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	002 !2	.333	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][9]
2	Keats, DukeDuke Keats	1926–27	11	2	7	002 !2	.273	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][10]
3	Adams, JackJack Adams	1927–47	964	413	390	161	.512	105	052 !52	052 !52	001 !1	0.500 !.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	090 !90	.653	067 !67	036 !36	031 !31	000 !0	0.537 !.537	Stanley Cup (1950, 1952, 1954)	[6][11][12][13]
5	Skinner, JimmyJimmy Skinner	1954–58	247	123	78	046 !46	.591	026 !26	014 !14	012 !12	000 !0	0.538 !.538	Stanley Cup (1955)	[6][11][12][14]
6	Abel, SidSid Abel	1958–68 1969–70	811	340	339	132	.501	076 !76	032 !32	044 !44	000 !0	0.421 !.421		[6][11][15]
7	Gadsby, BillBill Gadsby	1968–69	78	35	31	012 !12	.526	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][16]
8	Harkness, NedNed Harkness	1970–71	38	12	22	004 !4	.368	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][17]
9	Barkley, DougDoug Barkley	1970–71 1975–76	77	20	46	011 !11	.331	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][18]
10	Wilson, JohnnyJohnny Wilson	1971–73	145	67	56	022 !22	.538	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][19]
11	Garvin, TedTed Garvin	1973–74	11	2	8	001 !1	.227	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][20]
12	Delvecchio, AlexAlex Delvecchio	1973–75 1975–77	245	82	131	032 !32	.400	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][21]
13	Wilson, LarryLarry Wilson	1976–77	36	3	29	004 !4	.139	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][22]
14	Kromm, BobbyBobby Kromm	1977–80	231	79	111	041 !41	.431	007 !7	003 !3	004 !4	000 !0	0.428 !.428	Jack Adams Award (1978)	[6][11][23]
15	Lindsay, TedTed Lindsay	1979–81	29	5	21	003 !3	.224	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][24]
16	Maxner, WayneWayne Maxner	1980–82	129	34	68	027 !27	.368	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][25]
17	Dea, BillyBilly Dea	1981–82	11	3	8	000 !0	.273	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][26]
18	Polano, NickNick Polano	1982–85	240	79	127	034 !34	.400	007 !7	001 !1	006 !6	000 !0	0.143 !.143		[6][11][27]
19	Neale, HarryHarry Neale	1985–86	35	8	23	004 !4	.286	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][28]
20	Park, BradBrad Park	1985–86	45	9	34	002 !2	.222	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[6][29]
21	Demers, JacquesJacques Demers	1986–90	320	137	136	047 !47	.502	038 !38	020 !20	018 !18	000 !0	0.526 !.526	Jack Adams Award (1987, 1988)	[6][11][30]
22	Murray, BryanBryan Murray	1990–93	244	124	91	029 !29	.568	025 !25	010 !10	015 !15	000 !0	0.400 !.400		[6][11][31]
23	Bowman, ScottyScotty Bowman	1993–2002	701	410	193	098 !98	.655	134	086 !86	048 !48	000 !0	0.642 !.642	Stanley Cup (1997, 1998, 2002) Jack Adams Award (1996)	[6][11][12][32]
24	Smith, BarryBarry Smith	1998–99	5	4	1	000 !0	.800	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —		[4][6][11]
25	Lewis, DaveDave Lewis	1998–99 2002–05	169	100	42	027 !27	.672	016 !16	006 !6	010 !10	000 !0	0.375 !.375		[3][6][11]
26	Babcock, MikeMike Babcock	2005–2015	786	458	223	105 !105	.649	123	067 !67	056 !56	000 !0	0.545 !.545	Stanley Cup (2008)	[6][11][12][33]
27	Blashill, JeffJeff Blashill	2015–present	82	41	30	011 !11	.567	005 !5	001 !1	004 !4	000 !0	0.200 !.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