1961–62 Detroit Red Wings season

1961–62 Detroit Red Wings
1961–62 Detroit Red Wings
League	5th NHL
1961–62 record	23–33–14
Home record	17–11–7
Road record	6–22–7
Goals for	184
Goals against	219
Team information
General manager	Jack Adams
Coach	Sid Abel
Captain	Gordie Howe
Alternate captains	Alex Delvecchio; Bill Gadsby; Marcel Pronovost
Arena	Detroit Olympia
Team leaders
Goals	Gordie Howe (33)
Assists	Gordie Howe (44)
Points	Gordie Howe (77)
Penalty minutes	Bill Gadsby (88)
Wins	Terry Sawchuk (14)
Goals against average	Hank Bassen (2.78)

The 1961–62 NHL season was the 36th season for the Detroit Red Wings.

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League^[1]
		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Montreal Canadiens	70	42	14	14	259	166	+93	98
2	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	37	22	11	232	180	+52	85
3	Chicago Black Hawks	70	31	26	13	217	186	+31	75
4	New York Rangers	70	26	32	12	195	207	−12	64
5		70	23	33	14	184	219	−35	60
6	Boston Bruins	70	15	47	8	177	306	−129	38

Record vs. opponents

1961–62 NHL Records ^[2]
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	2–10–2	4–8–2	3–10–1	2–10–2	4–9–1
Chicago	10–2–2	—	7–3–4	3–9–2	7–6–1	4–6–4
	8–4–2	3–7–4	—	3–8–3	6–5–3	3–9–2
Montreal	10–3–1	9–3–2	8–3–3	—	8–1–5	7–4–3
New York	10–2–2	6–7–1	5–6–3	1–8–5	—	4–9–1
Toronto	9–4–1	6–4–4	9–3–2	4–7–3	9–4–1	—

Schedule and results

1961–62 regular season^[3]

October

Game	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 12, 1961	2–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	0–1–0
2	T	October 14, 1961	3–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	0–1–1
3	T	October 15, 1961	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	0–1–2
4	W	October 19, 1961	7–3	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	1–1–2
5	T	October 21, 1961	4–4	New York Rangers (1961–62)	1–1–3
6	W	October 22, 1961	5–4	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	2–1–3
7	L	October 26, 1961	0–4	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	2–2–3
8	L	October 28, 1961	5–7	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	2–3–3
9	L	October 29, 1961	3–6	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	2–4–3

November

Game	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
10	W	November 2, 1961	1–0	New York Rangers (1961–62)	3–4–3
11	L	November 5, 1961	2–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	3–5–3
12	W	November 9, 1961	2–1	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	4–5–3
13	L	November 11, 1961	1–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	4–6–3
14	W	November 12, 1961	3–0	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	5–6–3
15	L	November 15, 1961	0–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	5–7–3
16	L	November 18, 1961	1–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	5–8–3
17	W	November 19, 1961	6–2	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	6–8–3
18	L	November 22, 1961	0–4	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	6–9–3
19	L	November 23, 1961	3–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	6–10–3
20	L	November 26, 1961	1–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	6–11–3
21	W	November 30, 1961	3–1	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	7–11–3

December

Game	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
22	L	December 2, 1961	2–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	7–12–3
23	W	December 3, 1961	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	8–12–3
24	T	December 7, 1961	3–3	New York Rangers (1961–62)	8–12–4
25	W	December 9, 1961	3–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	9–12–4
26	W	December 10, 1961	3–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	10–12–4
27	W	December 14, 1961	5–0	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	11–12–4
28	W	December 17, 1961	3–1	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	12–12–4
29	L	December 20, 1961	1–6	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	12–13–4
30	L	December 21, 1961	2–4	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	12–14–4
31	L	December 23, 1961	1–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	12–15–4
32	L	December 25, 1961	4–6	New York Rangers (1961–62)	12–16–4
33	T	December 28, 1961	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	12–16–5
34	L	December 30, 1961	4–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	12–17–5
35	W	December 31, 1961	4–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	13–17–5

January

Game	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
36	T	January 4, 1962	1–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	13–17–6
37	W	January 6, 1962	6–2	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	14–17–6
38	T	January 7, 1962	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	14–17–7
39	L	January 13, 1962	3–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	14–18–7
40	W	January 14, 1962	2–1	New York Rangers (1961–62)	15–18–7
41	L	January 18, 1962	3–5	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	15–19–7
42	T	January 20, 1962	2–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	15–19–8
43	L	January 21, 1962	3–5	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	15–20–8
44	W	January 24, 1962	3–0	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	16–20–8
45	L	January 27, 1962	2–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	16–21–8
46	T	January 28, 1962	2–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	16–21–9
47	L	January 31, 1962	1–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	16–22–9

February

Game	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
48	L	February 1, 1962	4–7	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	16–23–9
49	L	February 3, 1962	1–8	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	16–24–9
50	W	February 4, 1962	6–0	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	17–24–9
51	T	February 7, 1962	2–2	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	17–24–10
52	T	February 10, 1962	2–2	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	17–24–11
53	W	February 11, 1962	5–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	18–24–11
54	W	February 15, 1962	4–3	New York Rangers (1961–62)	19–24–11
55	W	February 18, 1962	4–2	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	20–24–11
56	L	February 21, 1962	4–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	20–25–11
57	L	February 24, 1962	1–6	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	20–26–11
58	L	February 25, 1962	2–8	Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	20–27–11

March

Game	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
59	T	March 3, 1962	2–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	20–27–12
60	W	March 4, 1962	4–2	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	21–27–12
61	L	March 6, 1962	4–5	New York Rangers (1961–62)	21–28–12
62	W	March 8, 1962	3–0	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	22–28–12
63	L	March 10, 1962	0–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	22–29–12
64	T	March 11, 1962	2–2	@ Boston Bruins (1961–62)	22–29–13
65	L	March 14, 1962	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1961–62)	22–30–13
66	L	March 15, 1962	0–4	Boston Bruins (1961–62)	22–31–13
67	W	March 18, 1962	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	23–31–13
68	L	March 20, 1962	0–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62)	23–32–13
69	T	March 24, 1962	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62)	23–32–14
70	L	March 25, 1962	2–5	Montreal Canadiens (1961–62)	23–33–14

Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Gordie Howe	RW	70	33	44	77	54
Alex Delvecchio	C/LW	70	26	43	69	18
Norm Ullman	C	70	26	38	64	54
Vic Stasiuk	LW	59	15	28	43	45
Bill Gadsby	D	70	7	30	37	88
Ed Litzenberger	C/RW	32	8	12	20	4
Claude Laforge	LW	38	10	9	19	20
Bruce MacGregor	C	65	6	12	18	16
Marcel Pronovost	D	70	4	14	18	38
Warren Godfrey	D	69	4	13	17	84
Howie Glover	RW	39	7	8	15	44
Parker MacDonald	C	32	5	7	12	8
Marc Boileau	C	54	5	6	11	8
Allan Johnson	RW/C	31	5	6	11	14
Len Lunde	C	23	2	9	11	4
Val Fonteyne	LW	70	5	5	10	4
Pete Goegan	D	39	5	5	10	24
Larry Jeffrey	LW	18	5	3	8	20
Leo Labine	RW	48	3	4	7	30
Gerry Odrowski	D	69	1	6	7	24
Howie Young	D/RW	30	0	2	2	67
Chuck Holmes	RW	8	1	0	1	4
Forbes Kennedy	C	14	1	0	1	8
Pit Martin	C	1	0	1	1	0
Noel Price	D	20	0	1	1	6
Hank Bassen	G	27	0	0	0	8
Bob Dillabough	C	5	0	0	0	2
Jack Hendrickson	D	1	0	0	0	2
Lowell MacDonald	LW	1	0	0	0	2
Wayne Rivers	RW	2	0	0	0	0
Terry Sawchuk	G	43	0	0	0	12

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Terry Sawchuk	2580	43	14	21	8	141	3.28	5
Hank Bassen	1620	27	9	12	6	75	2.78	3
Team:	4200	70	23	33	14	216	3.09	8

^[4]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals;
MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

Transactions

References

^ "1961–1962 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ "1961-62 Detroit Red Wings Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
^ "1961-62 Detroit Red Wings Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 2, 2009.

[standings-div-1] "1961–1962 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.

[2] "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

[Gamelog-3] "1961-62 Detroit Red Wings Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 2, 2025.

[4] "1961-62 Detroit Red Wings Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 2, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Detroit Red Wings
Founded in 1926 Based in Detroit, Michigan
Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Seasons Current season
History	History (Original Six) Records Award winners Retired numbers Broadcasters
Personnel	Owner(s) Ilitch Holdings (Christopher Ilitch, chairman) General manager Steve Yzerman Head coach Todd McLellan Team captain Dylan Larkin Current roster
Arenas	Windsor Arena Olympia Stadium Joe Louis Arena Little Caesars Arena
Rivalries	Chicago Blackhawks Colorado Avalanche Toronto Maple Leafs
Affiliates	AHL Grand Rapids Griffins ECHL Toledo Walleye
Media	TV Bally Sports Detroit Radio WXYT WXYT-FM
Culture and lore	Victoria Cougars Al the Octopus Grind Line Hockeytown Legend of the Octopus Production Line Red Wings–Avalanche brawl Hakan Andersson "Stanley's Cup" (South Park) Russian Five Karen Newman Budd Lynch Al Sobotka London Lions "Don't Stop Believin'" "Without Me" Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F 1938 European tour 1954 prison game 2009 Winter Classic 2014 Winter Classic 2016 Stadium Series Centennial Classic 2025 Stadium Series
Category Commons

Detroit Red Wings seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

1961–62 NHL season
Teams	Boston Chicago Montreal New York Toronto
See also	All-Star Game Intra-league draft Stanley Cup Finals

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

Player statistics

Regular season

Awards and records

Transactions

See also

References