The Detroit Red Wings have won 11 Stanley Cups in their illustrious history. That ranks third all-time behind only the Montreal Canadiens (24) and Toronto Maple Leafs (13) for the most ever.
Throughout the Red Wings' history, they have had a number of teams finish atop the regular season standings and make deep playoff runs. But the question remains which teams, from Gordie Howe's run to Nicklas Lidstrom's dominance, rank in the franchise's top ten?
Greatest Red Wings team of all time
#1 2001-2002
The greatest team in Red Wings history is the 2001-02 squad. The 10th championship in franchise history came as a surprise to no one. They went into the season as co-favorites to win the Stanley Cup and backed it up by winning the President's Trophy for the top regular season record. They rolled through the playoffs only facing elimination in one series, going 16-7.
Brendan Shanahan led the team with 37 goals and 75 points. Lidstrom led the team with 50 assists and won his third consecutive Norris Trophy for best defenseman. Chris Chelios joined him as the two first-team All-Stars in 2002. The Red Wings ended their great run with the best season in franchise history.
#2: 1951-52
The 1951-52 Red Wings have the highest points percentage of any championship team in franchise history. The Gordie Howe-led squad swept both of their playoff series on their way to their fifth title. In the Stanley Cup Final, they held the Montreal Canadiens to just two goals in four games.
Howe led the team with 47 goals, 39 assists, and 86 points. He won the points and goals leader awards that season along with the Hart Trophy for Most Valuable Player. This was the first of six Hart Trophies in Howe's career.
#3: 2007-08
The most recent championship in Red Wings history came as a veteran squad took down the upstart Pittsburgh Penguins. This team featured new star players from their late '90s runs. Pavel Datsyuk led the team with 66 assists and 97 points while also winning the Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward in the league.
The 2008 Red Wings went 16-6 in the playoffs, backing up their President's Trophy victory. This also represents one of the last great seasons of Lidstrom's career. He won his sixth Norris Trophy at 37 years old, averaged 26 minutes of ice time per night in the regular season, and 24 minutes in the postseason.
#4: 1954-55
Back to the Howe era, the Red Wings dueled with their biggest rival again in 1954-55. They went step-for-step with the Montreal Canadiens in the regular season, winning the race by just two points, and in the playoffs, winning the Cup Final in game seven.
Howe missed six games this season but still led the team with 29 goals. It was considered a down year for number nine, with no All-Star honors and no Hart Trophy votes. This is all the more reason that the 1954-55 squad should be ranked this high.
#5: 1997-98
The second championship team of the Lidstrom era, the 1997-98 squad dominated the playoffs once again on their way to the title. This season was a very low-scoring year, with only one player, Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr, finishing with over 100 points. The Red Wings were led by current general manager Steve Yzerman‘s 69 points in the regular season but still finished second with 250 goals scored. That would have placed them 20th in 2023-24.
That is part of the reason Lidstrom is considered one of the all-time greats. He dominated play in an era dominated by defensemen. He did not win the Norris this season, which went to Rob Blake, but he played a ridiculous 26:08 per night in the regular season and 27:51 in the playoffs. The 1997 Red Wings went 16-6 in the playoffs and swept the Washington Capitals in the Final.
#6: 1953-54
A similar storyline emerges in the tale of the 1953-54 Red Wings. Howe led the team in scoring, won his fourth straight Art Ross Trophy as top scorer, and was a first-team All-Star. They beat the Maple Leafs in five games in the semi-final and played, you guessed it, the Canadiens in the Final. They went to game seven, which Detroit won on a Tony Leswick goal.
Howe scored 33 goals and 81 points in the regular season and backed that up by being the team's best scorer with nine points in 12 playoff games. The Red Wings also have the best goalie in the league at this point as Terry Sawchuk had won two straight Vezina Trophies coming into the season. While he did not win one in 1954, he was sensational in the playoffs.
#7: 1949-50
The championship the Red Wings won in 1950 was not their most dominating playoff performance, but the regular season deserves a mention here. The Production Line of Howe, Ted Lindsay, and Sid Able were the top three scorers in the league. Lindsay took home the scoring trophy, the first and only of his career.
The Red Wings were the top team in the regular season and beat the Maple Leafs in the first round. The Rangers upset the Canadiens and nearly pulled it off again in the Final, but the Red Wings pulled through. The Wings won game seven in double overtime on a goal by Pete Babando.
#8: 1996-97
The first cup of the '90s Red Wings era featured a disappointing regular season but finished with one of the greatest playoff runs of all time. The Red Wings were pre-season favorites to win the Cup but finished third in the Western Conference, well behind the Stars and Avalanche. They then went 16-4 in the playoffs to lift the Cup.
Brendan Shanahan led the team with 46 goals and 87 points while Yzerman had the most assists with 63. Sergei Federov led the team in playoff scoring. This was the last season before Lidstrom took off. The 1997 first-team All-Star squad is the last without Lidstrom until 2004.
#9: 1942-43
The only team on the list without Lidstrom or Howe, the 1942-43 team won the first Stanley Cup in the Original Six era. The team was led by Syd Howe (no relation) and his 55 points in 50 regular season games. Sid Abel was 24 years old and was about to link up with his famous linemate. He was pretty good without him, though scoring 18 goals in 49 games.
The Red Wings were the first regular-season champions of the Original Six era, besting the Bruins by four points. They played the Rangers in the first round, winning in six games, and swept the Bruins in the Final. All four games in the Final were mult-goal wins for the Red Wings.
#10: 1995-96
The lone non-champion on the list, the 1995-96 team was so dominant that they just could not be left out of the discussion. They won 62 games and posted a ridiculous .799 points percentage, the highest in franchise history. They lost in the conference final to the Avalanche, who would win the Stanley Cup in their first year in Colorado. Little did anyone know that they were about to start one of the great rivalries in the sport's history.
While this was a disappointing season by the end, it set the course for the great teams that came behind them. While the '96 Red Wings are considered one of the great teams to not win the Cup, they came in just one year later and snagged the title.
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