The Detroit Red Wings have so many scoring legends, it's no wonder why they won 11 Stanley Cups. Regardless of the era, at least when the team hasn't struggled through mediocrity, you're getting more than just dynamic scorers here, but a predominant Hall of Fame cast.
So, which Red Wings player leads the bunch, and how many of those listed below resonate with more than just Detroit fans? Let's break down the list of the greatest players who've worn the Winged Wheel and how many career goals they ended up with in Hockeytown.
10 best Detroit Red Wings goal scorers of all-time
Rank | Player Name | Number of Goals |
|---|---|---|
1 | Gordie Howe | 786 |
2 | Steve Yzerman | 693 |
3 | Alex Delvecchio | 456 |
4 | Sergei Fedorov | 400 |
5 | Henrik Zetterberg | 337 |
6 | Ted Lindsay | 335 |
7 | Norm Ullman | 324 |
8 | Pavel Datsyuk | 314 |
9 | Brendan Shanahan | 309 |
10 | John Ogrodnick | 265 |
1 - Gordie Howe
He's one of the greatest to ever lace up the skates not only in Detroit, but in league history. When you're nicknamed Mr. Hockey, you're forever enshrined as one of the faces of the NHL, and that's what Howe brings the table.
And for a while, he wasn't just the greatest scorer in Red Wings history, but the entire history of the league. Only Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin have passed up Howe. While he finished his Red Wings career with 786 goals, he's credited with 801 total.
2 - Steve Yzerman
And, of course, there's Steve Yzerman, who helped fuel the Red Wings dynasty in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But he played like a future Hall of Famer long before he hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time.
Yzerman's 692 goals may clock in at No. 2 in Red Wings history, but he holds the all-time single-season record with 65, a milestone he set in 1988-89.
3 - Alex Delvecchio
Alex Delvecchio haunted opponents for the greater part of 23 seasons, and his 456 goals show why that is. And what's interesting about Delvechhio is that his numbers never jumped off the page; he was just a consistent player, capable of 18 goals and 71 points as late as his age-40 season.
While players like Yzerman and Howe were setting records, Delvecchio's reliable play and longevity is what puts him so high on this list.
4 - Sergei Fedorov
Sergei Fedorov could've snagged more than 400 goals if he just stayed with the Red Wings instead of bolting for Anaheim. But he still ended up in a club that only includes the three players listed above him - the 400-Goal Club.
While Fedorov's abrupt departure might've kept the team from retiring his number until 2026, his scoring prowess was another reason the Wings were the NHL's scariest team during their dynasty run.
5 - Henrik Zetterberg
If there's any player who doesn't get enough credit, it's Henrik Zetterberg, who put up 337 goals while wearing the Winged Wheel for his entire career.
He wasn't with the big club for their first three runs at the Cup, but Zetterberg was a force in that 2008 season, ending the year with 43 goals and 92 points.
6 - Ted Lindsay
Ted Lindsay, one of the game's smaller, feistier players was going to do two things: Hit you, or score on you. The latter was less painful physically, but even more painful overall, since you knew you were likely to play catch-up hockey.
Lindsay initially ended up with 321 goals in a Winged Wheel, before he returned in 1964-65 and put up another 14 after spending five years away from the game, giving him 335.
7 - Norm Ullman
Like some players on this list, Norm Ullman's numbers rarely jumped off the stat sheet, but his consistent play paid off. His best season came in 1964-65, when he put up 42 goals, and 83 points, but Ullman almost always scored between 22 and 30 goals per year.
When that's the case throughout nearly 13 years of solid play, you're going sneak onto some all-time lists. Ullman's consistency continued that same, steady pace after his days with the Red Wings ended, and he found the net 490 times during his stints in Hockeytown and Toronto, with 324 of those in a Winged Wheel.
8 - Pavel Datsyuk
You might remember Pavel Datsyuk for his playmaking prowess, but his scoring was good enough to land him at No. 8 after he found the net 314 times. Datsyuk, like most players on this list, also wasn't solely known for his offensive output, as his defensive game was legendary.
He recorded 754 takeaways from the time they started recording the stat until his retirement in 2016. And when he wasn't winning the Selke Trophy, he was almost always a top-five contender for it.
9 - Brendan Shanahan
It didn't matter who Brendan Shanahan played for; he was one of the best players on the ice. So it doesn't surprise me that he ended up with 309 goals during his nine seasons wearing the Winged Wheel.
His time in Detroit started with a bang in 1996-97, when he found twine 46 times. Shanahan also never scored fewer than 25 goals in a single season throughout his stint with the Red Wings.
10 - John Ogrodnick
Finally, we got John Ogrodnick, who ended his career in Detroit with 265 goals, And if he had some better teams around him, there's a good chance Ogrodnick would've ended up higher on this list.
Instead, he played during the "Dead Wings Era," and he almost always put up at least 35 goals a year. He might be one of the biggest 'what if' stories had he played alongside those earlier Red Wings teams or the dynasty that brewed in the late-90s and early-2000s, but the timing and circumstances weren't there.
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