2012–13 Detroit Red Wings season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	2012–13
Year:	2012
Team:	Detroit Red Wings
Conference:	Western
Conferencerank:	7th
Division:	Central
Divisionrank:	3rd
Record:	24–16–8
Homerecord:	13–7–4
Roadrecord:	11–9–4
Goalsfor:	124
Goalsagainst:	115
Coach:	Mike Babcock
Altcaptain:	Pavel Datsyuk Niklas Kronwall
Arena:	Joe Louis Arena
Attendance:	20,066 (100%) Total: 481,584^[1] (24 games)
Goalsleader:	Pavel Datsyuk (15)
Assistsleader:	Henrik Zetterberg (37)
Pointsleader:	Pavel Datsyuk (49)
Plusminusleader:	Pavel Datsyuk (+21)
Pimleader:	Jordin Tootoo (78)
Winsleader:	Jimmy Howard (21)
Gaaleader:	Jimmy Howard (2.13)

The 2012–13 Detroit Red Wings season was the 87th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on September 25, 1926. The regular season was reduced from its usual 82 games to 48 due to a lockout. This was the first time in a long time that the Red Wings did not have Nicklas Lidstrom on their roster, lost to retirement. Henrik Zetterberg was appointed as team captain.

As of 2024, this is the most recent season that the Red Wings won a playoff series.

Off-season

On May 31, 2012, defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom announced his retirement from the NHL after 20 seasons.^[2] Lidstrom won four Stanley Cups and seven Norris Trophies during his Hall of Fame career, all with the Red Wings.

Regular season

Schedule and results

2012–13 Game Log
January: 3–2–1 (Home: 2–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Record Pts Recap 1 January 19 Detroit L 0–6 St. Louis 0–1–0 0 Recap 2 January 21 Detroit W 4–3 Columbus SO 1–1–0 2 Recap 3 January 22 Dallas L 1–2 Detroit 1–2–0 2 Recap 4 January 25 Minnesota W 5–3 Detroit 2–2–0 4 Recap 5 January 27 Detroit L 1–2 Chicago OT 2–2–1 5 Recap 6 January 29 Dallas W 1–4 Detroit 3–2–1 7 Recap
February: 7–6–2 (Home: 5–3–1 ; Road: 2–3–1) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Record Pts Recap 7 February 1 St. Louis W 3–5 Detroit 4–2–1 9 Recap 8 February 2 Detroit L 2–4 Columbus 4–3–1 9 Recap 9 February 5 Calgary L 4–1 Detroit Jimmy Howard Howard 4–4–1 9 Recap 10 February 7 Detroit W 5–1 St. Louis Mrazek 5–4–1 11 Recap 11 February 9 Edmonton W 1–2 Detroit 6–4–1 13 Recap 12 February 10 Los Angeles W2–3 Detroit 7–4–1 15 Recap 13 February 13 St. Louis L 4–3 Detroit OT 7–4–2 16 Recap 14 February 15 Anaheim L 5–2 Detroit Howard 7–5–2 16 Recap 15 February 17 Detroit L 2–3 Minnesota 7–6–2 16 Recap 16 February 19 Detroit L 3–4 Nashville OT 7–6–3 17 Recap 17 February 21 Columbus L 3–2 Detroit 7–7–3 19 Recap 18 February 23 Nashville W 0–4 Detroit 8–7–3 19 Recap 19 February 24 Vancouver W 3–8 Detroit 9–7–3 21 Recap 20 February 27 Detroit L 1–2 Los Angeles 9–8–3 21 Recap 21 February 28 Detroit W 2–1 San Jose OT 10–8–3 23 Recap
March: 7–5–2 (Home: 2–2–2 ; Road: 5–3–0) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Record Pts Recap 22 March 3 Chicago L 2–1 Detroit SO 10–8–4 24 Recap 23 March 5 Colorado W 1–2 Detroit 11–8–4 26 Recap 24 March 7 Edmonton W 0–3 Detroit 12–8–4 28 Recap 25 March 9 Detroit L 0–3 Columbus 12–9–4 28 Recap 26 March 10 Columbus L 3–2 Detroit SO 12–9–5 29 Recap 27 March 13 Detroit L 2–5 Calgary 12–10–5 29 Recap 28 March 15 Detroit W 3–2 Edmonton OT 13–10–5 31 Recap 29 March 16 Detroit W 5–2 Vancouver 14–10–5 33 Recap 30 March 20 Minnesota L 4–2 Detroit 14–11–5 33 Recap 31 March 22 Detroit W 5–1 Anaheim 15–11–5 35 Recap 32 March 24 Detroit W 2–1 Anaheim 16–11–5 37 Recap 33 March 25 Detroit W 3–2 Phoenix 17–11–5 39 Recap 34 March 28 Detroit L 0–2 San Jose 17–12–5 39 Recap 35 March 31 Chicago L 7–1 Detroit 17–13–5 39 Recap
April: 7–3–3 (Home: 4–1–1 ; Road: 3–2–2) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Record Pts Recap 36 April 1 Colorado W 2–3 Detroit 18–13–5 41 Recap 37 April 4 Detroit L 2–4 Phoenix 18–14–5 41 Recap 38 April 5 Detroit W 3–2 Colorado OT 19–14–5 43 Recap 39 April 7 St. Louis L 1–0 Detroit 19–15–5 43 Recap 40 April 11 San Jose L 3–2 Detroit SO 19–15–6 44 Recap 41 April 12 Detroit L 2–3 Chicago SO 19–15–7 45 Recap 42 April 14 Detroit W 3–0 Nashville 20–15–7 47 Recap 43 April 17 Detroit L 2–3 Calgary 20–16–7 47 Recap 44 April 20 Detroit L 1–2 Vancouver SO 20–16–8 48 Recap 45 April 22 Phoenix W 0–4 Detroit 21–16–8 50 Recap 46 April 24 Los Angeles W 1–3 Detroit 22–16–8 52 Recap 47 April 25 Nashville W 2–5 Detroit 23–16–8 54 Recap 48 April 27 Detroit W 3–0 Dallas 24–16–8 56 Recap Legend:

Playoffs

2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Western Conference Quarterfinals vs. (2) Anaheim Ducks – Detroit won series 4–3 Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Series Recap 1 April 30 Detroit 1–3 Anaheim Howard 0–1 Recap 2 May 2 Detroit 5–4 Anaheim OT Howard 1–1 Recap 3 May 4 Anaheim 4–0 Detroit Howard 1–2 Recap 4 May 6 Anaheim 2–3 Detroit OT Howard 2–2 Recap 5 May 8 Detroit 2–3 Anaheim OT Howard 2–3 Recap 6 May 10 Anaheim 3–4 Detroit OT Howard 3–3 Recap 7 May 12 Detroit 3–2 Anaheim Howard 4–3 Recap
Western Conference Semifinals vs. (1) Chicago Blackhawks – Chicago won series 4–3 Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Series Recap 1 May 15 Detroit 1–4 Chicago Howard 0–1 Recap 2 May 18 Detroit 4–1 Chicago Howard 1–1 Recap 3 May 20 Chicago 1–3 Detroit Howard 2–1 Recap 4 May 23 Chicago 0–2 Detroit Howard 3–1 Recap 5 May 25 Detroit 1–4 Chicago Howard 3–2 Recap 6 May 27 Chicago 4–3 Detroit Howard 3–3 Recap 7 May 29 Detroit 1–2 Chicago OT Howard 3–4 Recap

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season

Player					data-sort-type="number"
	47	15	34	49	21	14
	46	11	37	48	2	18
	41	14	17	31	13	41
	48	5	24	29	−5	44
	44	12	14	26	−6	12
	41	9	8	17	−4	6
	48	9	6	15	−6	40
	45	3	10	13	6	29
	41	4	9	13	15	28
	48	10	3	13	6	34
	42	3	5	8	0	78
	34	2	6	8	−1	4
	44	4	4	8	−8	2
	48	5	3	8	−1	4
	34	0	8	8	1	36
	38	3	5	8	2	8
	18	4	3	7	2	4
	22	3	3	6	0	6
	31	1	4	5	−10	15
	25	2	2	4	5	4
	7	2	1	3	3	2
	36	1	2	3	7	18
	4	0	1	1	−3	0
	6	0	1	1	−4	2
	11	0	1	1	4	2
	1	0	0	0	0	2
	2	0	0	0	0	4
	1	0	0	0	0	0
^‡	11	0	0	0	−3	4

Playoffs

Player					data-sort-type="number"
	14	4	8	12	3	8
	14	4	6	10	−1	2
	14	3	6	9	2	4
	14	5	4	9	2	4
	14	2	4	6	−4	4
	14	4	2	6	−7	8
	14	1	4	5	4	10
	14	2	3	5	−3	10
	14	1	4	5	2	10
	14	2	3	5	3	2
	14	0	3	3	2	2
	13	1	2	3	−1	4
	12	2	1	3	4	33
	5	1	1	2	−1	2
	14	0	2	2	−1	4
	14	0	2	2	−3	12
	6	1	1	2	1	2
	9	0	1	1	3	2
	13	0	1	1	−2	4
	6	0	0	0	−2	2
	1	0	0	0	0	2
	3	0	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player
	42	42	2445:44	21	13	7	87	2.13	1,129	.923	5	0	1	0
	7	4	349:15	2	2	1	17	2.92	140	.879	0	0	1	2
	2	2	119:09	1	1	0	4	2.02	51	.922	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

^†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 records

Awards

Regular season
Player	Award	Awarded
Jimmy Howard^[3]	NHL First Star of the Week	April 29, 2013
	NHL Second Star of the Week	April 29, 2013

Records

24 consecutive home wins

Milestones

Regular season
Player	Milestone	Reached
	1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Goal	January 21, 2013
	1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point	January 22, 2013
	300th Career NHL Game	January 22, 2013
Damien Brunner	1st Career NHL Assist	January 27, 2013
	500th Career NHL Game	February 2, 2013
	200th Career NHL Game	February 2, 2013
	1,100th Career NHL Game	February 7, 2013
	1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Win	February 7, 2013
	1st Career NHL Assist	February 7, 2013
	50th Career NHL Goal	February 9, 2013
	500th Career NHL Game	February 15, 2013
	1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point	February 15, 2013
Brian Lashoff	1st Career NHL Assist	February 17, 2013
	300th Career NHL Game	February 27, 2013
	100th Career NHL Game	March 13, 2013
	400th career NHL Game	March 16, 2013
	250th Career NHL Goal 500th Career NHL Assist	March 22, 2013
	700th Career NHL Game	March 24, 2013
	500th Career NHL Game	March 25, 2013
	500th Career NHL Game	March 31, 2013
	500th Career NHL Game	March 31, 2013
Henrik Zetterberg	400th Career NHL Assist	April 11, 2013
	1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point	April 14, 2013
Johan Franzen	300th Career NHL Point	April 14, 2013
	100th Career NHL Goal	April 25, 2013

Playoffs
Player	Milestone	Reached
	1st Career NHL Playoff Game	April 30, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Assist	April 30, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Goal	May 2, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Goal	May 2, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Game	May 4, 2013
	100th Career NHL Playoff Game	May 4, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Assist	May 6, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Goal 1st Career NHL Playoff Assist	May 6, 2013
Gustav Nyquist	1st Career NHL Playoff Assist	May 6, 2013
	100th Career NHL Playoff Point	May 10, 2013
	100th Career NHL Playoff Game	May 18, 2013
	1st Career NHL Playoff Assist	May 20, 2013
Jakub Kindl	1st Career NHL Playoff Goal	May 23, 2013
	100th Career NHL Playoff Game	May 25, 2013
Joakim Andersson	1st Career NHL Playoff Goal	May 27, 2013

Transactions

The Red Wings have been involved in the following transactions during the 2012–13 season.

Trades

Date
June 10, 2012^[4]	To San Jose Sharks Brad Stuart	To Detroit Red Wings Andrew Murray Conditional 7th-round pick in 2014
March 30, 2013^[5]	To Philadelphia Flyers Kent Huskins	To Detroit Red Wings Conditional 7th-round pick in 2014

Free agents signed

Player	Former team	Contract terms	Ref
		2 years, $3 million	^[6]
		1 year, $925,000	^[7]
		2 years, $6 million	^[8]
		3 years, $5.7 million	^[9]
		2 years, $5 million	^[10]
		1 year, $750,000	^[11]
		2 years, $1.85 million entry-level contract	^[12]
		3 years, $2.3775 million entry-level contract	^[13]

Free agents lost

Player	New team	Contract terms	Ref
		4 years, $16 million	^[14]
		1 year, $650,000	^[15]
		1 year, $600,000	^[16]

Lost via retirement

Player	Ref
Nicklas Lidstrom
Tomas Holmstrom

Player signings

Player	Date	Contract terms
Darren Helm^[18]	June 19, 2012	4 years, $8.5 million
Max Nicastro^[19]	July 3, 2012	2 years, $1.225 million entry-level contract
	July 3, 2012	3 years, entry-level contract
Kyle Quincey^[20]	July 18, 2012	2 years, $7.55 million
Martin Frk^[21]	July 31, 2012	3 years, $2.1025 million entry-level contract
Tomas Jurco^[22]	August 7, 2012	3 years, $2.1275 million entry-level contract
Justin Abdelkader^[23]	September 14, 2012	4 years, $7.2 million
Nick Jensen^[24]	May 2, 2013	2 years, $1.53 million entry-level contract
Mattias Backman^[25]	May 21, 2013	3 years, $2.1525 million entry-level contract
Alexey Marchenko^[26]	May 30, 2013	3 years, $2 million entry-level contract
Pavel Datsyuk^[27]	June 18, 2013	3 years, $22.5 million contract extension
Jakub Kindl^[28]	June 29, 2013	4 years, $9.6 million contract extension
	June 29, 2013	3 years, $4.05 million contract extension

Draft picks

See main article: 2012 NHL Entry Draft. The Detroit Red Wings' picks at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 22 & 23, 2012.

Round		Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	49		RW		Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
3	80	Jake Paterson	G		Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
4	110		C/LW		London Knights (OHL)
5	140		D		Lincoln Stars (USHL)
6	170		D		Toronto Lakeshore Patriots (OJHL)
7	200		LW		Ostersunds IK (Division 1)

Draft notes

• The Red Wings' first-round pick went to the Tampa Bay Lightning as the result of a February 21, 2012, trade that sent Kyle Quincey to the Red Wings in exchange for Sebastien Piche and this pick.

See also

• 2012–13 NHL season

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2012–2013 NHL Attendance – National Hockey League – ESPN. https://web.archive.org/web/20081214165302/http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance. dead. December 14, 2008. ESPN. February 2, 2013.
2. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=633349 Lidstrom retires after 20 seasons
3. Web site: Howard, Zetterberg, Yakupov named 'Stars' of week.
4. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=634336 Wings trade Stuart's rights to Sharks
5. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=662925 Huskins is on the move again
6. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=636701 Red Wings get a Monster
7. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=636776 Swiss star signs with Red Wings
8. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=636859 Samuelsson returns to Hockeytown
9. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=636914 Wings add grit with Tootoo deal
10. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=641403 Colaiacovo signs with Red Wings
11. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=651849 Wings sign Huskins to one-year deal
12. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=662802 Red Wings agree to terms on DeKeyser two-year deal
13. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=663967 Red Wings sign goaltender Jared Coreau; Recall defenseman Brian Lashoff
14. http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=636907 Flames sign Jiri Hudler
15. http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=636986 Coyotes Sign Conner to One-Year, Two-Way Contract
16. http://blues.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=637341 Blues Sign Forward Andrew Murray
17. http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=655138 Flames claim Joey MacDonald off of waivers
18. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=635107 Wings, Helm agree to terms of new deal
19. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=637166 Nicastro, Marek sign entry-level deals
20. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=638217 Quincey agrees to two-year contract
21. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=638938 Wings sign Frk to entry-level deal
22. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=639285 Wings sign Jurco to entry-level deal
23. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=641400 Abdelkader signs four-year deal
24. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=668886 Red Wings sign defenseman Nick Jensen to a two-year entry-level deal
25. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=671713 Another setback forces Helm off the ice
26. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=672522 Red Wings sign Alexei Marchenko
27. Web site: Datsyuk, Wings agree on 3-year extension . https://web.archive.org/web/20130701075109/http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=674362 . July 1, 2013 . live . 2013-06-30 . mdy .
28. Web site: Wings get deals done for Miller, Kindl . https://web.archive.org/web/20130701064947/http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=675641 . July 1, 2013 . live . 2013-06-30 . mdy .