The Detroit Red Wings may still bring back memories of a harder-edged era, but a new ranking says the current team sits at the very bottom of the NHL when it comes to aggression.
Casino Guru’s 2025-26 Aggression Index placed Detroit 32nd overall with a score of 6.80 out of 100, making the Red Wings the league’s least aggressive team. Colorado finished just ahead of them at 31st with a 10.71 score, while Seattle came in 30th at 10.87. At the other end of the list, the Tampa Bay Lightning landed first overall with an 87.89 score.
The ranking was built from a custom aggression rating that weighed penalty minutes, fighting majors, total hits, major penalties, and any league-issued fines or suspensions. Each player’s final score was calculated on a 100-point scale.
Detroit’s low placement fits a broader shift in the modern NHL, where speed and skill have pushed intimidation further into the background and fighting has dropped nearly 70 percent compared to 20 years ago. That’s a long way from the Joe Louis Arena days, when Red Wings fans regularly saw Darren McCarty, Joe Kocur, Brendan Shanahan, and Martin Lapointe settle things with their fists. Older fans still remember the fights involving Bob Probert, one of the most feared enforcers of his time.
The numbers from last season back up the ranking. Detroit finished with 1,480 hits, which ranked 29th in the league.
Only the Chicago Blackhawks (1,346), New Jersey Devils (1,514), and Seattle Kraken (1,517) had fewer. The Red Wings also logged just 11 fighting majors, the second-fewest in the NHL, ahead of only Colorado’s 10.
There was at least one notable addition aimed at changing that tone. Newly acquired forward Keegan Kolesar, who came over from the Vegas Golden Knights and has twice played in the Stanley Cup Final, dropped the gloves five times last season. That total was more than double the combined fights of Ben Chiarot and Travis Hamonic, who each had two.
Detroit also had single fighting majors from Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider, Marco Kasper, Simon Edvinsson, J.T. Compher, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and Dominik Shine.
The Red Wings missed the playoffs for the 10th straight season in 2025-26, and this latest ranking only underscores how far the team has drifted from the old-school physical identity many fans still remember.
In Other News...
Red Wings GM Search Just Took A Concerning Turn For Fans
The Red Wings front-office search has already taken on a familiar feel, with Shawn Horcoff emerging as the internal name to watch and other familiar hockey figures hovering around the conversation. Brendan Shanahan and Nicklas Lidstrom are also in the mix, which gives Detroit a mix of continuity and star power as it sorts through what comes next after a major organizational change.
Tom Fitzgerald has been mentioned as a possible outside option, but his candidacy comes with plenty of baggage from his time in New Jersey. The Devils never fully solved some of their biggest roster problems under his watch, from the blue line to finding the right help for Jack Hughes and stabilizing the crease, which is why Detroit fans have reason to wonder whether this is the direction the search should go. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Suddenly Have A New Franchise Face To Consider
Detroits search for a new identity suddenly has a very different shape to it, and Alex DeBrincat is right in the middle of it. After a season in which he delivered a career-best scoring pace and gave the Red Wings the kind of offensive punch they have been trying to build around, he has become the most obvious candidate to help stabilize the franchise picture if the current leadership dynamic changes.
DeBrincat is not the loudest presence in the room, but his production and reliability make him the kind of player a team can rally around. If Detroit is forced to reset its hierarchy, the next step feels clear enough: keep DeBrincat in the fold for the long term and let his game help define what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Suddenly Have An Intriguing Young Forward Story To Watch
The Red Wings have a small but notable summer subplot unfolding at Little Caesars Arena, where prospects JP Hurlbert, Victor Plante and Brent Solomon have been training with Team USA ahead of the World Junior Summer Showcase. All three are recent Detroit draft picks, and their presence in the same building where the organization hopes to build its next wave of talent gives the week a little extra relevance for a team always looking for young scoring help.
Team USAs roster has the three forwards scheduled to face Finland, and Detroit will be watching closely for more than just results. With the Red Wings needing their pipeline to keep moving and offensive options never in short supply on the wish list, any glimpse of chemistry or progress from Hurlbert, Plante or Solomon is worth filing away, even if the bigger payoff is still to come later. [Read more 🡒]