Photos of the Stanley Cup Ring
A Bit of History
This was Detroit’s 23rd appearance in the championship series, and its first since winning the Cup in 2002. This was Detroit’s 11th Stanley Cup title and was also the first Cup Final between two United States-based NHL teams since 2003. This also marked Pittsburgh’s third appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, and its first since winning consecutive championships in 1991 and 1992.
The 2008 Stanley Cup Final marked the first time that the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins have met in postseason play. The Red Wings and Penguins did not play each other during the 2007–08 regular season.
Curious / Unexpected Facts
- Both Aaron Downey (F) & Tomas Kopecky (F) were able to get their name engraved on the on the Stanley Cups although both played no playoffs games. This is because they played the minimum amount of regular season games to become elligible (41).
- Regarding Derek Meech (D) though, Detroit had to petition the league to have his name added to the Cup since he had only played 32 regular season games. The NHL agreed to have his name added. Meech did spend the entire season with Detroit.
- At age 46, Chris Chelios became the oldest player to win the Stanley Cup.
- Five players won 4 Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008
- Kris Draper
- Tomas Holmstrom
- Nicklas Lidstrom
- Kirk Maltby
- Darren McCarty
- A record number of 12 European born players won the Stanley Cup that year.
Detroit Red Wings Playoff Roster
| # | Player | Position | Country | Games played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Chris Osgood | Goalie |  | 19 |
| 39 | Dominik Hasek | Goalie |  | 4 |
| 3 | Andreas Lilja | Defenceman |  | 12 |
| 5 | Nicklas Lidstrom (C) | Defenceman | | 22 |
| 22 | Brett Lebda | Defenceman |  | 19 |
| 23 | Brad Stuart | Defenceman | | 21 |
| 24 | Chris Chelios | Defenceman | | 14 |
| 28 | Brian Rafalski | Defenceman | | 22 |
| 55 | Niklas Kronwall | Defenceman | | 22 |
| 11 | Daniel Cleary | Forward – Winger | | 22 |
| 13 | Pavel Datsyuk (A) | Forward – Center |  | 22 |
| 17 | Dallas Drake | Forward – Winger | | 22 |
| 18 | Kirk Maltby | Forward – Winger | | 12 |
| 25 | Darren McCarty | Forward – Winger | | 17 |
| 26 | Jiri Hudler | Forward – Winger | | 22 |
| 33 | Kris Draper (A) | Forward – Center | | 22 |
| 37 | Mikael Samuelsson | Forward – Winger | | 22 |
| 40 | Henrik Zetterberg (A) | Forward – Winger | | 22 |
| 43 | Darren Helm | Forward – Center | | 18 |
| 44 | Mark Hartigan | Forward – Center | | 4 |
| 51 | Valtteri Filppula | Forward – Center |  | 22 |
| 93 | Johan Franzen | Forward – Center | | 16 |
| 96 | Tomas Holmstrom | Forward – Winger | | 21 |