List of Detroit Red Wings head coaches

Mike Babcock served as head coach for ten seasons.

The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) and are one of the Original Six teams of the league.^[1][2] There have been 27 head coaches in franchise history; three during the era of the Detroit Cougars (1926–1930) and Detroit Falcons (1930–1932) and the rest under the Detroit Red Wings (1932–present). Six Red Wings coaches have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as players: Jack Adams, Sid Abel, Bill Gadsby, Marcel Pronovost, Ted Lindsay, and Brad Park, while two others as builders: Tommy Ivan and Scotty Bowman. Adams, Bowman, Ivan, and Lindsay have also won the Lester Patrick Trophy, an award presented to those who have provided an outstanding service to hockey in the United States.

Barry Smith has the highest winning percentage of any Red Wings coach, with an .800 record from the five games he coached on an interim basis with Dave Lewis during the 1998 season.^[3][4] He is followed by Lewis who has a .672 winning percentage.^[3] Larry Wilson, who coached the 1977 season, has the lowest winning percentage (.139). Jack Adams coached the most games of any Red Wings head coach, 964 games during his tenure with the Cougars, Falcons and Red Wings. Adams also has the most regular season losses and ties.^[5][6] The Jack Adams Award, awarded annually to the National Hockey League head coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success", is named after him. Mike Babcock has the most regular season wins.^[6] Jacques Demers is the only NHL coach to have won the Jack Adams Award twice with the same team. Scotty Bowman also won twice, though with different teams: the first time, he was coach of the Montreal Canadiens.^[7] The current head coach of the Red Wings is Jeff Blashill, hired in June 2015 following the departure of Babcock to the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[8]

Key

Key of terms and definitions

Term	Definition
No.	Number of coaches^[a]
GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
T	Ties
OT	Overtime/shootout losses^[b]
Win%	Winning percentage
	Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Red Wings
	Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame
	Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Red Wings and also elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame

Coaches

Jack Adams, shown here as a player for the Toronto Arenas, coached the team from 1927 to 1947.

Scotty Bowman, the 23rd head coach of the Red Wings, coached the team from 1993 to 2002.

Note: Statistics are correct through the 2015–16 NHL season.

Head coaches of the Detroit NHL franchise

No.	Name	Term(s)^[c]	GC	W	L	T/OT	Win%	GC	W	L	T	Win%	Awards	Ref(s)
			Regular season					Playoffs
1	Duncan, ArtArt Duncan	1926–27	33	10	21	2	.333	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][9]
2	Keats, DukeDuke Keats	1926–27	11	2	7	2	.273	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][10]
3	Adams, JackJack Adams	1927–47	964	413	390	161	.512	105	52	52	1	.500	Stanley Cup (1936, 1937, 1943) First All-Star Team Coach (1937, 1943) Second All-Star Team Coach (1945)	[5][6][11][12]
4	Ivan, TommyTommy Ivan	1947–54	470	262	118	90	.653	67	36	31	0	.537	Stanley Cup (1950, 1952, 1954)	[6][11][12][13]
5	Skinner, JimmyJimmy Skinner	1954–58	247	123	78	46	.591	26	14	12	0	.538	Stanley Cup (1955)	[6][11][12][14]
6	Abel, SidSid Abel	1958–68 1969–70	811	340	339	132	.501	76	32	44	0	.421		[6][11][15]
7	Gadsby, BillBill Gadsby	1968–69	78	35	31	12	.526	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][16]
8	Harkness, NedNed Harkness	1970–71	38	12	22	4	.368	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][17]
9	Barkley, DougDoug Barkley	1970–71 1975–76	77	20	46	11	.331	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][18]
10	Wilson, JohnnyJohnny Wilson	1971–73	145	67	56	22	.538	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][19]
11	Garvin, TedTed Garvin	1973–74	11	2	8	1	.227	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][20]
12	Delvecchio, AlexAlex Delvecchio	1973–75 1975–77	245	82	131	32	.400	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][21]
13	Wilson, LarryLarry Wilson	1976–77	36	3	29	4	.139	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][22]
14	Kromm, BobbyBobby Kromm	1977–80	231	79	111	41	.431	7	3	4	0	.428	Jack Adams Award (1978)	[6][11][23]
15	Lindsay, TedTed Lindsay	1979–81	29	5	21	3	.224	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][24]
16	Maxner, WayneWayne Maxner	1980–82	129	34	68	27	.368	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][25]
17	Dea, BillyBilly Dea	1981–82	11	3	8	0	.273	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][26]
18	Polano, NickNick Polano	1982–85	240	79	127	34	.400	7	1	6	0	.143		[6][11][27]
19	Neale, HarryHarry Neale	1985–86	35	8	23	4	.286	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][28]
20	Park, BradBrad Park	1985–86	45	9	34	2	.222	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][29]
21	Demers, JacquesJacques Demers	1986–90	320	137	136	47	.502	38	20	18	0	.526	Jack Adams Award (1987, 1988)	[6][11][30]
22	Murray, BryanBryan Murray	1990–93	244	124	91	29	.568	25	10	15	0	.400		[6][11][31]
23	Bowman, ScottyScotty Bowman	1993–2002	701	410	193	98	.655	134	86	48	0	.642	Stanley Cup (1997, 1998, 2002) Jack Adams Award (1996)	[6][11][12][32]
24	Smith, BarryBarry Smith	1998–99	5	4	1	0	.800	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[4][6][11]
25	Lewis, DaveDave Lewis	1998–99 2002–05	169	100	42	27	.672	16	6	10	0	.375		[3][6][11]
26	Babcock, MikeMike Babcock	2005–2015	786	458	223	105	.649	123	67	56	0	.545	Stanley Cup (2008)	[6][11][12][33]
27	Blashill, JeffJeff Blashill	2015–present	82	41	30	11	.567	5	1	4	0	.200		[8][34]

See also

• List of NHL head coaches

Notes

• ^a A running total of the number of coaches of the Red Wings; thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
• ^b Prior to the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a penalty shootout for regular-season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties.^[35]
• ^c The term(s) column lists the first year of the season of the coach's first game and the last year of the season of the coach's last game. For example, someone who coached one game in the 2000–2001 season would be listed as coaching the team from 2000–2001, regardless of what calendar year the game occurred within.

References

1. "Rosters, Arena Information, and Aerial Maps". National Hockey League. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
2. The Canadian Press (May 14, 2013). "4 of the NHL's Original 6 – Chicago, Detroit, Boston, NY Rangers – among 8 still in playoffs". National Hockey League. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
3. "Dave Lewis". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
4. "Barry Smith". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
5. "Jack Adams". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
6. National Hockey League (2014). "All–Time Regular-Season NHL Coaching Register". NHL Official Guide & Record Book 2015. Triumph. pp. 190–193. ISBN 978-1-62937-011-8.
7. "Jack Adams Award". NHL.com. National Hockey League. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
8. "Red Wings hire Jeff Blashill as new coach". June 9, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
9. "Arthur Duncan". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
10. "Duke Keats". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
11. National Hockey League (2014). "All–Time Playoff NHL Coaching Register". NHL Official Guide & Record Book 2015. Triumph. pp. 274–275. ISBN 978-1-62937-011-8.
12. "Detroit Red Wings Franchise Index". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
13. "Tommy Ivan". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
14. "Jimmy Skinner". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
15. "Sid Abel". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
16. "Bill Gadsby". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
17. "Ned Harkness". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
18. "Doug Barkley". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
19. "Johnny Wilson". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
20. "Ted Garvin". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
21. "Alex Delvecchio". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
22. "Larry Wilson". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
23. "Bobby Kromm". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
24. "Ted Lindsay". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
25. "Wayne Maxner". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
26. "Billy Dea". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
27. "Nick Polano". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
28. "Harry Neale". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
29. "Brad Park". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
30. "Jacques Demers". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
31. "Bryan Murray". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
32. "Scotty Bowman". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
33. "Mike Babcock". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
34. "Jeff Blashill". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
35. "Shootouts are fan-friendly". The Washington Times. October 19, 2005. Retrieved May 24, 2013.