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Christopher Boan is a staff writer for BetMichigan.com. He has covered sports and sports betting for more than seven years and has worked for publications such as ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Detroit Red Wings’ Quarter-Century Team: The Most Impactful Players Since 2000
While the Detroit Red Wings NHL postseason drought has officially been extended to nine years, that’s not to say that everything’s been on the skids for the league stalwart, with Detroit winning two Stanley Cups and making the playoffs for the first 15 years of the century prior to that skid. With that in mind, BetMichigan.com wanted to break down which Detroit players have been the most impactful for the squad since the dawn of the millennium, so we utilized Hockey-Reference.com to come up with the players with the most point shares across each of the game’s position groups.
Centers
Player | Years With Team | Quarter-Century Point Shares |
Pavel Datsyuk | 2001-2016 | 111.2 |
Dylan Larkin | 2015-Present | 56.6 |
Sergei Fedorov | 2000-2003 | 27.0 |
Valtteri Filppula | 2005-2013, 2020-2021 | 26.3 |
In the center of the ice, few NHL players this century have done more during their careers than 16-year Red Wings stalwart Pavel Datsyuk, who racked up 111.2 point shares in 953 games with the club in his Hall of Fame career. Datsyuk was a key component of the Red Wings’ championship clubs in 2002 and 2008, notching a career best +41 rating with 31 goals and 66 assists during Detroit’s Stanley Cup run while securing the highest point share total of his career, at 12.6.
Other Wings centers that made the cut for the team’s All-Quarter-Century team were current Detroit forward Dylan Larkin, who has 56.6 point shares across 734 NHL games (all with Detroit), while four-year center Sergei Fedorov (27.0 point shares from 2000-2003) and 11-year Detroit forward Valtteri Filppula (26.3 win shares from 2005-2013 and 2020-2021) also made the list.
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Left Wings
Player | Years With Team | Quarter-Century Point Shares |
Henrik Zetterberg | 2002-2018 | 109.3 |
Tomas Holmstrom | 2000-2012 | 49.5 |
Brendan Shanahan | 2000-2006 | 44.3 |
Lucas Raymond | 2021-Present | 22.6 |
Given the team’s nickname, it’s fair to assume that Detroit has relied upon the wing position to achieve the club’s string of success this century across Michigan sports betting. That assumption would prove correct, at least at the left wing position, where Henrik Zetterberg played for all of his 15 NHL seasons, notching 109.3 point shares across 1,082 games with Detroit from 2002-03 through 2017-18.
During that run, Zetterberg lit the lamp 337 times while adding 623 assists for Detroit, with a career best of 43 goals during the Wings’ Stanley Cup run in 2007-08 and four seasons with 30 or more tallies between 2005-06 and 2008-09.
Other Detroit left wings that made the cut were Tomas Holmstrom, who notched 49.5 point shares in 1,026 games (all with Detroit), while Brendan Shanahan (44.3 point shares from 2000 to 2006) and current team member Lucas Raymond (22.6 point shares from 2021 to present) also made the cut.
Right Wings
Player | Years With Team | Quarter-Century Point Shares |
Johan Franzen | 2005-2016 | 45.8 |
Gustav Nyquist | 2011-2019 | 33.2 |
Daniel Cleary | 2005-2015 | 26.2 |
Brett Hull | 2001-2004 | 25.5 |
Across the circle, the members of the Red Wings’ All-Quarter-Century team weren’t as cut and dry, with franchise stalwarts like Johan Franzen and Brett Hull making the cut, in addition to players like Gustav Nyquist and Daniel Cleary.
Of that quartet, Franzen had the highest point share total, with 45.8 across 602 games with the franchise, including a high of 7.9 in 77 games played during the team’s 2011-12 campaign in the Motor City. The rest of the list includes Nyquist, who had 33.2 point shares across 481 games with the Wings, Cleary (26.2 point shares in 609 games) and Hull (25.5 point shares from 2001-02 to 2003-04).
Defensemen
Player | Years With Team | Quarter-Century Point Shares |
Nicklas Lidstrom | 2000-2012 | 124.1 |
Niklas Kronwall | 2003-2019 | 74.3 |
Brian Rafalski | 2007-2011 | 38.2 |
Mathieu Schneider | 2003-2007 | 32.0 |
Danny DeKeyser | 2012-2022 | 31.5 |
Chris Chelios | 2000-2009 | 31.0 |
On the blue line, no Red Wings player did more during their time with the club this century than Nicklas Lidstrom, who spent the entirety of his 1,564-game Hall of Fame career in Detroit, racking up 211.8 point shares from 1991-92 to 2011-12 and 124.1 point shares between 2000 and 2012.
Across the last quarter-century, the only Detroit player to come close to Lidstrom’s point share total was Niklas Kronwall, who finished with 74.3 point shares in 953 games played with the Wings from 2003-04 through 2018-19.
Throw in other well-known Detroit defensemen like Brian Rafalski (38.2 point shares in 292 games played), Mathieu Schneider (32.0 point shares in 231 games played), Danny DeKeyser (31.5 point shares in 547 games played) and Chris Chelios (31.0 point shares in 497 games played this century) and you have the team’s blue line covered.
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Goaltenders
Player | Years With Team | Quarter-Century Point Shares |
Jimmy Howard | 2005-2020 | 90.4 |
Manny Legace | 2000-2006 | 32.4 |
Between the pipes, few Red Wings goalies have done more during their runs with the club than Jimmy Howard, who posted a career point share total of 90.4 in 543 games played, notching the second highest total of all players at that position in club history behind Terry Sawchuk’s 141.8 point shares in 734 games with the club.
Howard posted a 246-196-70 record in 543 games played with a career save percentage of .912 and a goals against average of 2.62 during his run with the Wings, beating out fellow franchise icon Manny Legace, who was the other goalie to make the cut with a career point share total of 32.4 from 2000-01 through 2005-06.
USA Today photo by Kirthmon F. Dozier.
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