What’s new with the Detroit Red Wings? That’s what this page is all about.

The Team Spirit Line Change website begins where the Team Spirit books end.

That’s because hockey never stands still … And I can never squeeze everything I want into 48 pages!

Take a look at some of the Red Wings collectibles I have in my home.

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Updates

2022-23 Season

Season Preview: No team worked harder than Detroit to improve during the off-season. First-year coach Derek Lalonde welcomes center Andrew Copp, goalie Ben Chiarot, and rookie defenseman Simon Edvisson to the Wings in 2022–23. They join star defenseman Moritz Seider and center Dylan Larkin, an important team leader, on a club that hopes to see its first winning season in more than five years.

2021-22 Season

Season Recap: Detroit missed the playoffs for the sixth year in a row, but continued to develop its young talent. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond both won Rookie of the Month awards, while Dylan Larkin led the team with 31 goals and 69 points. Seider, just 20, ranked among the NHL’s most valuable defensemen.

March 12, 2022: Mark Staal played in his 1,000th the NHL game. He joined his brothers Eric and Jordan Staal as the first three siblings to appear in 1,000 games each.

Season Preview: Detroit needed a goalie to help rebuild the club and it looks like they got a good one in young Alex Nedeljkovic, in a trade with the Hurricanes. Another rising star, Moritz Seider, should give fans something else to cheer about as they move into the future. They join Dylan Larkin, Jakub Vrana, and playmaking defenseman Filip Hronek to form a solid core for the future. A winning season may be asking a lot of the Wings, and a playoff trip seems impossible. But stranger things have happened in the NHL.

2020-21 Season

Season Recap: The Red Wings finished 30th in the league in goals scored and won just 19 times. Although Detroit did not make the playoffs, new team captain Dylan Larkin played through injuries, showing he was ready to be a top two-way center and great team leader. Defenseman Filip Hronek was the team’s top scorer with 26 points, while Adam Erne led the Wings with 11 goals.

April 22, 2021: Jakub Vrana scored four goals in a win over the Dallas Stars. Vrana had joined the team 10 days earlier in a trade for Anthony Mantha…who was the last Red Wing to score four times in a game.

Season Preview: Detroit fans didn’t have much fun last season watching the Wings. The team should be better as the #1 line of Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, and Tyler Bertuzzi improves. Also, goalie Thomas Greiss promises to stop a lot more pucks than the man he replaces, Jimmy Howard, who had a tough year. The Red Wings may not sneak into the playoffs, but they are going to play much better hockey.

2019-20 Season

Season Recap: The Red Wings won 17 times in 2019–20, by far the lowest number of victories in the league. Detroit has hope for the future thanks to Dylan Larkin, Robby Fabbri, and Filip Hronek. All had good years and are under 25 years old. Top prospect Moritz Seider should make it to Detroit in 2020–21.

March 2, 2020: Valtteri Filppula, a member of the Wings’ 2008 Stanley Cup champions, played in his 1,000th NHL game. He was just the eighth player born in Finland to reach that mark.

Season Preview: Detroit fans have grown accustomed to cheering for old-timers, but this season the loudest cheers should be for Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Andreas Athanasiou, and Anthony Mantha. Will these rising stars bring glory back to the Red Wings? Can the return of Steve Yzerman to the team’s front office make a difference in wins and losses? These questions should make for an interesting season in Motor City.

2018-19 Season

Season Recap: Detroit fans will not be watching the playoffs for the third year in a row. The good news is that their four top goal-scorers—Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Ty;er Bertuzzi, and Anreas Athanasiou—are all under 25, so there is room for improvement. Veteran Jimmy Howard did a great job in goal, but the Red Wings will need new blood at the position soon, so all eyes are on super-prospect Filip Larsson, who begins his pro career next season.

Season Preview: Detroit fans can expect a lot of excitement this season thanks to a group of lightning-fast skaters, including Tyler Bertuzzi, Michael Rasmussen and top draft pick Filip Zadina. Whether they can score enough goals to make up for so-so defense and goaltending will be the key.

2017-18 Season

Season Recap: Detroit took a step backward in 2017–18, winning only 30 games and missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. The team ran hot and cold all year, mostly due to a lack of a major goal-scorer. By March, the Wings just seemed to run out of gas. Young Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha showed great promise, while veterans Henrik Zetterberg and Mike Green provided veteran leadership.

Season Preview: Detroit has a good mix of old stars and young prospects. If they learn to play together and everyone performs as they should, the Red Wings could make the playoffs. They will need big years from youngsters Andreas Athanasiou and Dylan Larkin to make up for an aging roster.

2015-16 Season

Season Recap: The Red Wings finished with 93 points during a season that saw exciting young players join the team’s old-timers. Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar joined veterans Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg among the scoring leaders, while Petr Mrazek won 27 games in goal at age 23. Detroit fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Lightning.

Season Preview: NHL goalies will have to keep a sharp eye on Detroit’s swift and powerful young forwards in 2015–16. They will carry more of the load this season as the team’s older stars begin to slow down, and strengthen the club’s already-lethal power play. If the defense and goaltending play well, the Red Wings will turn in anther 100-point season.

2014-15 Season

Recap: The Red Wings finished with an 100 points. Detroit got solid seasons out of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, who was among the league leaders with 49 assists. Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist also had fine seasons, finishing 1–2 in goals on the team. The Red Wings gave the Tampa Bay Lighting all they could handle in the first round, but lost the series in seven games despite being ahead 3 games to 2.

Season Preview: The Red Wings are getting older, but are they getting better? That is the question veterans like Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, and Henrik Zetterberg will have to answer in 2014–15. They’ll get help from up-and-coming stars Tomas Tatar and Riley Sheahan. Jimmy Howard will handle the bulk of the goaltending duties.

2013-14 Season

April 8, 2014: Mike Babcock passed Jack Adams as Detroit’s winningest coach, with his 414th regular season victory.

Season Preview: Detroit nearly bumped the Blackhawks out of the playoffs last year—and CHicago went on to win the Stanley Cup. Does that make the Red Wings the second-best team in the NHL? They certainly think so. With the addition of veterans Stephen Weiss and Daniel Alfredsson, and a clutch goalie in Jimmy Howard, the Wings seem to have all the right ingredients for a championship recipe.

More Go-To Guys

This 1933 card of Larry Aurie shows him on the team when it was called the Falcons. It was one of the first cards that came packed with a stick of bubble gum. (Hamilton Gum)

Jack Stewart was my Dad’s name. When I was little and I’d read about the Red Wings, I thought they were talking about my father…until I saw him try to skate! (Author’s Collection)

This octagonal card of Marcel Pronovost came with jars of peanut butter in the 1960s. (York Peanut Butter)

This was Chris Osgood’s rookie card. It came out in 1993. (Topps, Inc.)

Igor Larionov signed this photo—at least I think it’s his signature. I guess they didn’t teach penmanship in Russia! (Author’s Collection)

  • Larry Aurie — Right Wing
    Born: 2/8/1905
    Died: 12/12/1952
    Played for Team: 1927–38 to 1938–39
    Larry Aurie was one of the smallest men in the NHL when he played, but he was considered the heart of Detroit’s team in the 1930s. Always hustling and never backing down, Aurie was part of Detroit’s first great line, along with Marty Barry and Herbie Lewis. Aurie was a First–Team All-Star in 1936–37 and also led the NHL in scoring.

  • Ebbie Goodfellow — Defenseman/Center
    Born: 4/9/1907
    Died: 9/10/1985
    Played for Team: 1929–30 to 1942–43
    Midway through Ebbie Goodfellow’s career, he was moved from the front line to the back line. As a defenseman, he was a three-time All-Star and won the Hart Trophy in 1940 ads league MVP.

  • Syd Howe — Left Wing
    Born: 9/28/1911
    Died: 5/20/1976
    Played for Team: 1934–35 to 1945–46
    Syd Howe was part of three championship teams in Detroit. He was a streaky scorer who once netted six in a game against the Rangers. Howe’s greatest skill was his ability to play many positions well, including center and defenseman. He spent as much time on the ice as any forward of his time.

  • Jack Stewart — Defenseman
    Born: 5/6/1917
    Died: 5/25/1983
    Played for Team: 1938–39–40 to 1942–43 & 1945–46 to 1949–50
    Jack Stewart’s monstrous body checks made him the most feared defenseman of his time. During the 1943 Stanley Cup Finals against the Bruins, his physical play led Detroit to a four-game sweep.

  • Terry Sawchuk — Goalie
    Born: 12/28/1929
    Died: 5/31/1970
    Played for Team: 1949–50 to 1954–55, 1957–58 to 1963–64 & 1968–69
    Terry Sawchuk won the Calder Cup and Vezina Trophy in his first full year with the Red Wings, and then went on to help them win three Stanley Cups. He was a master at playing the angles, and dared opponents to shoot. Sawchuk played goal with an unusual “gorilla crouch” style, hunching low to the ice with his shoulder spread wide.

  • Marcel Pronovost — Defenseman
    Born: 6/5/1930
    Died 4/26/2015
    Played for Team: 1949–50 to 1964–65
    No one skated harder than Marcel Pronovost. Unfortunately, everyone was better at stopping. Pronovost crashed into teammates, opponents, the boards, goals and goalies, and was constantly injured. However, he was such an artist when it came to stick-checks and poke-checks that he became indispensible to the Wings—as well as a First-Team All-Star and Hall of Famer!

  • Alex Delvecchio — Center
    Born: 12/4/1932
    Played for Team: 1950–51 to 1963–74
    Of all the NHL players that spent their entire career with one team. no one played longer than Alex Delvecchio. Though he was never the star of the Wings, he earned great respect from teammates and opponents for his smart play, snappy wrist-shot, and excellent passing. Delvecchio retired at age 41 with 456 goals and 825 assists.

  • John Ogrodnick — Left Wing
    Born: 6/20/1959
    Played for Team: 1979–80 to 1986–87 & 1992–93
    In his first six full seasons with the Wings, John Ogrodnick scored nearly 250 goals. His 55 goals in 1984–85 were the most ever for a Detroit player at the time.

  • Chris Osgood — Goalie
    Born: 11/26/1972
    Played for Team: 1993–94 to 2000–01 & 2005–06 to 2010–11
    Chris Osgood was the man in goal for the Red Wings when they swept the Washington Capitals in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. After fove years playing for other teams, he returned to Detroit and helped the club win another championship in 2008. He narrowly lost the Conn Smythe voting that spring to teammate Henrik Zetterberg.

  • Igor Larionov — Center
    Born: 12/3/1960
    Played for Team: 1995–96 to 2002–03
    Igor Larionov was in his mid-30s when he joined the Red Wings. He and Slava Fetisov provided leadership for Detroit’s young Russian stars, including Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Slava Kozlov.

  • Johan Franzen — Left Wing/Right Wing
    Born: 12/23/1979
    Played for Team: 2005–06 to 2015–16
    When Johan Franzen gets hot, he is practically unstoppable. His scoring streaks are legendary around the NHL, and made him a fan favorite in Detroit. He tied the team mark shared by Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay by scoring goals in five straight playoff games. In 2010, Franzen set a new team record when he registered six points in a playoff game against the San Jose Sharks.

  • Dylan Larkin — Center
    Born: 7/30/1996
    First Season with Team: 2015–16
    Dylan Larkin was a star in college as a freshman at the University of Michigan. He did not have to go far to start his career with the Red Wings. Larkin proved to be one of the NHL’s fastest skaters and was the first teenager to score in his first game since Steve Yzerman more than 30 years earlier.

More Fun Facts

Johan Franzen signed this photo. I remember the spring of 2008. It seemed like he scored the winning goal in every game. (Author’s Collection)

  • HE SHOOTS HE SCORES
    In a 1996 game against the Hartford Whalers, Chris Osgood fired a puck the length of the ice into an empty net. He became the second goalie in history to score in a regular season game.

  • STREAKING SWEDE
    In the final months of the 2007–08 season, there was no one more dangerous with the puck than Swedish star Johan Franzen. In March, he scored a team-record six game-winning goals. In the weeks that followed, he score five more game-winners during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

  • HATE TO ADMIT IT …
    In 1945, Jack Stewart began a long feud with Boston’s Milt Schmidt. While most hockey feuds are forgotten as the years go by, Stewart and Schmidt disliked each other until the day they died. Even so, Schmidt had to admit that his nemesis was probably the best defenseman of the 1940s.

League Leaders

I have a lot of these old French-language magazines. I got good grades in French class in school, but they’re still really hard to understand. (Sport Revue)

Terry Sawchuk played for the Rangers when I was a kid and I saw him close-up after a game. I swear it looked like he must have had 100 stitches in his face. (Topps, Inc.)

  • GOALS
    1936–37 — Larry Aurie — 23
    1947–48 — Ted Lindsay — 33
    1948–49 — Sid Abel — 28
    1950–51 — Gordie Howe — 43
    1951–52 — Gordie Howe — 47
    1952–53 — Gordie Howe — 49
    1956–57 — Gordie Howe — 44
    1962–63 — Gordie Howe — 38
    1964–65 — Norm Ullman — 42


  • ASSISTS
    1946–47 — Billy Taylor — 46
    1949–50 — Ted Lindsay — 55
    1950–51 — Gordie Howe — 43*
    1952–53 — Gordie Howe — 46
    1953–54 — Gordie Howe — 48
    1956–57 — Ted Lindsay — 55

    * Tied with another player

  • POINTS
    1949–50 — Ted Lindsay — 78
    1950–51 — Gordie Howe — 86
    1951–52 — Gordie Howe — 86
    1952–53 — Gordie Howe — 95
    1953–54 — Gordie Howe — 81
    1956–57 — Gordie Howe — 89
    1962–63 — Gordie Howe — 86

  • GOALS-AGAINST
    1933–34 — Wilf Cude — 1.47**
    1936–37 — Norm Smith — 2.05
    1942–43 — Johnny Mowers — 2.47
    1951–52 — Terry Sawchuk — 1.90
    1952–53 — Terry Sawchuk — 1.90
    2007–08 — Chris Osgood — 2.09

    ** Also played for the Montreal Canadiens

  • PLUS/MINUS
    1991–92 — Paul Ysebaert — + 44
    1995–96 — Vldimir Konstantinov — + 60
    2001–02 — Chris Chelios — + 40
    2007–08 — Pavel Datsyuk — + 41

In the Stanley Cup Finals

I just have the cover of this old program. If I had the rest of it, it would be worth a lot of money. (Author’s Collection)

Steve Yzerman hoists the Cup on this special souvenir program. (Detroit Free Press)

SEASON OPPONENT RESULT
1933–34 Chicago Blackhawks Lost 1–3
1935–36 Toronto Maple Leafs Won 3–1
1936–37 New York Rangers Won 3–2
1940–41 Boston Bruins Lost 0–4
1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs Lost 3–4
1942–43 Boston Bruins Won 4–0
1944–45 Toronto Maple Leafs Lost 3–4
1947–48 Toronto Maple Leafs Lost 0–4
1948–49 Toronto Maple Leafs Lost 0–4
1949–50 New York Rangers Won 4–3
1951–52 Montreal Canadiens Won 4–0
1953–54 Montreal Canadiens Won 4–3
1954–55 Montreal Canadiens Won 4–3
1955–56 Montreal Canadiens Lost 1–4
1960–61 Chicago Blackhawks Lost 2–4
1962–63 Toronto Maple Leafs Lost 1–4
1963–64 Toronto Maple Leafs Lost 3–4
1965–66 Montreal Canadiens Lost 2–4
1994–95 New Jersey Devils Lost 0–4
1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers Won 4–0
1997–98 Washington Capitals Won 4–0
2001–02 Carolina Hurricanes Won 4–1
2007–08 Pittsburgh Penguins Won 4–2
2008–09 Pittsburgh Penguins Lost 3–4

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