2005–06 Detroit Red Wings season

The 2005–06 Detroit Red Wings season was the 80th National Hockey League season in Detroit, Michigan. The Wings once again found themselves having the best regular season record, scoring 124 points for the second-highest point total in franchise history.

The Red Wings began the season with a conflict in goal as recent pickup Chris Osgood was injured in preseason activities and unproven Manny Legace was to start in goal. Legace played great, winning 10 of his first 11 games, and quickly earned the starting goaltender job. The Red Wings decided to start Legace in the playoffs but his inexperience quickly showed and Detroit was knocked out in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers.

Detroit defenseman, Jiri Fischer, suffered a cardiac arrest in the first period of a game against the Nashville Predators on November 21. The game was stopped and eventually called as many fans in Joe Louis Arena either could not see what was going on or looked on in horror. Fischer was given CPR on the Wings' bench and then carried out on a stretcher. Nashville had a 1–0 lead within the game and it was decided that the score would be added onto the rescheduled game later in the season.

The Red Wings sold out all 41 home games in 2005–06, as 20,066 fans packed Joe Louis Arena for every regular season and playoff game played in Detroit.

There was no All-Star Game this year as the Winter Olympics in Turin took place in February 2006, where nine Red Wings players represented their countries. Kris Draper represented Canada,Chris Chelios represented the United States,Robert Lang represented the Czech Republic, Pavel Datsyuk represented Russia, and Nicklas Lidstrom, Mikael Samuelsson, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Holmstrom represented Sweden. Team Canada Head Coach Wayne Gretzky told Steve Yzerman it was his decision as to whether he wanted to play in the 2006 Olympics. Citing his age and playing ability, Yzerman bowed out to give up his roster spot to a "more deserving player."