NHL · Draftable squad

Detroit Red Wings 2001-02: Hockeytown's Dream Team

The 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings are the closest the NHL has come to an all-star team winning the Stanley Cup. Steve Yzerman captained a roster featuring ten future Hall of Fame players — Nicklas Lidstrom, Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull, Chris Chelios and Brendan Shanahan among them — with the legendary Scotty Bowman behind the bench.

Go Unbeaten lets you draft that embarrassment of riches yourself. Spin the NHL wheel, land on Detroit Red Wings 2001-02, and assemble your line from this exact squad before simulating a full 82-game season. Few squads in the game spin up this much top-end talent.

Spin for this squad

The legends

Marquee names from this squad's player pool in Go Unbeaten, with their in-game overall ratings.

The story

Detroit built this team to win immediately. Two-time league MVP Dominik Hasek arrived from Buffalo chasing his first Stanley Cup, joining a side that already had Yzerman, Lidstrom, Shanahan and Chelios. The Red Wings duly won the Presidents' Trophy with 116 points as the NHL's best regular-season team.

The playoffs tested them — Detroit fell behind in a brutal Western Conference final against Colorado before winning Game 7 — but the final was emphatic. The Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to lift the Cup, and Nicklas Lidstrom won the Conn Smythe Trophy, the first European-born player to be named playoff MVP.

It was also a farewell. Scotty Bowman, who had laced up his skates to take a lap with the Cup, announced his retirement after winning a record ninth Stanley Cup as a head coach. Hasek got his first Cup; Bowman went out with his last.

  • The roster featured ten future Hall of Fame players, including Yzerman, Lidstrom, Hasek, Hull, Chelios and Shanahan.
  • Won the Presidents' Trophy with 116 points as the NHL's best regular-season team.
  • Beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to win the 2002 Stanley Cup.
  • Nicklas Lidstrom won the Conn Smythe Trophy — the first European-born player named playoff MVP.
  • Scotty Bowman won a record ninth Stanley Cup as head coach, then retired.

Frequently asked

How many Hall of Famers were on the 2001-02 Red Wings?

Ten players from the 2001-02 Red Wings have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The team was long celebrated for its nine Hall of Famers — Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull, Chris Chelios and Brendan Shanahan among them — and Pavel Datsyuk's 2024 induction made it ten, not counting Hall of Fame head coach Scotty Bowman.

Who did the Red Wings beat in the 2002 Stanley Cup Final?

Detroit beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the 2002 Stanley Cup Final, with Nicklas Lidstrom winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Can I draft the 2001-02 Red Wings in Go Unbeaten?

Yes. Go to /play?sport=nhl and spin the wheel until it lands on Detroit Red Wings 2001-02, then draft your line from the real squad — Hasek in net, Lidstrom and Chelios on defense, Yzerman, Hull and Shanahan up front — and simulate an 82-game season. The sim is seeded, so the same lineup and seed always replays the same campaign.

More NHL squads