When he hits the ice for his first game of the 2025-26 NHL season, Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin will surpass Terry Sawchuk (734) for sole possession of 19th spot on the club’s all-time games played list.

Hall of Fame goalie Sawchuk did something with the Wings that remains a pipe dream for Larkin, though. Four times, he was a Stanley Cup winner in Detroit.

Larkin has seen action in five NHL playoff games, winning one of them.

“Yeah, it’s been difficult,” Larkin admitted. “I mean, it’s probably something to think about a lot. I mean, I think about it every day for a long time during days and just bounce back and forth.

“But that doesn’t do you any good. You’ve got to go out and play and win hockey games.”

Larkin Rapidly Climbing This Red Wings List

Larkin probably doesn’t want to know this, but he is climbing fast up a list that no player wants to top.

Fun Fact:

Dylan Larkin can Pass Brendan Shanahan for 10th all-time in Points for the Red Wings with a 58pt season.#LGRW

— The Mexinadian (Petry Truther) (@The_Mexinadian) August 19, 2025

In less than two seasons, Larkin will have played more games for the team without ever winning a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings. He’ll pass Justin Abdelkader (739 games) for third place on the list early into the upcoming campaign.

He’ll have to suffer well into the 2026-27 season before catching Nick Libett (861) and then Norm Ullman (875) to become the all-time leader in a category no player wants to sit atop.

Ullman Was a Hard-Luck Red Wings Player

The Red Wings were the dominant team of the first half of the 1950s. Ullman’s dilemma was that he arrived in Detroit for the second half of the 1950s. He made his debut with the Wings for the 1955-56 season, right after the club had won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

When Norm Ullman retired from the NHL, (he played two seasons in the WHA after his NHL career) he was 4th all-time in career points with 1229 points. The players ahead of him: Howe, Delvecchio, and Mikita. pic.twitter.com/lpsd9GWKK3

— The Hockey Samurai 侍 (@hockey_samurai) September 16, 2024

Ullman would play in the 1956-57, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1963-64, and 1965-66 Stanley Cup finals for Detroit, finishing up on the losing side in every one of them. Then he was traded to Toronto during the 1967-68 season. That was one season following the most recent Stanley Cup triumph by the Maple Leafs.

Left-winger Libett joined the Wings in 1967-68 and played with the club through the 1978-79 season. He scored a career-high 31 goals in 1971-72, topping 20 goals in five other seasons. However, only once would Libett taste playoff success with Detroit. It was a sweep of the Atlanta Flames during a best-of-three first-round series in the spring of 1978.

Abdelkader Played in the 2008 Stanley Cup Final

Like Ullman, Abdelkader was a victim of bad timing. He made his NHL debut with two games for Detroit in 2007-08, but wasn’t part of the Red Wings club that won the Stanley Cup that spring.

Abdelkader did play in the 2008-09 Stanley Cup final, a rematch with Pittsburgh. He would score twice in the final series, but the Penguins won the set in seven games.

Until Nicklas Lidstrom came along, Reed Larson was the most dominant offensive defenseman in Red Wings history. He put together nine straight 50-point seasons and five consecutive 20-goal seasons during his 708 games with Detroit. However, he won only one playoff series, never advancing beyond the quarterfinals.

Gary Bergman probably figured he was on to something big upon his arrival in Detroit. Acquired from Montreal in the 1964 NHL Intra-League Draft, the Red Wings finished first in Bergman’s initial NHL season of 1964-65. The next season, Detroit lost to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup.

After that, in the remainder of his 706 games with the Red Wings, there would be just one more playoff appearance. Detroit was swept by Chicago in the 1969-70 quarterfinals.