NHL Red Wings

Detroit, Michigan is home to one of the most popular and most successful sports franchises in history, the NHL Red Wings. The Detroit hockey club has won 10 Stanley Cups and 4 President's Trophies (awarded annually to the team with the best regular season win-loss record) during their 100-plus year history. The team and its players also currently hold several National Hockey League records. The 1995-96 Red Wings set a new record for most victories by a team in a single season by winning 62 of their games on the year. Gordie Howe, the man known as "Mr. Hockey," set many records upon his retirement but still holds the marks for most games played in a career (1,767) and most career seasons played (26). There are also a pair of former Detroit goaltenders who hold NHL records. Glenn Hall played in the most consecutive games by a goalie (502) while Terry Sawchuk has the all-time record for most career shutouts (103).

Before They Were The NHL Red Wings

The team currently known as the NHL Red Wings started out life as the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League. In 1925, the British Columbia franchise won their only Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens. They were the last non-NHL team ever to win the Cup. In 1926, the Western Hockey League folded. The entire roster of Victoria's players were sold off to a Detroit consortium in 1926, where they became part of an NHL franchise which would also be dubbed the Cougars. Detroit finished their first season with the worst record in the league and over $80,000 worth of debt. In the 1930s, the team became known as the Falcons, but continued to struggle both on the ice and financially. Eventually, the team was sold to James Norris, Sr., who renamed the franchise the Detroit Red Wings. That year, they won their first NHL playoff series. The rest, as they say, is history -- 10 Stanley Cups and over 2,000 wins worth of history at that.