Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:
20. Detroit Red Wings
Why? The Winged Wheels showed great championship ability in the 1950’s along with the 1990’s and 2000’s
The Good. 11 Stanley Cups is the most for any U.S. based NHL Team. (1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008). 6 Conference Championships, 6 Presidents’ Trophy Titles. Won 62 games in 1996.
The Bad. While the other ‘Original Six’ teams play vastly improved with the new expansion teams coming into the league in 1967, the Red Wings regressed leading to terrible play over the next 20 years. For a brief period in the 1990’s had the longest Stanley Cup drought.
The Ugly. “Darkness with Harkness”. Ned Harkness was a successful college hockey coach at Rensselaer and Cornell. Harkness was hired in 1970 after the Red Wings made the playoffs that year. Sid Abel who was the head coach moved up to the General Manager spot. On January 8, 1971 the Red Wings had only won 12 games out of 38. The players petitioned to have Harkness fired. Harkness was a disciplinarian that might have worked on college players but not for pro players. Owner Bruce Norris, fired Abel and named Harkness GM instead. Other NHL GM’s took advantage by bad trades made my Harkness and sent the Red Wings freefalling at the end of the season the Red Wings finished worse than the two expansion teams (Buffalo and Vancouver). While drafting Marcel Dionne with their first pick, Dionne’s career skyrocketed after being traded to Los Angeles. Harkness was dumped in 1973, from 1970-1983, the Red Wings only made the playoffs once in an era where almost everyone made the playoffs.
Where they play. Little Caesar’s Arena, the new arena in downtown Detroit that nobody is going to. The Red Wings moved from the Joe Louis Arena, which opened in 1979 after owner Bruce Norris planned to flee to the suburbs after two murders occurred near the Detroit Olympia where the Wings had played since 1927.
Owner: Illitch Holdings, Marian and Christopher Illitch took control of the team after their father Mike died last year. Illitch bought the team from the Norris family in 1982.
Coach: Jeff Blashill, was a goalie for Ferris State in the mid 1990’s then became an assistant coach at Miami University. Became Coach of the Year with Western Michigan in 2011. Became Head Coach of the Red Wings in 2015 after Mike Babcock announced he was leaving to take the same position in Toronto.
Top Current Players: Henrik Zetterberg, Dylan Larkin and Jimmy Howard
Hall of Famers: Sid Abel, Chris Chelios, Alex Delvecchio, Sergei Federov, Bill Gadsby, Ebbie Goodfellow, George Hay, Gordie Howe, Syd Howe, Red Kelly, Igor Larianov, Herbie Lewis, Nicklas Lidstrom, Ted Lindsay, Harry Lumley, Reg Noble, Marcel Pronovost, Bill Quackenbush, Terry Sawchuk, Brendan Shanahan, Jack Stewart, Norm Ullman, and Steve Yzerman.