60 free Detroit Red Wings trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Detroit Red Wings trivia quiz covers a century of Hockeytown, from the Cougars who played their first season across the river in Windsor to the Yzerman era and the current playoff drought. It starts with the things every fan knows: the octopus, the winged wheel, the Original Six, the Journey song. Then it digs into the Production Line and Terry Sawchuk, the first woman to run an NHL club, the Dead Wings years, Mike Ilitch's purchase, and the drafting of a Peterborough center named Steve Yzerman. The 1990s and 2000s get their due: Scotty Bowman, the 62-win season, the Russian Five, the 42-year drought ending in 1997, the Konstantinov tragedy, the Avalanche brawl, the 2002 and 2008 Cups, Lidstrom's seven Norris trophies and Datsyuk's magic. It finishes with the 25-year playoff streak, the move to Little Caesars Arena and the retired numbers. Every answer has been checked against the team's Wikipedia page and those of its players, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Under what name did the Detroit franchise enter the NHL in 1926?
Cougars
The name honoured a folded western club whose roster Detroit had bought; it became the Falcons in 1930.
Q 02What was the team called for two seasons from 1930 before becoming the Red Wings?
Falcons
The Falcons kept finishing near the bottom of the standings until James Norris bought the club in 1932.
Q 03The 'winged wheel' logo was inspired by the emblem of which club?
The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association
Owner James Norris had belonged to the MAAA, whose 'Winged Wheelers' won the first Stanley Cup in 1893; he thought a red version suited the Motor City.
Q 04How many Stanley Cups have the Red Wings won?
11
That is the most of any US-based franchise; only Montreal and Toronto have more.
Q 05The Red Wings are one of the NHL's 'Original Six'. Which of these is NOT one of the other five?
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers arrived in the 1967 expansion; Montreal and Toronto complete the six.
Q 06Where did the franchise play its first season in 1926-27 because no Detroit rink was ready?
Windsor, Ontario
They moved into the new Detroit Olympia the following season and stayed there until December 1979.
Q 07What nickname is registered as a trademark of the Red Wings for the Detroit area?
Hockeytown
The trademark dates from 1996, the season the team won a then-record 62 games.
Q 08What sea creature do Red Wings fans throw onto the ice during the playoffs?
An octopus
The eight legs stood for the eight wins needed to take the Cup when fish-market owner Peter Cusimano first threw one in 1952.
Q 09What is the giant red-eyed cephalopod mascot that hung from the rafters at home playoff games called?
Al
It was named for ice manager Al Sobotka, whose octopus-twirling the NHL tried to ban in 2008 with a $10,000 fine threat.
Q 10Which Journey song do Red Wings fans sing after home wins?
Don't Stop Believin'
The PA cuts out so the crowd can sing the line about being 'born and raised in South Detroit'.
Q 11In which year did the Red Wings win their first Stanley Cup?
1936
They beat Toronto in four games, then repeated in 1937 against the Rangers.
Q 12Which coach and general manager was the face of the franchise for 36 years from 1927?
Jack Adams
The NHL's coach of the year award still carries his name; Norris kept him on 'probation' for a year when he bought the team.
Q 13What was the famous 1940s-50s trio of Gordie Howe, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay called?
The Production Line
The name nodded to Detroit's auto plants; Alex Delvecchio replaced Abel on the line in 1952.
Q 21At what age did Gordie Howe retire from the NHL in 1980, after a season with the Hartford Whalers?
52
He is the only player to appear in the NHL in five different decades, and skated a shift for the IHL's Detroit Vipers in 1997 for a sixth.
Q 22What derisive nickname was given to Detroit's long slump from 1967 to 1982?
The Dead Wings
A run of questionable trades and a coach who banned long hair and smoking were part of it; the team missed the playoffs most years.
Q 23Which pizza chain founder bought the Red Wings from the Norris family in 1982?
Mike Ilitch
The Little Caesars founder later bought the Tigers too, and the current arena carries his company's name.
Q 14Which Red Wings goaltender joined Howe, Abel and Lindsay for the 1952 sweep to the Cup?
Terry Sawchuk
Sawchuk retired as the all-time leader with 447 wins and 103 shutouts.
Q 15Who became the first woman to head an NHL franchise when she took over the Red Wings in 1952?
Marguerite Norris
She lost a family power struggle to her brother Bruce in 1955, right after the team's seventh straight regular-season title.
Q 16Which 5'7" checker scored the Cup-winning goal in Game 7 of 1954, deflected in by Doug Harvey?
Tony Leswick
Harvey tried to glove the wobbling puck and redirected it past Gerry McNeil instead.
Q 17Ted Lindsay was traded to Chicago in 1957 largely for doing what?
Helping start a players' union
The award for the players' pick as most outstanding player is now named after him.
Q 18Gordie Howe came from which small Saskatchewan community?
Floral
He scored only seven goals as a rookie in 1946-47 and did not hit his prime for a few more years.
Q 19How many times did Gordie Howe win both the Art Ross and Hart trophies as a Red Wing?
Six each
His number 9 was the first the club retired, in 1972; his 801 goals stood as the NHL record until Wayne Gretzky.
Q 20What is a 'Gordie Howe hat trick'?
A goal, an assist and a fight in one game
Howe himself only recorded two such games in his entire career.
Q 24From which junior team did the Red Wings draft Yzerman in 1983?
Peterborough Petes
He led the team in scoring as a rookie and became captain at 21.
Q 25Yzerman was Red Wings captain for how many seasons, an NHL record when he retired in 2006?
19
He retired in 2006 as the longest-serving captain in the history of North American major league sports up to that time.
Q 26What was Yzerman's career-high goal total, set in 1988-89?
65
Detroit was still upset in the first round by Chicago that spring, and missed the playoffs the next year despite his 62 goals.
Q 27Which coach, hired in 1993, led the Red Wings to three Stanley Cups?
Scotty Bowman
Bowman is the only coach to win Cups with three different teams and holds the record of nine as a head coach.
Q 28How many regular-season games did the Red Wings win in 1995-96, then an NHL record?
62
Despite the record, they lost the conference finals to the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche.
Q 29The 1997 Stanley Cup ended a Detroit drought of how many years?
42
The Wings swept Philadelphia; it was the longest drought in the league at the time.
Q 30Which goaltender won the Conn Smythe Trophy in Detroit's 1997 Cup run?
Mike Vernon
Osgood took over as the starter the next season and won again in 1998.