1970–71 Detroit Red Wings season

National Hockey League team season

1970–71 Detroit Red Wings
Division	7th East
1970–71 record	22–45–11
Goals for	209
Goals against	308
Team information
General manager	Sid Abel (Oct–Jan) Ned Harkness (Jan–Apr)
Coach	Ned Harkness Doug Barkley
Captain	Alex Delvecchio
Alternate captains	Gary Bergman Red Berenson
Arena	Olympia Stadium
Minor league affiliate(s)	Fort Worth Wings (CHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Tom Webster (30)
Assists	Tom Webster (37)
Points	Tom Webster (67)
Penalty minutes	Gary Bergman (149)
Wins	Roy Edwards (11)
Goals against average	Roy Edwards (3.39)
← 1969–70 1971–72 →

The 1970–71 Detroit Red Wings season was Gordie Howe's final season with the Red Wings. Ned Harkness was hired as coach in 1970 and was promoted to general manager midway through the season. His background was a successful college hockey coach. He tried to force his two-way style of play on a veteran Red Wings team resistant to change. Harkness also demanded short hair, no smoking, and put other rules in place regarding drinking and phone calls. The Red Wings finished in with a 22–45–11 record for 55 points for last place in the East Division, making things even worse was that they finished behind the two expansion clubs that season, the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks.

Offseason

The Fort Worth Wings of the Central Hockey League, coached by former Red Wings' defenceman Doug Barkley, continued to be operated as Detroit's top farm team during the 1969–70 season.

Regular season

Red Wings general manager Sid Abel wanted to get rid of coach Ned Harkness and was overruled by team owner Bruce Norris. Once Harkness took over as general manager, he got rid of players he deemed a threat to him. On January 10, 1971, Doug Barkley was promoted to become head coach of the Red wings, and on January 13, 1971, Frank Mahovlich was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Mickey Redmond, Guy Charron and Bill Collins. Mahovlich was reunited with his brother Pete, who had become a star player himself with the Canadiens. One of the few highlights of the season was the emergence of young rookie goaltender Jim Rutherford.

On October 29, Gordie Howe became the first player to record 1,000 assists in a 5–3 win over Boston at the Detroit Olympia.
The Wings suffered their worst defeat in franchise history January 2, when Toronto beat them 13–0.

Season standings

East Division
v
t
e
		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Boston Bruins	78	57	14	7	399	207	+192	121
2	New York Rangers	78	49	18	11	259	177	+82	109
3	Montreal Canadiens	78	42	23	13	291	216	+75	97
4	Toronto Maple Leafs	78	37	33	8	248	211	+37	82
5	Buffalo Sabres	78	24	39	15	217	291	−74	63
6	Vancouver Canucks	78	24	46	8	229	296	−67	56
7	Detroit Red Wings	78	22	45	11	209	308	−99	55

Record vs. opponents

Vs. East Division

1970–71 NHL records
Team	BOS	BUF	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR	VAN	Total
Boston	—	4–1–1	5–1	5–1	2–2–2	5–1	5–1	26–7–3
Buffalo	1–4–1	—	3–3	0–3–3	0–4–2	1–5	3–3	8–22–6
Detroit	1–5	3–3	—	1–4–1	1–4–1	1–4–1	4–2	11–22–3
Montreal	1–5	3–0–3	4–1–1	—	3–3	2–4	4–0–2	17–13–6
New York	2–2–2	4–0–2	4–1–1	3–3	—	5–1	5–1	23–8–5
Toronto	1–5	5–1	4–1–1	4–2	1–5	—	3–3	18–17–1
Vancouver	1–5	3–3	2–4	0–4–2	1–5	3–3	—	10–24–2

Vs. West Division

1970–71 NHL records
Team	CAL	CHI	LAK	MIN	PHI	PIT	STL	Total
Boston	5–1	2–3–1	5–1	5–0–1	6–0	4–1–1	4–1–1	31–7–4
Buffalo	3–3	0–5–1	2–1–3	5–1	2–3–1	2–0–4	2–4	16–17–9
Detroit	4–2	0–6	1–2–3	2–3–1	3–2–1	1–3–2	0–5–1	11–23–8
Montreal	5–1	3–3	4–2	3–1–2	4–1–1	3–1–2	3–1–2	25–10–7
New York	3–2–1	3–3	4–0–2	6–0	2–3–1	5–0–1	3–2–1	26–6–10
Toronto	3–2–1	3–2–1	3–3	2–2–2	2–3–1	3–2–1	3–2–1	19–16–7
Vancouver	5–1	0–5–1	3–2–1	2–3–1	2–4	1–4–1	1–3–2	14–22–6

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 10, 1970	5–3	California Golden Seals (1970–71)	1–0–0
2	L	October 11, 1970	3–7	@ Boston Bruins (1970–71)	1–1–0
3	L	October 13, 1970	3–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1970–71)	1–2–0
4	L	October 15, 1970	1–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71)	1–3–0
5	W	October 17, 1970	3–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1970–71)	2–3–0
6	L	October 18, 1970	1–2	Minnesota North Stars (1970–71)	2–4–0
7	L	October 23, 1970	3–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1970–71)	2–5–0
8	T	October 25, 1970	3–3	Montreal Canadiens (1970–71)	2–5–1
9	L	October 28, 1970	1–4	@ New York Rangers (1970–71)	2–6–1
10	W	October 29, 1970	5–3	Boston Bruins (1970–71)	3–6–1
11	L	November 1, 1970	4–5	Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71)	3–7–1
12	L	November 4, 1970	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71)	3–8–1
13	W	November 5, 1970	3–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71)	4–8–1
14	T	November 8, 1970	3–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71)	4–8–2
15	L	November 12, 1970	1–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1970–71)	4–9–2
16	T	November 15, 1970	4–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1970–71)	4–9–3
17	W	November 17, 1970	5–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1970–71)	5–9–3
18	L	November 21, 1970	1–6	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71)	5–10–3
19	W	November 22, 1970	4–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71)	6–10–3
20	W	November 26, 1970	4–2	Vancouver Canucks (1970–71)	7–10–3
21	L	November 28, 1970	4–9	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71)	7–11–3
22	W	November 29, 1970	5–3	Montreal Canadiens (1970–71)	8–11–3
23	T	December 3, 1970	4–4	Los Angeles Kings (1970–71)	8–11–4
24	L	December 5, 1970	0–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1970–71)	8–12–4
25	L	December 6, 1970	2–4	St. Louis Blues (1970–71)	8–13–4
26	W	December 10, 1970	3–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71)	9–13–4
27	W	December 12, 1970	5–3	Buffalo Sabres (1970–71)	10–13–4
28	L	December 13, 1970	2–6	@ Boston Bruins (1970–71)	10–14–4
29	L	December 16, 1970	2–4	@ California Golden Seals (1970–71)	10–15–4
30	L	December 19, 1970	1–9	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71)	10–16–4
31	L	December 20, 1970	3–7	California Golden Seals (1970–71)	10–17–4
32	L	December 23, 1970	1–2	Boston Bruins (1970–71)	10–18–4
33	W	December 26, 1970	7–4	New York Rangers (1970–71)	11–18–4
34	L	December 27, 1970	2–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1970–71)	11–19–4
35	L	December 31, 1970	3–8	Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71)	11–20–4
36	L	January 2, 1971	0–13	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71)	11–21–4
37	W	January 3, 1971	3–2	California Golden Seals (1970–71)	12–21–4
38	L	January 7, 1971	4–7	@ Buffalo Sabres (1970–71)	12–22–4
39	W	January 9, 1971	3–2	Buffalo Sabres (1970–71)	13–22–4
40	L	January 10, 1971	2–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71)	13–23–4
41	T	January 14, 1971	2–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71)	13–23–5
42	L	January 16, 1971	2–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71)	13–24–5
43	L	January 17, 1971	0–2	Minnesota North Stars (1970–71)	13–25–5
44	L	January 21, 1971	0–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71)	13–26–5
45	L	January 23, 1971	2–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1970–71)	13–27–5
46	W	January 24, 1971	7–3	Vancouver Canucks (1970–71)	14–27–5
47	T	January 28, 1971	1–1	St. Louis Blues (1970–71)	14–27–6
48	T	January 30, 1971	3–3	Los Angeles Kings (1970–71)	14–27–7
49	L	January 31, 1971	1–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71)	14–28–7
50	T	February 3, 1971	4–4	@ Minnesota North Stars (1970–71)	14–28–8
51	L	February 4, 1971	0–1	New York Rangers (1970–71)	14–29–8
52	W	February 7, 1971	5–2	@ California Golden Seals (1970–71)	15–29–8
53	L	February 10, 1971	2–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1970–71)	15–30–8
54	L	February 12, 1971	3–5	@ Vancouver Canucks (1970–71)	15–31–8
55	W	February 14, 1971	4–0	Los Angeles Kings (1970–71)	16–31–8
56	W	February 18, 1971	5–3	Minnesota North Stars (1970–71)	17–31–8
57	W	February 20, 1971	6–5	Buffalo Sabres (1970–71)	18–31–8
58	L	February 21, 1971	1–4	@ New York Rangers (1970–71)	18–32–8
59	L	February 25, 1971	1–3	St. Louis Blues (1970–71)	18–33–8
60	L	February 27, 1971	2–4	@ Minnesota North Stars (1970–71)	18–34–8
61	W	February 28, 1971	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71)	19–34–8
62	T	March 4, 1971	2–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71)	19–34–9
63	T	March 6, 1971	2–2	New York Rangers (1970–71)	19–34–10
64	L	March 7, 1971	1–4	Montreal Canadiens (1970–71)	19–35–10
65	L	March 11, 1971	3–7	@ Vancouver Canucks (1970–71)	19–36–10
66	L	March 13, 1971	2–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1970–71)	19–37–10
67	W	March 14, 1971	8–5	@ California Golden Seals (1970–71)	20–37–10
68	L	March 16, 1971	4–11	Boston Bruins (1970–71)	20–38–10
69	L	March 18, 1971	3–7	@ Boston Bruins (1970–71)	20–39–10
70	L	March 20, 1971	1–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1970–71)	20–40–10
71	L	March 21, 1971	0–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71)	20–41–10
72	L	March 24, 1971	2–8	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71)	20–42–10
73	W	March 25, 1971	4–3	Vancouver Canucks (1970–71)	21–42–10
74	L	March 27, 1971	2–9	@ Montreal Canadiens (1970–71)	21–43–10
75	W	March 28, 1971	2–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71)	22–43–10
76	T	March 31, 1971	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71)	22–43–11
77	L	April 3, 1971	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71)	22–44–11
78	L	April 4, 1971	0–6	@ New York Rangers (1970–71)	22–45–11

Player statistics

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Tom Webster	78	30	37	67	40
Alex Delvecchio	77	21	34	55	6
Gordie Howe	63	23	29	52	38
Frank Mahovlich	35	14	18	32	30
Nick Libett	78	16	13	29	25
Garry Unger	51	13	14	27	63
Bruce MacGregor	47	6	16	22	18
Wayne Connelly	51	8	13	21	12
Bill Collins	36	5	16	21	12
Red Berenson	24	5	12	17	4
Rene LeClerc	44	8	8	16	43
Mickey Redmond	21	6	8	14	7
Tim Ecclestone	27	4	10	14	13
Don Luce	58	3	11	14	18
Guy Charron	24	8	4	12	4

Defencemen

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Gary Bergman	68	8	25	33	149
Mike Robitaille	23	4	8	12	22
Dale Rolfe	44	3	9	12	48
Ron Harris	42	2	8	10	65
Gerry Hart	64	2	7	9	148
Arnie Brown

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average

Player	GP	MIN	W	L	T	SO	GA	GAA
Roy Edwards	37	2104	11	19	7	0	119	3.39
Gerry Gray	7	380	1	4	1	0	30	4.74
Don McLeod	14	698	3	7	0	0	60	5.16
Jim Rutherford	29	1948	7	15	3	1	94	3.77

Awards and records

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Draft picks

Detroit's draft picks at the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	12	Serge Lajeunesse	Canada	Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA)
2	26	Robert Guindon	Canada	Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA)
3	40	Yvon Lambert	Canada	Drummondville Rangers (QMJHL)
4	54	Tom Johnston	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
5	68	Tom Mellor	United States	Boston College (ECAC)
6	82	Bernie MacNeil	Canada	Espanola Eagles (NOJHL)
7	95	Ed Hays	Canada	University of Denver (WCHA)

References

Red Wings on Hockey Database

Mulvoy, Mark (January 18, 1971). "Poor Broken Wings". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2008.
Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley (1971). Up From the Minor Leagues of Hockey. Chicago, Illinois: Cowles Book Company, Inc. p. 127.
Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley (1971). Up From the Minor Leagues of Hockey. Chicago, Illinois: Cowles Book Company, Inc. p. 128.
"1970–1971 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
"All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ "Detroit Red Wings 1970-71 roster and statistics". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved December 9, 2022.

v t e Detroit Red Wings seasons
1920s	1920–21 . 1921–22 . 1922–23 . 1923–24 . 1924–25 . 1925–26 . 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 1961–62 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
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 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 Derek Lalonde 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

v t e 1970–71 NHL season
East	Boston Buffalo Detroit Montreal New York Toronto Vancouver
West	California Chicago Los Angeles Minnesota Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
See also	Amateur draft Expansion draft Intra-league draft All-Star Game Stanley Cup Finals

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