Founded in 1926, the team was known as the Detroit Cougars until 1930. For the 1930-31 and 1931-32 seasons the team was called the Detroit Falcons, and in 1932 they changed their name to the Red Wings.

The Legend of the Octopus started on April 15, 1952, when two brothers, Pete and Jerry Cusimano, who owned a fish market, decided to throw an octopus onto the ice at Olympia Stadium, with the eight tentacles of the octopus symbolizing the eight wins it took to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Red Wings went undefeated in the playoffs, winning their fifth Stanley Cup, and a tradition was born.

Prior to the 1986-87 season, at age 21, Steve Yzerman was named captain of the Red Wings and continuously served for the next two decades (dressing as captain for over 1,300 games), retiring as the longest-serving captain of any team in North American major league sports history.

When he was just 16, Sergei Fedorov was already playing for CSKA Moscow in the Soviet Union with future NHL Hall-of-Famers Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny, among others. In 1989, Mogilny became the first Soviet superstar to defect in order to play in the NHL. Less than two months later, Fedorov was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, and Detroit sportswriter Keith Gave was asked to pass a secret message to Fedorov at an exhibition game in Helsinki. A year later, when the Soviet national team came to North America to play in the 1990 Goodwill Games, the Red Wings helped sneak him out of his hotel and flew him to Detroit, where he quickly signed a contract.

During the late 1980's and early 1990's, Bob Probert and Joey Kocur became known as "The Bruise Brothers" for their enforcing and punishing style of hockey, as well as the ridiculous amount of penalty minutes they racked up. Probert earned 2,090 PIM in a Red Wings uniform, and Kocur was right behind with 1,963 PIM.

From 1983-84 to 2015-16, Detroit made the playoffs 30 times in 32 seasons, including 25-straight from 1990-91 to 2015-16 (not counting the cancelled 2004-05 season).

Nicknamed "Mr. Hockey", Howe is often considered the most complete player to ever play the game and one of the greatest of all time. At his retirement, his 801 goals, 1049 assists, and 1850 total points were all NHL records that stood until they were broken by Wayne Gretzky, who himself has been a major champion of Howe's legacy.

The Production Line was a nickname for one of the most famous scoring lines in the history of the National Hockey League. The original line consisted of Gordie Howe (right wing), Sid Abel (centre) and Ted Lindsay (left wing), all members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1949-50, when Lindsay won the scoring crown with 78 points, the three finished 1-2-3 in NHL scoring, a feat never again matched, and the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.

The 1936 Stanley Cup Finals marked Detroit's second appearance in the Finals. They would defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the series 3-1 to win their first Stanley Cup.

The fourth game of the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals ended in a near-riot. In the final minute, Detroit's Eddie Wares drew a misconduct penalty and then a $50 fine for arguing and refusing to leave the ice. Referee Mel Harwood dropped the puck for the faceoff while Wares was still on the ice and promptly called a too-many-men penalty on Don Grosso. Grosso threw down his stick and gloves and was fined $25 by Harwood. At the end of the game Detroit coach Jack Adams punched Harwood in the face following a profanity-laced outburst as fans booed the officiating and littered the ice with paper, peanuts, and even a woman's shoe. NHL president Frank Calder and referee Harwood were escorted out of the rink under police protection, and Calder suspended Adams indefinitely.