31 Days Until Red Wings Opening Night: Detroit's Best No. 31

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With 31 days remaining until the Detroit Red Wings open the 2026-27 season, we take a look at the top player to have worn jersey No. 31.

There are few better examples of time spent with the Detroit Red Wings that should have had a much happier ending than the tenure of goaltender Curtis Joseph from 2002 to 2004.

Joseph, already regarded as one of the NHL’s best goalies by the summer of 2002, quickly signed a three-year, $24 million contract with the Red Wings after the (first) retirement of Dominik Hasek just weeks after Detroit’s Stanley Cup victory.

Believing Detroit gave him a better chance to win another Stanley Cup than the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom he had just helped reach the Eastern Conference Final, Joseph arrived in Hockeytown with plenty of fanfare.

It took Detroit fans some time to warm up to him, however, as Joseph struggled with consistency during his first few weeks with the Red Wings. He eventually found his footing and helped Detroit secure the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference heading into the 2003 playoffs.

However, Joseph would be unfairly blamed for Detroit’s shocking first round sweep at the hands of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who were bolstered by Herculean performance by goaltender J.S. Giguere (who would eventually win the Conn Smythe Trophy).

In those four games, Joseph posted a 2.08 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. But his teammates simply couldn’t solve Giguere, while Joseph took the heat.

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Just weeks later, Joseph was blindsided when Hasek announced he planned to return to the Red Wings, leaving GM Ken Holland with an extremely difficult situation to sort out.

Even though the 2003-04 season was the last before the NHL introduced a salary cap, Detroit had no intention of carrying two goaltenders with a combined salary of nearly $20 million. Holland chose Hasek, perhaps out of worry that the rival Colorado Avalanche would target him in the wake of Patrick Roy’s retirement.

After several failed attempts to trade Joseph, the veteran was sent to the minors. However, he continued to make occasional starts for Detroit as Hasek battled recurring groin problems.

By early 2004, Joseph was back atop the Red Wings’ depth chart after Hasek announced he would miss the rest of the season because of the injury. In a matter of months, Joseph had gone from an apparent cast-off back to Detroit’s starting goaltender.

He would suffer an injury of his own, leading to Manny Legace starting down the stretch for Detroit and earning the starting position for the first four games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs before being pulled in Game 4 against the Nashville Predators.

Joseph reclaimed his spot in Detroit’s crease and surrendered just one goal over the next two games, helping the Red Wings advance to the second round. But once again, Detroit’s playoff run was cut short by the red-hot performance of the opposition goaltender – this time, Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames.

With the series tied 2-2, the Flames eliminated Detroit by winning Games 5 and 6, both by 1-0 scores, with the latter decided in overtime. Joseph was sensational in both games, giving the Red Wings every chance to stay alive. He finished the playoffs with a sparkling 1.39 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.

The third year of Joseph’s contract with Detroit was wiped out by the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and he eventually signed with the Arizona Coyotes. He’d play two seasons in Arizona before a brieft stint with the Flames in 2008, followed by one last season in Toronto in 2008-09 before calling it a career.

Despite being ranked eighth all time in NHL goalie victories with 454, Joseph has yet to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

During his time in Detroit, he went 50-29-9 with a 2.46 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage with seven shutouts.

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