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With 30 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. 30.
This was about as easy a choice as one could have – there is no better player in Detroit Red Wings history to have worn No. 30 than goaltender Chris Osgood.
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Selected by Detroit with the 54th pick in the 1991 NHL Draft, Osgood began his NHL seeing regular staring time in both the regular season and the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs before Detroit acquired future Hall of Fame goaltender Mike Vernon from the Calgary Flames.
Osgood took over as Detroit’s postseason starter in 1996 and carried a heavy workload the following year, but Scotty Bowman turned to Vernon for the 1997 playoffs, and he helped end Detroit’s 42-year Stanley Cup drought,
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But Osgood was once again thrust into the starting role after Vernon’s departure that August and led the Red Wings to another Stanley Cup win in 1998.
Osgood became expendable following the summer 2001 acquisition of Dominik Hasek, and while he was with the club for Training Camp, he was placed on waivers before the start of the season and claimed by the New York Islanders. He’d eventually help them reach Game 7 of their 2002 first-round series against Toronto.
The following season, Osgood was dealt to the St. Louis Blues, where he would play until returning to Detroit before the 2005-06 campaign.
He initially shared the crease with Manny Legace and later served as Dominik Hasek’s backup before taking over as the Red Wings’ starter during the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, leading Detroit to its 11th Stanley Cup 10 years after doing so for the first time in 1998.
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While Osgood struggled in the 2008-09 regular season, he returned as the team’s playoff starter that spring, and helped them to within a single win of repeating as Cup champions; he was a likely candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy had Detroit repeated.
In 2009-10, eventually ceded the starting job to Jimmy Howard but reached another milestone in December 2010, earning his 400th NHL victory.
Osgood retired that summer with 401 wins, including 317 with Detroit, second-most in franchise history behind Terry Sawchuk.
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