2005-06 Detroit Red Wings season

The 2005–06 Detroit Red Wings season was the 79th National Hockey League season in Detroit, Michigan. The Wings once again found themselves having the best regular season record, scoring 124 points for the second highest point total in franchise history.

The Red Wings began the season with a conflict in goal as recent pickup Chris Osgood was injured in preseason activities and unproven Manny Legace was to start in goal. Legace played great, winning 10 of his first 11 games, and quickly earned the starting goaltender job. The Red Wings decided to start Legace in the playoffs but his inexperience quickly showed and Detroit was knocked out in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers.

Detroit defenseman, Jiri Fischer, suffered a seizure in the first period of a game against the Nashville Predators on November 21. The game was stopped and eventually called as many fans in Joe Louis Arena either couldn't see what was going on or looked on in horror. Fischer was given CPR on the Wings' bench and then carried out on a stretcher. Nashville had a 1–0 lead with in the game and it was decided that the score would be added on to the rescheduled game later in the season.

The Red Wings sold out all 41 home games in 2005–06 as 20,066 fans packed Joe Louis Arena for every regular season and playoff game played in Detroit.

There was no All-Star game this year as the Winter Olympics in Turin took place in February 2006 where nine Red Wings players represented their countries. Kris Draper represented Canada, Chris Chelios represented the United States, Robert Lang represented the Czech Republic, Pavel Datsyuk represented Russia, and Nicklas Lidstrom, Mikael Samuelsson, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Kronwall and Tomas Holmstrom represented Sweden. Team Canada Head coach, Wayne Gretzky, told Steve Yzerman it was his decision as to whether he wanted to play in the 2006 Olympics. Citing his age and playing ability, Yzerman bowed out to give up his roster spot to a "more deserving player".

Sweden won the gold medal in ice hockey as all three goals scored in the gold medal game were by Red Wings. Red Wings' Head Coach Mike Babcock decided to give the five Gold Medal winners from Detroit time to return to Sweden to celebrate. They only missed one game, February 28 against the San Jose Sharks. In that game, Detroit suffered their worst loss of the season, losing by four goals.

Season standings
For complete final standings, see 2005–06 NHL season

October
Record: 11–1–0; Home: 5–1–0; Road: 6–0–0

November
Record: 7–5–2; Home: 4–2–1; Road: 3–3–1 † Game was cancelled with 7:31 left in the first period after Jiri Fischer suffered a seizure on the bench. Nashville was ahead 1–0 and the score would be added to a January 23 rescheduled game.

December
Record: 8–3–1; Home: 4–2–0; Road: 4–1–1

January
Record: 8–4–2; Home: 4–3–1; Road: 4–1–1 †Makeup date for the November 21st game that was postponed. Nashville started the game with a 1–0 lead.

February
Record: 5–1–0; Home: 3–0–0; Road: 2–1–0

March
Record: 11–1–3; Home: 4–1–3; Road: 7–0–0

April
Record: 8–1–0; Home: 3–0–0; Road: 5–1–0


 * Green background indicates win.
 * Red background indicates regulation loss.
 * White background indicates overtime/shootout loss.

Playoffs
The Detroit Red Wings ended the 2005–06 regular season as the Western Conference's first seed and played Edmonton in the first round. Edmonton would go on to defeat Detroit and reach the Stanley Cup Finals, losing in Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Western Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (8) Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton wins series 4–2


 * Green background indicates win.
 * Red background indicates loss.

Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

* Stats reflect games played with Detroit only.

Goaltending
Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Trophies and awards

 * Presidents' Trophy: Detroit Red Wings
 * James Norris Memorial Trophy: Nicklas Lidstrom
 * Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk
 * Lester Patrick Trophy: Steve Yzerman

Milestones
Nicklas Lidstrom recorded his 600th career assist on March 7, [[2006.

Transactions
The Red Wings were involved in the following transactions during the 2005–06 season.

Draft picks
As there was no 2004–05 season to set the order for the draft, a lottery was held in which teams were assigned a number of balls, between one and three, based on the number of playoff appearances the team had had in the past three seasons. As the Red Wings had made the playoffs three consecutive seasons, they were given only one ball in the lottery. The Red Wings ended up with the 19th overall pick.

Detroit's picks at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario:

Grand Rapids Griffins
The Griffins were Detroit's top affiliate in the American Hockey League in 2005–06.

Toledo Storm
The Storm were the Red Wings' ECHL affiliate for the 2005–06 season.