# 2016–17 Detroit Red Wings season

The 2016–17 Detroit Red Wings season was the 91st season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on September 25, 1926. It was the Red Wings' final season at Joe Louis Arena before their move to Little Caesars Arena for the 2017–18 season. This season also marked the end of the Red Wings playoff streak at 25 consecutive seasons, and was their first losing season since 1990–91. The longest active streak in Major North American sports now belonged to the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA who made the playoffs every year since 1998 until 2020. As of the 2024-25 NHL Season, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins own the longest active playoff streak in the NHL at 8 seasons apiece.

## Off-season

On May 10, 2016, the Red Wings named Doug Houda as an assistant coach.
On May 17, 2016, the Red Wings named Jeff Salajko as their new goaltending coach, replacing long-time former coach Jim Bedard.
On June 9, 2016, the Red Wings named John Torchetti as an assistant coach.
On September 16, 2016, the Red Wings named Shawn Horcoff director of player development.

## Standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 44 | 226 | 200 | +26 | 103 |
| 2 | x – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 44 | 28 | 10 | 38 | 212 | 214 | −2 | 98 |
| 3 | x – Boston Bruins | 82 | 44 | 31 | 7 | 42 | 234 | 212 | +22 | 95 |
| 4 | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 40 | 27 | 15 | 39 | 251 | 242 | +9 | 95 |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 42 | 30 | 10 | 38 | 234 | 227 | +7 | 94 |
| 6 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 35 | 36 | 11 | 30 | 210 | 237 | −27 | 81 |
| 7 | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 33 | 36 | 13 | 24 | 207 | 244 | −37 | 79 |
| 8 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 33 | 37 | 12 | 31 | 201 | 237 | −36 | 78 |
Eastern Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | ME | x – New York Rangers | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 45 | 256 | 220 | +36 | 102 |
| 2 | AT | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 40 | 27 | 15 | 39 | 251 | 242 | +9 | 95 |
| 3 | ME | New York Islanders | 82 | 41 | 29 | 12 | 39 | 241 | 242 | −1 | 94 |
| 4 | AT | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 42 | 30 | 10 | 38 | 234 | 227 | +7 | 94 |
| 5 | ME | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 39 | 33 | 10 | 32 | 219 | 236 | −17 | 88 |
| 6 | ME | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 36 | 31 | 15 | 33 | 215 | 236 | −21 | 87 |
| 7 | AT | Florida Panthers | 82 | 35 | 36 | 11 | 30 | 210 | 237 | −27 | 81 |
| 8 | AT | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 33 | 36 | 13 | 24 | 207 | 244 | −37 | 79 |
| 9 | AT | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 33 | 37 | 12 | 31 | 201 | 237 | −36 | 78 |
| 10 | ME | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 28 | 40 | 14 | 25 | 183 | 244 | −61 | 70 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2016–17 Game Log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 82 | 17 | 51 | 68 | 15 | 22 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 76 | 12 | 36 | 48 | 0 | 18 |
| Tomas Tatar | 82 | 25 | 21 | 46 | −8 | 26 |
| Frans Nielsen | 79 | 17 | 24 | 41 | −19 | 18 |
| Thomas Vanek$^‡$ | 48 | 15 | 23 | 38 | 2 | 16 |
| Anthony Mantha | 60 | 17 | 19 | 36 | 10 | 53 |
| Mike Green | 72 | 14 | 22 | 36 | −20 | 40 |
| Dylan Larkin | 80 | 17 | 15 | 32 | −28 | 37 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 64 | 18 | 11 | 29 | −7 | 28 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 64 | 7 | 14 | 21 | −20 | 50 |
| Darren Helm | 50 | 8 | 9 | 17 | −6 | 20 |
| Luke Glendening | 74 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −10 | 26 |
| Nick Jensen | 49 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −7 | 12 |
| Riley Sheahan | 80 | 2 | 11 | 13 | −29 | 14 |
| Niklas Kronwall | 57 | 2 | 11 | 13 | −7 | 32 |
| Danny DeKeyser | 82 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −22 | 33 |
| Xavier Ouellet | 66 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 51 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | 51 | 1 | 8 | 9 | −2 | 63 |
| Drew Miller | 55 | 5 | 2 | 7 | −12 | 18 |
| Ryan Sproul | 27 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −8 | 6 |
| Steve Ott$^‡$ | 42 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −6 | 63 |
| Alexei Marchenko$^‡$ | 30 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| Brendan Smith$^‡$ | 33 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −1 | 34 |
| Tomas Nosek | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Matt Lorito | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Street | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tomas Jurco$^‡$ | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −8 | 2 |
| Robbie Russo | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Brian Lashoff | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |
| Mitch Callahan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Evgeny Svechnikov | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan Renouf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Petr Mrazek | 50 | 44 | 2,858 | 18 | 21 | 9 | 145 | 3.04 | 1,462 | .901 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jimmy Howard | 26 | 24 | 1,397 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 49 | 2.10 | 675 | .927 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jared Coreau | 14 | 14 | 712 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 3.46 | 362 | .887 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Red Wings. Stats reflect time with the Red Wings only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Mike Green | NHL Third Star of the Week | October 24, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Mike Green | 400th career NHL point 1st career NHL hat-trick | October 17, 2016 |
| Ryan Sproul | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | October 21, 2016 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | 100th career NHL point | October 22, 2016 |
| Steve Ott | 800th career NHL game | October 27, 2016 |
| Petr Mrazek | 100th career NHL game | October 27, 2016 |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | 1st career NHL game | November 8, 2016 |
| Ryan Sproul | 1st career NHL goal | November 15, 2016 |
| Dylan Larkin | 100th career NHL game | November 23, 2016 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 500th career NHL game | November 26, 2016 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | 500th career NHL game | November 26, 2016 |
| Jared Coreau | 1st career NHL game | December 3, 2016 |
| Alexei Marchenko | 100th career NHL game | December 9, 2016 |
| Tomas Tatar | 1st career NHL hat-trick | December 17, 2016 |
| Nick Jensen | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | December 20, 2016 |
| Jared Coreau | 1st career NHL win | December 23, 2016 |
| Tomas Tatar | 300th career NHL game | January 1, 2017 |
| Jared Coreau | 1st career NHL shutout | January 5, 2017 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 300th career NHL game | January 5, 2017 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 100th career NHL assist | January 20, 2017 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 100th career NHL assist | January 24, 2017 |
| Nick Jensen | 1st career NHL goal | January 31, 2017 |
| Mike Green | 700th career NHL game | February 28, 2017 |
| Robbie Russo | 1st career NHL game | March 7, 2017 |
| Niklas Kronwall | 300th career NHL assist | March 18, 2017 |
| Dan Renouf | 1st career NHL game | March 27, 2017 |
| Tomas Nosek | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | March 28, 2017 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 900th career NHL point | March 30, 2017 |
| Evgeny Svechnikov | 1st career NHL game | April 3, 2017 |
| Jimmy Howard | 400th career NHL game | April 4, 2017 |
| Matt Lorito | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | April 8, 2017 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 1,000th career NHL game | April 9, 2017 |

## Suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued |
| Steve Ott | Spearing Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara during NHL Game No. 115 in Detroit on Saturday, October 29, 2016, at 0:12 of the first period. | — | $2,222.22 | October 30, 2016 |
| Gustav Nyquist | High-sticking Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon during NHL Game No. 829 in Minnesota on Sunday, February 12, 2017, at 14:13 of the first period. | 6 games | $158,333.34 | February 15, 2017 |

## Transactions
### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 24, 2016 | To Arizona Coyotes Pavel Datsyuk 16th overall pick in 2016 | To Detroit Red Wings Joe Vitale NYR's 20th overall pick in 2016 53rd overall pick in 2016 |
| February 24, 2017 | To Chicago Blackhawks Tomas Jurco | To Detroit Red Wings 3rd round pick in 2017 |
| February 28, 2017 | To New York Rangers Brendan Smith | To Detroit Red Wings 3rd round pick in 2017 OTT's 2nd round pick in 2018 |
| February 28, 2017 | To Montreal Canadiens Steve Ott | To Detroit Red Wings 6th round pick in 2018 |
| March 1, 2017 | To Florida Panthers Thomas Vanek | To Detroit Red Wings Dylan McIlrath Conditional 3rd round pick in 2017 |

#### Notes

* $^a$ Detroit to retain 50% ($1.3 million) of salary as part of trade.

### Lost via retirement

| Player | Ref |
| Brad Richards | |

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 27, 2016 (2016-06-27) | Drew Miller | 1 year, $1.025 million contract extension |
| July 1, 2016 (2016-07-01) | Darren Helm | 5 years, $19.25 million contract extension |
| July 1, 2016 (2016-07-01) | Alexei Marchenko | 2 years, $2.9 million contract extension |
| July 6, 2016 (2016-07-06) | Jared Coreau | 2 years, $1.225 million contract extension |
| July 13, 2016 (2016-07-13) | Teemu Pulkkinen | 1 year, $812,500 contract extension |
| July 14, 2016 (2016-07-14) | Luke Glendening | 4 years, $7.2 million contract extension |
| July 14, 2016 (2016-07-14) | Filip Hronek | 3 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| July 21, 2016 (2016-07-21) | Mitch Callahan | 1 year, $600,000 |
| July 26, 2016 (2016-07-26) | Danny DeKeyser | 6 years, $30 million |
| July 27, 2016 (2016-07-27) | Petr Mrazek | 2 years, $8 million |
| September 23, 2016 (2016-09-23) | Ryan Sproul | 2 years, $1.25 million |
| October 17, 2016 (2016-10-17) | Givani Smith | 3 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| February 27, 2017 (2017-02-27) | Nick Jensen | 2 years, $1.625 million contract extension |
| April 5, 2017 (2017-04-05) | Dennis Cholowski | 3 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| April 20, 2017 (2017-04-20) | Christoffer Ehn | 3 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| May 2, 2017 (2017-05-02) | Matej Machovsky | 1 year, $925,000 |
| May 24, 2017 (2017-05-24) | Libor Sulak | 2 years, $1.85 million entry-level contract |

## Draft picks

Below are the Detroit Red Wings' selections at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, held on June 24–25, 2016 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 20 | Dennis Cholowski | D | Canada | Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL) |
| 2 | 46 | Givani Smith | RW | Canada | Guelph Storm (OHL) |
| 2 | 53 | Filip Hronek | D | Czech | Mountfield HK (CZE) |
| 4 | 107 | Alfons Malmstrom | D | Sweden | Örebro HK (J20 SuperElit) |
| 5 | 137 | Jordan Sambrook | D | Canada | Erie Otters (OHL) |
| 6 | 167 | Filip Larsson | G | Sweden | Djurgården (Swedish Junior) |
| 7 | 197 | Mattias Elfstrom | C | Sweden | Malmö Redhawks (J20 SuperElit) |

### Draft notes

* The Detroit Red Wings' first-round pick went to the Arizona Coyotes as the result of a trade on June 24, 2016 that sent Joe Vitale, the Rangers' first-round pick and a compensatory second-round pick both in 2016 (20th and 53rd overall) to Detroit in exchange for Pavel Datsyuk and this pick.
* The New York Rangers' first-round pick went to the Detroit Red Wings as the result of a trade on June 24, 2016 that sent Pavel Datsyuk and a first-round pick in 2016 (16th overall) to Arizona in exchange for Joe Vitale, a compensatory second-round pick in 2016 (53rd overall) and this pick.
    Arizona previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 1, 2015 that sent Keith Yandle, Chris Summers and a fourth-round pick in 2016 to New York in exchange for John Moore, Anthony Duclair, Tampa Bay's second-round pick in 2015 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Arizona will receive a first-round pick in 2016 if New York qualifies for the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs – was converted on April 4, 2016.
* The Arizona Coyotes' compensatory second-round pick (53rd overall) went to the Detroit Red Wings as the result of a trade on June 24, 2016 that sent Pavel Datsyuk and a first-round pick in 2016 (16th overall) to Arizona in exchange for Joe Vitale, the Rangers' first-round pick in 2016 (20th overall) and this pick.
    Arizona previously received this pick as compensation for not signing 2014 first-round draft pick Conner Bleackley, whom they acquired in an earlier trade with Colorado.
* The Detroit Red Wings' third-round pick went to the Pittsburgh Penguins as the result of a trade on June 25, 2016 that sent Beau Bennett to New Jersey in exchange for this pick.
    New Jersey previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent Marek Zidlicky to Detroit in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2015 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – New Jersey will receive a third-round pick in 2016 if Detroit does not advance to the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals – was converted on April 29, 2015 when Detroit was eliminated from the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.