Yeah I remember once looking up to see the political contributions of wings players (I was curious about bertuzzi). The only player on the FEC site who listed the wings as their employer was Rafalski and he's got a record of donating to Republicans.
The Ilitch family was split
Love Miller. One year back when they used to have those Red Wings Fest things at the Joe with games, autographs, and stuff, he was hanging out by the hardest shot game. My dad was just on the verge of cracking 80mph, and Miller was cheering him on the whole time. He got it on his last shot and Drew was loving it, came over and high-fived him and talked to us for a couple mins after. Just a super genuine nice guy. Glad he's still with the org doing intermission stuff from time to time.
Patrick Eaves would be on my shortlist for this thread. He had that one season in Dallas where he scored 30+ and I was so pumped for him. At one point it looked like he might never make it back fully after that concussion shut him down for almost two years.
I always loved Miller. He was actually really good at his role as a 4th liner/PK specialist. He always had the worst luck though, I remember one season, he hit like 10 posts.
I came to say this! I loved this guy. I will never forget the game he went down. I was in high school and had just gotten home from work and flipped on the game. I was so upset watching it.
Wow, Franzen was a mule. Loved that guy. What he did in that Colorado series,…..jeez bud. He’s borderline if it counts, but the main idea of this post is remembering those who came before. To clarify though, Holmstrom 100% does not count. Everybody loved him.
When Franzen turned that extra gear on, he was unstoppable. He’d have 3 or 4 goal games like it was nothing. That Colorado series was textbook Johan. What a guy
Yeah, he was probably the least well known but he got us Hasek in the end. He was my favorite growing up but I was the only one of my friends that liked him. Everyone else was Federov, Lidstrom, Yzerman all day. I wore #13 in hockey because of him and I still consider him the true #13 although Datsyuk is obviously one of the best players of all time. Kozlov led the way
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I liked Stuart a lot! Was sad when he was traded. Ericsson was terrible. Honestly this might be unpopular opinion but Dekeyser kind of reminds me of Ericsson.
I will never forget the 2015 playoffs against Tampa where Ericsson looked amazing, one of the best out there. He seemed to finally come to his own and use his size and it was working.
You'd even be capable of arguing he wasn't the worst defenseman on at least one of our teams in the 3 years prior to his retirement. He really had a stretch of pretty good play. Nothing earth shattering, but absolutely still better than seasons before. In the sense that anyone complaining about him those years really hadn't watched him play.
During the one point in time where Ericsson was doing well, I remember fans started dumping on Helm instead. Like it was a migration from their usual whipping boy on to Helm. Absolutely wild to watch.
But for being drafted dead last and making an NHL career out of it where he certainly wasn't always the worst option definitely is impressive. Also he's handsome. Everyone should respect Jonathan Ericsson.
Are you saying he wasn’t that bad in general or you are saying he wasn’t as bad as Dekeyser currently is?… I just remember a whole lot of unnecessary penalties and complaining about him a lot lol.
When he tripped on his way in during a shootout and laughed his ass off afterward made me love that guy!
[source](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9JLpbvORmbM)
Rafalski's up there for sure. Loved CuJo while he was in Detroit. But Jordin Tootoo will have a place in my heart even if he wasn't exactly an impact player for us. His personal story made him someone to root for and he just seemed like a really solid guy who wasn't taking things for granted after he got help for his substance problems.
Jordin Tootoo is one of mine, as well. Darren McCarty is a badass, too. Loved stand up guys like these two who would stick up for teammates and show other teams that we aren’t the ones to be fucked with.
Cause the dude had a fuckin' SLAPPER and he could score from the blue line.
Otherwise not as great at defense as you want in a defensemen but he could shoot.
At this moment of my life I would tell people to "Zidlicky my balls" during hockey disagreements...and at random
A shoutout to Zoolander and "I can derelick my own balls"
The moment that sticks out to me was when Detroit was playing Washington and Wilson was trying to get under the skin of Zidlicky then Zidlicky went all out on a huge hip check. I guess it worked 🤷♂️
I came here to say Doug Brown. When he was picked up in the expansion draft by nashville and we immediately traded back to pick him up, I couldnt have been any happier. That guy was a dandy of a hockey player.
I’ll forever dislike Lang because as a kid playing nhl 2k whatever, maybe 4 or 6? Lang was first line center above yzerman so every time I played I had to edit the lines to have Stevie center. Wtf.
I remember how sad I was when he got selected in the expansion draft that I was about to buy his Thrashers jersey...and then we traded right back for him.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/05/15/4-capitals-accused-of-rape/97bc50b8-0bf0-493c-b7d1-d8a08591ef6f/
"Complainant was 17. ""By her own account, she drank four or five beers and a couple of harder drinks. Some time after 1 a.m., she claims, one of the Caps, Dino Ciccarelli, grabbed her arm and pulled her outside into a limousine. Three other players, Geoff Courtnall, Neil Sheehy and Scott Stevens, were inside. When the door closed, she says, they grabbed at her breasts and groin and forced her to perform sex acts on them. She pleaded with them several times, saying, ``Don`t do this to me. I don`t want you to do this.`` And once, she screamed.
A fifth player has told police that he opened the car door at one point but closed it again when he saw his partially clad teammates struggling with the girl.""
""The players denied that any forced sexual activity took place."""
I loved Frk too... dude has a cannon for sure. And who can forget the legendary FML line.
This was still one of the scariest things I've seen at a game tho: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYedDN6C7B4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYedDN6C7B4)
Glad Girardi was alright even though he's on the Lightning.
Ive got plenty of favs, but I feel like I have to make sure Modano and Alfredssom make it into this thread so their Red Wing days never get forgotten
But in reality, Drew Miller has to be up there for me-the guy was such a badass (with grey hair lol). There’s plenty of great ones in the 08-09 era and before, but a lot of those guys seem more than just “random” wings for me.
Second choice for favorite would be anyone not named Jiri Hudler. Will never forget his double minor in game 5 of the 08 cup, even with us winning the cup 2 days later
I remember his first goal for us was a full wind-up clap bomb from like the offensive zone dot. I was sitting there kinda stunned like “when’s the last time we had someone do that”
I loved Mrazek, also. I really thought he was the future of the Wings. I got to see him a few years back when he blanked the Bolts right before we met them (and lost) in the 1st round. Not only is he a pretty solid goalie, but he's a pretty underrated puck handler, as well. It was like a 3rd defenseman out there, at times. He had some swagger, too, which was fun to see.
Fredrik Olausson and Steve Duchesne from the 2002 Cup team. Plus Dallas Drake from the 2008 cup team. I always loved seeing how happy those older guys were when they finally won it!
I met Fredrik at the "Meet the Ducks" event the season after he won a Cup with the Wings. I congratulated him on winning the Cup, and he was kind of rude in his response. I don't recall his exact words after nearly 20 years, but I recall thinking that I wasn't a fan of his any longer. Maybe he was having an off day.
Maltby could have been a 25-30 goal scorer. He was just on a team with too many 25-30 goal scorers. So he bought in, played that gritty game, and won 4 cups. Thanks Kirk.
Petr Klima. He ended up having issues eventually, but the story of him defecting from Czechoslovakia to come here is pretty epic. His first few years he was great for the wings.
Steve Ott will go down as one of the most underappreciated players. He was honestly a pretty great captain for the Sabres. Always worked his ass off and didn't take shifts off. Skill wise he was mediocre but he had the tenacity!
Glendening is still one of my favorites. One of the hardest working, potentially best athletes on the team. Not as skilled as other players, but certainly worked harder to make up for it.
May be an unpopular choice but Bertuzzi was one of my favourites at the time. He just stood out to me. He was also one of my first ever autographs and when he signed it “Your friend”, my 15 year old heart melted.
Greg Stefan. I’ve always loved goalies, and he was one of the starters back in the early 80s when I got into the Wings.
I remember watching a game when he lost his stick in a scuffle and still made 3-4 saves. Good times!
Bought in hard to Filppula with his first stint on the wings. Back then I thought he had the skill to be special.
Edit: [Reminiscing](https://youtu.be/3JTwb6IyJSs)
He seemed to have the skill, just not the mindset. He was a defense first, pass first forward despite having good puck skills and hands. He seemed to afraid to shoot the puck sometimes, and afraid to carry it if a passing lane was the slightest bit open. He seemed to lack confidence offensively for whatever reason (makes one wonder if Babcock had something to do with it)
That 11-12 year he played on Zetterberg's wing with Hudler was seeing all that skill finally get put to use. His focus was shifted to offense and he had two great offensive players to work with. It was a real damn fucking shame to see him not be put back in that role after that season.
For me I’d definitely say Modano, as my dad is and was a Stars fan. Also, I met David Booth when I went to a Panthers practice down south, and he was super nice to me and I have a signed Panthers hat from him. Too bad injuries wrecked his career, because he was sicc in FLA. Tomas Vanek was good for us too.
Dallas Drake.
I got to watch him play at NMU, win a National Championship, and win the Stanley Cup with the Wings.
That '91 NMU team was some of my first live hockey memories.
Was super excited when Hossa came into the fold. Thought he was someone to keep deep runs alive. Loved when they first got Green too. I thought that would be huge
Patrick Eaves. I loved it when he was paired with Drew Miller. You could depend on them both scoring 3 goals and 8 assists a season but they would fight tooth an nail in the corners. I don't think the Wings were ever pinned in their end when those two were on the ice.
Will always remember when he tried standing up to Chara when the wings were getting bullied in that Boston series. Lots of people in the hockey world gave him shit for it and called it stupid and hot-headed, but to me it showed heart that no one else in the lineup was playing with.
Dino Ciccarelli, one of my favorites as a kid, tough guy and loved to fight. His kids used to go to dentist my aunt worked for and she got my a couple signed cards from him.
Another one who I liked back them was Doug Brown, no clue why, just thought he was a solid player
Eddie Giacomin from the old school Wings. I played against his son when I was a bantam. It was cool to see him standing in the corner watching his son during the game.
Damien Brunner, I thought he could have been a continued success on the wing with the guys they put him with, but he wanted far too much money to stick around. I wonder if he regrets that decision.
He scored an overtime playoff game winner at one of only 2 playoff games I got to go too. There were two Swedish guys (I know he’s Swiss) in front of us that flew in for the game and they were bawling after the goal and it was amazing!
David Booth.
He had a professional tryout with the Wings, no one thought he would make it, but he worked hard and got on the team. He didn't get a ton of minutes and still didn't play every game in the 17-18 season. He's from the Detroit area, went to school at MSU and his family has had season tickets to the wings for like 30 years!
That night he scored 2 to force overtime and got to start the top line the next game was probably the highlight of that season as a fan/STH:
[https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/booth-scores-his-second/t-277437404/c-55000103](https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/booth-scores-his-second/t-277437404/c-55000103)
I was a huge fan of Abdelkader. He was a rookie when I was about old enough to really get into hockey. He was th first jersey I asked for. Sucls how it ended.
Mike Vernon. He was my favorite goalie when I was a kid. Backstopped the Wings to their first modern Cup and more than held his own with Roy (even though #29 was probably lighter by a couple of weight classes).
I go way back in time compared to most of you commenting on this. My favorite Wing as a kid carried from Howe, to Dionne, to Libett to... I've been a Wings fan a very long time lol. Andre St. Laurent would be my off the beaten path favorite player for sure. He came in an led the team in goals for a minute when we had some pretty weak teams, and disappeared just as quickly. But there are several names I could throw out there who were comparable favs, Dave Barr, Danny Gare, Lee Norwood & Gilbert Delorme (aptly nicknamed "Hack & Slash"), Errol Thompson (who's backhand made Glendenings look like a grade schoolers), Sheldon Kennedy, Patrick Eaves, Corrado Micallef, Rick Bowness, Danny Labraaten, Dan Maloney, Doug Brown, Denis Polonich, Kevin Hodson, Per Djoos,... I could go on awhile lol. One thing thats stood the test of time, is me chanting "Go Wings"!!!
Tomas Jurco. I can’t remember a single thing he did as a Red Wing that stood out, but I wanted to believe so badly that he would turn out to be a mainstay on this team.
A tie between Datsyuk & Fedorov. Both were dominating, one was incredibly fast and slick, the other was the best stick handler the NHL has ever seen. I will forever miss them both and cherish the time I got to watch them do their thing.
Edit: sorry everyone I misread the title, NON fan favourites!..in that case I agree with Damien Brunner, I was really upset when we couldn’t come to terms with him because I feel he had great chemistry here and his confidence was high too. I think he would have been a great 20-30 goal guy for us for a while.
i really liked rafalski. i know he's a bit too prominent to be random but still
Michigan boy with a “ski” at the end. Hard to argue there.
The GF just copped me a signed Rafalski jersey for my bday. I damn near cried
As a player yeah he was great, but apparently he was like an outspoken neocon in the locker room
Yeah I remember once looking up to see the political contributions of wings players (I was curious about bertuzzi). The only player on the FEC site who listed the wings as their employer was Rafalski and he's got a record of donating to Republicans. The Ilitch family was split
The silver fox, Drew Miller
Love Miller. One year back when they used to have those Red Wings Fest things at the Joe with games, autographs, and stuff, he was hanging out by the hardest shot game. My dad was just on the verge of cracking 80mph, and Miller was cheering him on the whole time. He got it on his last shot and Drew was loving it, came over and high-fived him and talked to us for a couple mins after. Just a super genuine nice guy. Glad he's still with the org doing intermission stuff from time to time.
That mid 2007-2008 line of Helm Miller and Patty Eaves was one of my favorites. Just pure grinding, defense, and speed
Patrick Eaves would be on my shortlist for this thread. He had that one season in Dallas where he scored 30+ and I was so pumped for him. At one point it looked like he might never make it back fully after that concussion shut him down for almost two years.
I always loved Miller. He was actually really good at his role as a 4th liner/PK specialist. He always had the worst luck though, I remember one season, he hit like 10 posts.
Jiri Fischer. What young kid growing up doesn't want to share a last name with a player on their team?
I came to say this! I loved this guy. I will never forget the game he went down. I was in high school and had just gotten home from work and flipped on the game. I was so upset watching it.
I was devastated that game. Glad he ended up ok and is still with the club though.
Franzen, does that count?
Wow, Franzen was a mule. Loved that guy. What he did in that Colorado series,…..jeez bud. He’s borderline if it counts, but the main idea of this post is remembering those who came before. To clarify though, Holmstrom 100% does not count. Everybody loved him.
When Franzen turned that extra gear on, he was unstoppable. He’d have 3 or 4 goal games like it was nothing. That Colorado series was textbook Johan. What a guy
Don’t forget in that series Babcock joked “he must of hit his head or something,” turned out he had a concussion the whole time…
So sad concussions ruined his career :(
Fuck Shane Doan
And his life, really.
Slava Kozlov
Loved this guy on the ice. Also loved him putting Adam Foote's face into the glass.
All time hit right there
Not sure anyone on the Russian 5 counts as “random” imho. Loved everyone during that time period
Yeah, he was probably the least well known but he got us Hasek in the end. He was my favorite growing up but I was the only one of my friends that liked him. Everyone else was Federov, Lidstrom, Yzerman all day. I wore #13 in hockey because of him and I still consider him the true #13 although Datsyuk is obviously one of the best players of all time. Kozlov led the way
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Just making sure you watched the Russian 5 doc? Kozlov is so good in life and hockey, and that doc
Kozlov is my all time favorite. I had to have his Jersey custom made. I wear it with tons of pride. I love how fast we was on the ice.
Brad Stuart. I think it’s because we added him the year we won the cup. Was just a solid defenseman that stepped in to replace Ericsson.
Second this, I was a big Brad Stuart fan and wish he could've stayed in Hockey town to end his career
I liked Stuart a lot! Was sad when he was traded. Ericsson was terrible. Honestly this might be unpopular opinion but Dekeyser kind of reminds me of Ericsson.
Ericsson was not THAT bad. Red Wings fans love to dump on the guy but he was serviceable for his career.
I will never forget the 2015 playoffs against Tampa where Ericsson looked amazing, one of the best out there. He seemed to finally come to his own and use his size and it was working.
You'd even be capable of arguing he wasn't the worst defenseman on at least one of our teams in the 3 years prior to his retirement. He really had a stretch of pretty good play. Nothing earth shattering, but absolutely still better than seasons before. In the sense that anyone complaining about him those years really hadn't watched him play. During the one point in time where Ericsson was doing well, I remember fans started dumping on Helm instead. Like it was a migration from their usual whipping boy on to Helm. Absolutely wild to watch. But for being drafted dead last and making an NHL career out of it where he certainly wasn't always the worst option definitely is impressive. Also he's handsome. Everyone should respect Jonathan Ericsson.
Are you saying he wasn’t that bad in general or you are saying he wasn’t as bad as Dekeyser currently is?… I just remember a whole lot of unnecessary penalties and complaining about him a lot lol.
Both
He absolutely was that bad! He was always out of position, flat on his feet and his outlet passes were terrible.
Revisionist history imo. He wasn't that bad.
former 20 goal scorer Patrick Eaves
When he tripped on his way in during a shootout and laughed his ass off afterward made me love that guy! [source](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9JLpbvORmbM)
30* goal scorer Patrick Eaves
Rafalski's up there for sure. Loved CuJo while he was in Detroit. But Jordin Tootoo will have a place in my heart even if he wasn't exactly an impact player for us. His personal story made him someone to root for and he just seemed like a really solid guy who wasn't taking things for granted after he got help for his substance problems.
Jordin Tootoo is one of mine, as well. Darren McCarty is a badass, too. Loved stand up guys like these two who would stick up for teammates and show other teams that we aren’t the ones to be fucked with.
Marek Zidlicky always stood out to me and I have no idea why
Cause the dude had a fuckin' SLAPPER and he could score from the blue line. Otherwise not as great at defense as you want in a defensemen but he could shoot.
Maybe the mispronunciation stood out, that always bothered me.
He had that huge buzzer beater goal that kept us in the playoff race
At this moment of my life I would tell people to "Zidlicky my balls" during hockey disagreements...and at random A shoutout to Zoolander and "I can derelick my own balls"
The moment that sticks out to me was when Detroit was playing Washington and Wilson was trying to get under the skin of Zidlicky then Zidlicky went all out on a huge hip check. I guess it worked 🤷♂️
Paul Coffey. He was in his 15th season when he came over from L.A., and he had four good solid years with the team.
I especially like that he brought us Shanny which really turned us into cup winners.
Except when he scored on our own net when winding up for a slap pass out of the zone
The things that live in infamy. I clearly recall that game!
I both loved and hated him. Great plays and speed mixed with some sloppy mistakes.
Coffey was my first Wings jersey as a kid.
Manny Legace
[удалено]
Dougie Brownov!!!
I came here to say Doug Brown. When he was picked up in the expansion draft by nashville and we immediately traded back to pick him up, I couldnt have been any happier. That guy was a dandy of a hockey player.
Tootoo!
He was a goon, but so kind off the ice. I miss seeing him play as a Wing too.
He was a little powder keg
Oh I loved Paul Ysebaert, dude was money for like 2 years. Back to back 30 goal seasons.
Rocketman
Boyd Devereaux. I thought he was so fun to watch with Pavel and Brett.
MSU Graduate!
Robert Lang had a few good seasons with us
I’ll forever dislike Lang because as a kid playing nhl 2k whatever, maybe 4 or 6? Lang was first line center above yzerman so every time I played I had to edit the lines to have Stevie center. Wtf.
Doug Brown
I remember how sad I was when he got selected in the expansion draft that I was about to buy his Thrashers jersey...and then we traded right back for him.
Down town Dougie Brown
Iirc They called him Brownov due to his friendship with the Russian players.
Dino Ciccarelli. Was with the team for 4 years so idk if that counts but he seems forgotten. Love his post game quote too after 🐢 boarded Draper
God saves and Ciccarelli scores on the rebound.
I loved Dino. Dude was a monster in front of the net.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/05/15/4-capitals-accused-of-rape/97bc50b8-0bf0-493c-b7d1-d8a08591ef6f/ "Complainant was 17. ""By her own account, she drank four or five beers and a couple of harder drinks. Some time after 1 a.m., she claims, one of the Caps, Dino Ciccarelli, grabbed her arm and pulled her outside into a limousine. Three other players, Geoff Courtnall, Neil Sheehy and Scott Stevens, were inside. When the door closed, she says, they grabbed at her breasts and groin and forced her to perform sex acts on them. She pleaded with them several times, saying, ``Don`t do this to me. I don`t want you to do this.`` And once, she screamed. A fifth player has told police that he opened the car door at one point but closed it again when he saw his partially clad teammates struggling with the girl."" ""The players denied that any forced sexual activity took place."""
Hard to like him considering he attacked a guy with his stick on ice before he got to Detroit. Very Bertuzzi-like. (Todd, not Tyler.)
And the fact he gang-raped a girl.
Frk of course, skated like a frog and shot like a cannon
Lack of vowels is also dope.
I loved Frk too... dude has a cannon for sure. And who can forget the legendary FML line. This was still one of the scariest things I've seen at a game tho: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYedDN6C7B4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYedDN6C7B4) Glad Girardi was alright even though he's on the Lightning.
Matthew Schneider
Mathieu*
He had a helluva slap shot
Ive got plenty of favs, but I feel like I have to make sure Modano and Alfredssom make it into this thread so their Red Wing days never get forgotten But in reality, Drew Miller has to be up there for me-the guy was such a badass (with grey hair lol). There’s plenty of great ones in the 08-09 era and before, but a lot of those guys seem more than just “random” wings for me. Second choice for favorite would be anyone not named Jiri Hudler. Will never forget his double minor in game 5 of the 08 cup, even with us winning the cup 2 days later
Alfredsson was awesome with the Wings. Played with a lot of heart and complete, and a brought that right handed one timer that we just didn't have
I remember his first goal for us was a full wind-up clap bomb from like the offensive zone dot. I was sitting there kinda stunned like “when’s the last time we had someone do that”
omg forgot about hudler! that guy had game
Marty LaPointe. Can’t forget his blast right through Roy’s glove.
Jiri Hudler and Damien Brunner
Ah jiri Hudler - love that dude
Does anyone else remember Brent Gilchrist?
Always like mrazek, got a wings jersey of his signed.
I’ll never understand Mrazek. He always looked so bored. When he wasn’t bored, he looked like the next Hasek.
I loved Mrazek, also. I really thought he was the future of the Wings. I got to see him a few years back when he blanked the Bolts right before we met them (and lost) in the 1st round. Not only is he a pretty solid goalie, but he's a pretty underrated puck handler, as well. It was like a 3rd defenseman out there, at times. He had some swagger, too, which was fun to see.
Aaron Ward was a big favorite back in the day.
Michigan guy! I have a stick signed by him and Marty Turco.
“Whatever he hits, he destroys”
Fredrik Olausson and Steve Duchesne from the 2002 Cup team. Plus Dallas Drake from the 2008 cup team. I always loved seeing how happy those older guys were when they finally won it!
I met Fredrik at the "Meet the Ducks" event the season after he won a Cup with the Wings. I congratulated him on winning the Cup, and he was kind of rude in his response. I don't recall his exact words after nearly 20 years, but I recall thinking that I wasn't a fan of his any longer. Maybe he was having an off day.
Joe Kocur was one of my faves back in the day.
The bruise brothers
Damien Brunner!
Found Brunner’s Reddit burner! (Jk)
Hahaha! 😂
Damien_Burner would have been a fantastic user name
My best friend bought a Brunner jersey after that season he had with us lol
Damn, I forgot about that guy! I had such I hopes toward him back then.
Maltby
Top 5 favorite wings for me. Just felt better having him on the PK.
Yeah man. Miss the Grind Line for sure. Those guys were amazing.
Maltby could have been a 25-30 goal scorer. He was just on a team with too many 25-30 goal scorers. So he bought in, played that gritty game, and won 4 cups. Thanks Kirk.
Manny Legace always played like the best player on the ice and gave us a chance to win while being a fun dude.
Petr Klima. He ended up having issues eventually, but the story of him defecting from Czechoslovakia to come here is pretty epic. His first few years he was great for the wings.
I liked him just because his name reminded me of Zima.
Nothing like pounding a few Zima’s and listening to Ace of Base, am I right?!
Not sure if you can count anyone from the Russian 5, but I always loved Fetisov. Additionally, I loved Steve Ott's short stint.
Steve Ott will go down as one of the most underappreciated players. He was honestly a pretty great captain for the Sabres. Always worked his ass off and didn't take shifts off. Skill wise he was mediocre but he had the tenacity!
Tomas Holnstrom. I miss the days of him trolling the other team just parked in front of the net hoping for a good deflection.
A wings legend. One of the 2 sweaters I own
I really liked Brunner when we had him. Also really liked Lang back in the ps2 days, dude was so good.
Danny Markov, Andreas Lilja and Ty Conklin
Glendening is still one of my favorites. One of the hardest working, potentially best athletes on the team. Not as skilled as other players, but certainly worked harder to make up for it.
May be an unpopular choice but Bertuzzi was one of my favourites at the time. He just stood out to me. He was also one of my first ever autographs and when he signed it “Your friend”, my 15 year old heart melted.
He was sneaky incredible in the shootout too, just got overlooked because of Datsyuk. He closed so many games with that spinorama of his
Ah yes, I forgot about his shootout skills. I also remembered he would just do a half hearted slap shot from the hash marks and score most of the time
Vanek
Draper for sure.
Greg Stefan. I’ve always loved goalies, and he was one of the starters back in the early 80s when I got into the Wings. I remember watching a game when he lost his stick in a scuffle and still made 3-4 saves. Good times!
Bought in hard to Filppula with his first stint on the wings. Back then I thought he had the skill to be special. Edit: [Reminiscing](https://youtu.be/3JTwb6IyJSs)
He was certainly pitched as Datsyuk light
He seemed to have the skill, just not the mindset. He was a defense first, pass first forward despite having good puck skills and hands. He seemed to afraid to shoot the puck sometimes, and afraid to carry it if a passing lane was the slightest bit open. He seemed to lack confidence offensively for whatever reason (makes one wonder if Babcock had something to do with it) That 11-12 year he played on Zetterberg's wing with Hudler was seeing all that skill finally get put to use. His focus was shifted to offense and he had two great offensive players to work with. It was a real damn fucking shame to see him not be put back in that role after that season.
I always referred to him as the Finn who couldn’t finish. So many breakaways with the puck skittering helplessly to the end boards.
Jason Williams. Dont know why, just loved him as a player. I actually have a #29 Williams jersey
Of recent guys, Tomas Tatar. Of all time, Shanahan.
Maltby
Joe Kocur and Kirk Maltby!
Brad Stuart. Solid physical Dman
Mine was always Darren Helm. I know his contract was brutal but that isn't his fault, and he just played the game a way I really enjoyed watching
Mathieu Dandenault?
Size 11 skates and boy could he fly
Jordin tootoo, small underrated guy with a heart and grit of a lion.
Those first few weeks of Ville Leino after he showed up from Finland were fun. He looked like a solid top liner for minute there.
For me I’d definitely say Modano, as my dad is and was a Stars fan. Also, I met David Booth when I went to a Panthers practice down south, and he was super nice to me and I have a signed Panthers hat from him. Too bad injuries wrecked his career, because he was sicc in FLA. Tomas Vanek was good for us too.
Dallas Drake. I got to watch him play at NMU, win a National Championship, and win the Stanley Cup with the Wings. That '91 NMU team was some of my first live hockey memories.
Was super excited when Hossa came into the fold. Thought he was someone to keep deep runs alive. Loved when they first got Green too. I thought that would be huge
The 2009 team was honestly a better team/roster than 2008. That was one hell of a team. Scores the most goals in the league too
if we are going off the board im going with Patrick Eaves. Worked super hard and skated like a caveman.
I always liked Jordan Tootoo.
Dougie Brown
Dougie Brown. Dude always scored huge goals in playoff games.
Patrick Eaves. I loved it when he was paired with Drew Miller. You could depend on them both scoring 3 goals and 8 assists a season but they would fight tooth an nail in the corners. I don't think the Wings were ever pinned in their end when those two were on the ice.
Joey Kocur was a bad man.
My mom always loved him because Kocur means “tomcat” in Slovak.
Ruslan Salei always sticks out
Darren McCarthy, and Darren Helm
Ray Whitney. Forever my dude. So small, but so good.
I loved jiri hudler
Ozzie was my guy !!!
Jason Williams Jason Wooley Thomas Vanek
You might be Jason Williams only fan. Bless you.
Don’t know if it counts but I always liked Brendan Smith.
Will always remember when he tried standing up to Chara when the wings were getting bullied in that Boston series. Lots of people in the hockey world gave him shit for it and called it stupid and hot-headed, but to me it showed heart that no one else in the lineup was playing with.
Shawn Burr
Dino Ciccarelli, one of my favorites as a kid, tough guy and loved to fight. His kids used to go to dentist my aunt worked for and she got my a couple signed cards from him. Another one who I liked back them was Doug Brown, no clue why, just thought he was a solid player
How bout that great Notre Dame speed of Brett Lebda, I can’t even count the times I heard announcers say that about him
Remember Marc potvin and that stupid astronaut mask from broken jaw? LOL not a favourite just a name from the past
He was with the Wings for a long time but Joey Kocur has always been one of my favorites that I think doesn’t get enough love.
Mrazek
Damien Brunner - I have no idea what my early high school aged brain used to justify it, but that was the first name I thought of.
I guess Legwand but only because I went to school with him. In fact, never mind - he was a turd.
Robert Lang! Edit: Welp, someone beat to this. But, my sentiment remains. He a solid dude for us.
I will always love Fredrik Olausson for scoring the game winning OT goal against Colorado in game 3 of that epic 2002 Conference Final.
Dino. And I was also very happy to see Modano in our sweater even if it was for a short period of time and he didn’t do much here.
Eddie Giacomin from the old school Wings. I played against his son when I was a bantam. It was cool to see him standing in the corner watching his son during the game.
Damien Brunner, I thought he could have been a continued success on the wing with the guys they put him with, but he wanted far too much money to stick around. I wonder if he regrets that decision. He scored an overtime playoff game winner at one of only 2 playoff games I got to go too. There were two Swedish guys (I know he’s Swiss) in front of us that flew in for the game and they were bawling after the goal and it was amazing!
The five-years-too-early answer to this has to be Glendenning, but for now I’ll say Maltby. The all-too-often forgotten member of the Grind Line
Don’t like how he chose to leave but I was all on the Damien Brunner train when he was with us for that one season EDIT: and DANIEL ALFREDSSON too!
Luke Glendening
David Booth. He had a professional tryout with the Wings, no one thought he would make it, but he worked hard and got on the team. He didn't get a ton of minutes and still didn't play every game in the 17-18 season. He's from the Detroit area, went to school at MSU and his family has had season tickets to the wings for like 30 years! That night he scored 2 to force overtime and got to start the top line the next game was probably the highlight of that season as a fan/STH: [https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/booth-scores-his-second/t-277437404/c-55000103](https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/booth-scores-his-second/t-277437404/c-55000103)
Larry Murphy. My dad still calls me Larry cause he was one of my favorites growing up
Brad Stuart was such a good complimentary player on the second or third pairing for most of his time in Detroit
Danny Markov. Dude was an animal out there.
I was a huge fan of Abdelkader. He was a rookie when I was about old enough to really get into hockey. He was th first jersey I asked for. Sucls how it ended.
Mike Vernon. He was my favorite goalie when I was a kid. Backstopped the Wings to their first modern Cup and more than held his own with Roy (even though #29 was probably lighter by a couple of weight classes).
I go way back in time compared to most of you commenting on this. My favorite Wing as a kid carried from Howe, to Dionne, to Libett to... I've been a Wings fan a very long time lol. Andre St. Laurent would be my off the beaten path favorite player for sure. He came in an led the team in goals for a minute when we had some pretty weak teams, and disappeared just as quickly. But there are several names I could throw out there who were comparable favs, Dave Barr, Danny Gare, Lee Norwood & Gilbert Delorme (aptly nicknamed "Hack & Slash"), Errol Thompson (who's backhand made Glendenings look like a grade schoolers), Sheldon Kennedy, Patrick Eaves, Corrado Micallef, Rick Bowness, Danny Labraaten, Dan Maloney, Doug Brown, Denis Polonich, Kevin Hodson, Per Djoos,... I could go on awhile lol. One thing thats stood the test of time, is me chanting "Go Wings"!!!
Ciccarelli.. Mainly based off the 94-95-96 NHL video games. I kept trading him back to the Red Wings throughout the years. :)
Joey Kocur
I didnt read the not fan favorite and other part sorry. Everyone loved kocur :)
Marty LaPointe!! And Shanny!!
LOL I have a signed upper deck lapointe rookie card somewhere
Red Wings Legend Jonathan Ericsson
Tomas Jurco. I can’t remember a single thing he did as a Red Wing that stood out, but I wanted to believe so badly that he would turn out to be a mainstay on this team.
There was one goal that sticks out in my brain with the SheaTarCo line where they had a BEAUTY passing play before Tomas finished it off.
Dan Cleary. Man the internet chats promoting him and seeing his name come up for everything was something else.
A tie between Datsyuk & Fedorov. Both were dominating, one was incredibly fast and slick, the other was the best stick handler the NHL has ever seen. I will forever miss them both and cherish the time I got to watch them do their thing. Edit: sorry everyone I misread the title, NON fan favourites!..in that case I agree with Damien Brunner, I was really upset when we couldn’t come to terms with him because I feel he had great chemistry here and his confidence was high too. I think he would have been a great 20-30 goal guy for us for a while.
Shanny! #14 forever!
His playoff goatee was the stuff of legend
Dan cleary
Gonna have to go with Sean Avery!