Detroit Red Wings’ 50-Goal Club – Hockey Writers – History of the Red Wings

Although the Detroit Red Wings have been around since the 1926-27 season, they have only a handful of 50 goal scorers – only six, in fact.

When the NHL underwent a points revolution in the 1970s and 1980s, the Red Wings were in the midst of their “Dead Wing” era and did not field many elite players. In addition, the offensive faces of the teams of the First Six era – Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Sid Abel, and Alex Delvecchio – never lit the lamp 50 times in a season at any point in their careers.

It took until the 1972-73 season for the Red Wings to produce their first 50 goal scorer: a familiar face to almost every Red Wings fan today.

Mickey Redmond

Yes, the first 50 goal scorer in franchise history was none other than our favorite color commentator Mickey Redmond. After the Red Wings acquired Redmond from the Montreal Canadiens, the ginger ale and curly fries lover shot 52 goals in his second full season in Detroit. “Mick” followed that performance with a 51 goal campaign the following year before injuries began to take their toll on Redmond.

Danny Grant

WHO? Before the 1974-75 season, the Red Wings traded Henry Boucha to the Minnesota North Stars for forward Danny Grant. The year after Redmond’s last 50-goal season, Grant began to slack off in his 50-goal streak.

Grant will continue to post respectable numbers in Detroit, but may never reach the 50-goal mark again. Like Redmond, injuries struck Grant again and the winner faced Los Angeles as his NHL career came to an end.

John Ogrodnick

Hockeytown would not see another 50 goal scorer until the 1984-85 season, when “Johnny O” set a franchise record with 55 tallies. Playing next to second-year center and franchise face Steve Yzerman, John Ogrodnick thrived in Detroit until he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques.

Related: The 50 Goal Club Collection

Like Grant, he only reached 50 goals in a season once during his career. Ogrodnick is now a member of the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association and participates in charity games across Michigan with Redmond and others.

Steve Yzerman

It took Steve Yzerman a few years to get going, but when he first arrived, Stevie Y was close to unstoppable. Between 1987 and 1993, Yzerman recorded five 50-goal campaigns, including 65 goals in the 1988-89 season. That goal total still stands as the single-season franchise record today.

Under the guidance of Jacques Demers and Bryan Murray, Yzerman was almost at the same level of offense as the talents of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Only Scotty Bowman’s mandate to play great defense prevented Yzerman from reaching the century mark after the 1992-93 season. Because of this, the full captain made the Red Wings even better – Yzerman’s 1997, 1998, and 2002 Stanley Cup rings are proof of that.

Ray Sheppard

Look back at the 1993-94 Red Wings – the team was the best offensive team in the NHL. Yzerman, Ray Sheppard, Sergey Fedorov, Slava Kozlov, and Keith Primeau combined for 197 goals, just one less than the Red Wings’ 2016-17 total.

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Sheppard’s 52 points are the career record for a winger in a single season. Although he wasn’t the fastest player on the ice, Sheppard had quick hands and a nose for the net. He would score 30 points the following year in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, before being traded to the Sharks early in Igor Larionov’s 1995-96 campaign.

Sergei Fedorov

It’s amazing to think that Sergei Fedorov had one 50-goal season to his name – the powerful Russian center lit the lamp 54 times alongside Sheppard during the 1993-94 campaign. That year, Fedorov also took home some hardware at the annual NHL Awards show. He received the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL’s MVP (now the Ted Lindsay Award) and the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward. Good for one season, huh?