1920s
The roots of the
Red Wings
go all
the way back to the old
Western Hockey League, where
the Victoria (
British Columbia)
Cougars were members until their roster was sold to a group from
Detroit on September 25, 1926. The Detroit group had been awarded an NHL franchise on
May 15, 1926.
The team began to
play as the
Detroit Cougars in
the fall of 1926 while playing its
home games in
Windsor,
Ontario. Despite the fact that
the Victoria Cougars had won the
Stanley Cup in 1925 and were Cup finalists in 1926, the Detroit Cougars finished 12-28-4; the NHL's worst
record for the 1926-27 season.
Not only did the team struggle on the
ice, but it performed poorly on the ledger sheet as well where the
Cougars were more than $80,000 in debt.
Help came, the following season, in the form of
Jack Adams as the team's coach and general manager.
Adams had played in the old
Pacific Coast league and in the NHL with the
Toronto St.
Pats and the
Ottawa Senators. Adam's tenure as coach and GM would last until the 1962-63 season, when Sid Abel took over.
The team also moved into the
brand new
Olympia Stadium for the 1927-28 season. A
Detroit and professional
Hockey landmark, the Olympia would serve as
the home for the franchise through the
midway point of the 1979-80 season. With
Adams at
the helm, the team
made the playoffs for the first
time in franchise history (1928-29). However, they were still among the NHL's have-nots and perpetually close to bankruptcy.
More
Red Wings history
http://redwings.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=his_default
; "Detroit Red Wings")
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