 19-19-6, moving up to fourth place in the American division.
The Cougars made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 1929 with Carson Cooper leading the team in scoring. The Cougars were outscored 7–2 in the two-game series with Toronto.
In 1930 the team changed its name to the Detroit Falcons as a result of a promotion with a newspaper. They would reach the NHL playoffs for the first time in 1929, losing the series to the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the team continued to have financial difficulties, and was forced into receivership in 1931.
1932–1942: The new Detroit Red Wings Chicago grain merchant James E. Norris bought the team in 1932. His first act was to change the team's name to the Red Wings. He also designed a new logo with a wing protruding from a wheel, more or less the same logo that is used today. Norris believed the logo would help the team curry favor with Detroit's auto industry. He also wanted to pay homage to a hockey team for whom he had played earlier in the century, the Montreal Hockey Club—nicknamed the Winged Wheelers.
Under the new name Red Wings, the team began to improve. Carl Voss was named the inaugural recipient of the NHL rookie-of-the-year award in 1932–33. The team as a whole also began to enjoy success. They reached the 1934 Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Chicago Black Hawks.
In 1935–36 the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup for the first time, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs. En route to the final, they played in the longest overtime game in NHL history, winning the first game of a semi-final match against the Montreal Maroons in the sixth overtime frame. The match lasted 176 minutes and 30 seconds of game time, ending when rookie Mud Bruneteau scored, giving Detroit a 1–0 win. The following season, they defeated the New York Rangers for their second consecutive Stanley Cup title.
In 1938, the Wings and the Montreal Canadiens became the first NHL teams to play in Europe, visiting Paris and London. The Wings played nine games against the Canadiens and went 3-5-1. The Wings did not play in Europe again until the preseason and start of the 2009-10 NHL season in Sweden against the St. Louis Blues.
Original Six era (1942–1967)
1940s They made the Stanley Cup Finals in three consecutive years during the early 1940s — swept by the Boston Bruins in 1941, reverse swept by Toronto in 1942, and winning their third Cup sweeping the Bruins in 1943, with Syd Howe and Mud Bruneteau scoring 20 goals apiece. They remained a solid team through the rest of the decade, making the playoffs every year, and reaching the finals three more times.
In 1946, one of the greatest players in hockey history came into the NHL with the Red Wings. Gordie Howe, a right-winger from Floral, Saskatchewan, only scored seven goals and 15 assists in his first season and would not reach his prime for a few more years. It was also the last season as head coach for Adams, who stepped down after the season to concentrate on his duties as general manager. He was succeeded by minor league coach Tommy Ivan.
By his second season, Howe was paired with Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay to form what would become one of the great lines in NHL history—the "Production Line". Lindsay's 33 goals propelled the Wings to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were swept by the Maple Leafs. Detroit reached the Finals again the following season, only to be swept again by Toronto.
1950–1966: The Gordie Howe era The Wings returned to the top in 1950, with Pete Babando scoring the game winner in double overtime of Game 7 to beat the Rangers in the Finals. After the game, Lindsay skated around the Olympia ice with the Cup, beginning a tradition that continues today.
After being upset by Montreal in the 1951 semifinals, Detroit won its fifth Cup in 1952, sweeping both the Leafs and the Canadiens, with the Production Line of Howe, Abel and Lindsay joined by second-year goalie Terry Sawchuk. Detroit would become the first team in 17 years to go undefeated in the playoffs. They also scored an amazing 24 playoff goals, compared to Toronto and Montreal's combined total of 5. Abel left the Wings for Chicago following the season, and Alex Delvecchio took his spot on the roster.
James E. Norris died in December 1952. He was succeeded as team president by his daughter, Marguerite – the first (and as of the 2017–18 season, only) woman to head an NHL franchise. She made no secret of her dislike for Adams. While she could have summarily fired him, since he was still without a contract, she chose not to do so.
Following another playoff upset in 1953 at the hands of the Bruins, the Red Wings won back to back Stanley Cups in 1954 (over Montreal, when Habs defenseman Doug Harvey redirected a Tony Leswick shot into his own net) and 1955 (also over Montreal in the full seven games). The 1954–55 season ended a run of seven straight regular season titles, an NHL record.
Also during the 1955 off-season, Marguerite Norris lost an intrafamily power struggle, and was forced to turn the Wings over to younger brother Bruce, who had inherited his father's grain business. Detroit and Montreal met once again in the 1956 finals, but this time the Canadiens won the Cup, their first of five in a row.