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Like the 1989-90 Maple Leafs and the 2001-02 Blackhawks, this season was a major team anomaly amidst a mostly bad stretch for Detroit.
In 1976-77, the Red Wings were the seemingly usual terrible selves: 16-55-9 for 41 points (13 points worse than the 2nd-worst overall Colorado Rockies!)
But then a miracle- they jumped a whopping 37 points up the standings in 1978!
They managed to make the playoffs for the only time during an otherwise dreadful stretch in a bad era of hockey from 1972-1983 (Post-Howe, Pre-Yzerman)
Dale McCourt as a rookie was the team's leading scorer with 33 goals and 72 points (Only reason he didn't win the Calder Trophy in '78- Mike Bossy scored 53 goals).
Andre St. Laurent posted similar numbers (31 goals, 72 points).
Reed Larson, another standout rookie, had a then-rookie record 60 points for a defenseman (Only 6 other rookie blueliners have ever had more than 60 points in a season- 5 of them (Larry Murphy, Leetch, Housley, Chelios, Bourque) are in the HHOF.
They had 7 other players that scored between 11-20 goals- not overwhelming numbers, but it marked a big improvment from 1977's lowest scoring team.
Jim Rutherford in goal won 20 games (a far cry from his 7-34-6 record in '77)
Rookie coach Bobby Kromm came aboard. The Wings had a surprising 22-11-7 home record at the Olympia.
32-34-14 is not exactly a record that will blow you away, but considering how bad DET was in that era, it was a big deal. Outside of a pair of decent seasons in 1972-1973, this was the only other time they even won 30 games in a season until Yzerman.
Put it all together and you have a shocking turnaround
They made the playoffs and actually won an old best-of-3 preliminary series against the Atlanta Flames.
Next round- they had to play the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs of the late 70s were basically hockey gods whose entire roster was basically a HHOF wing.
Remarkably, they actually WON a playoff game at the Montreal Forum- they got a split against the Habs with a game 2 (one of only 3 postseason home games the Habs lost during their run of 4 straight Stanley Cups).
But that was that.
It was a fleeting moment, but what a moment.
But it proved to be an outlier- the next year, GM Ted Lindsay signed restricted free agent Rogie Bachon from the Kings and an NHL arbitrator ruled McCourt should be LA's compensation for losing their star goalie.
But McCourt did not report. He sued the Wings, Kings, the NHL, and NHLPA. He stayed in DET, but it didn't exactly end up paying dividends as LA improved in the standings and DET sank back to the bottom of the NHL.
For anyone old enough to remember, what are your recollections of when the Dead Wings era was briefly revived?
In 1976-77, the Red Wings were the seemingly usual terrible selves: 16-55-9 for 41 points (13 points worse than the 2nd-worst overall Colorado Rockies!)
But then a miracle- they jumped a whopping 37 points up the standings in 1978!
They managed to make the playoffs for the only time during an otherwise dreadful stretch in a bad era of hockey from 1972-1983 (Post-Howe, Pre-Yzerman)
Dale McCourt as a rookie was the team's leading scorer with 33 goals and 72 points (Only reason he didn't win the Calder Trophy in '78- Mike Bossy scored 53 goals).
Andre St. Laurent posted similar numbers (31 goals, 72 points).
Reed Larson, another standout rookie, had a then-rookie record 60 points for a defenseman (Only 6 other rookie blueliners have ever had more than 60 points in a season- 5 of them (Larry Murphy, Leetch, Housley, Chelios, Bourque) are in the HHOF.
They had 7 other players that scored between 11-20 goals- not overwhelming numbers, but it marked a big improvment from 1977's lowest scoring team.
Jim Rutherford in goal won 20 games (a far cry from his 7-34-6 record in '77)
Rookie coach Bobby Kromm came aboard. The Wings had a surprising 22-11-7 home record at the Olympia.
32-34-14 is not exactly a record that will blow you away, but considering how bad DET was in that era, it was a big deal. Outside of a pair of decent seasons in 1972-1973, this was the only other time they even won 30 games in a season until Yzerman.
Put it all together and you have a shocking turnaround
They made the playoffs and actually won an old best-of-3 preliminary series against the Atlanta Flames.
Next round- they had to play the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs of the late 70s were basically hockey gods whose entire roster was basically a HHOF wing.
Remarkably, they actually WON a playoff game at the Montreal Forum- they got a split against the Habs with a game 2 (one of only 3 postseason home games the Habs lost during their run of 4 straight Stanley Cups).
But that was that.
It was a fleeting moment, but what a moment.
But it proved to be an outlier- the next year, GM Ted Lindsay signed restricted free agent Rogie Bachon from the Kings and an NHL arbitrator ruled McCourt should be LA's compensation for losing their star goalie.
But McCourt did not report. He sued the Wings, Kings, the NHL, and NHLPA. He stayed in DET, but it didn't exactly end up paying dividends as LA improved in the standings and DET sank back to the bottom of the NHL.
For anyone old enough to remember, what are your recollections of when the Dead Wings era was briefly revived?
