The Red Wings became the third team in NHL history to win 10 or more Stanley Cup titles, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

In the second round, the Hurricanes dispatched the eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens in six games to reach their first Eastern Conference Final since moving from Hartford.

After a surprise upset at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs the previous season, the Red Wings bolstered their roster in the offseason by signing forwards Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull, goaltender Dominik Hasek (the defending Vezina Trophy winner), and Russian prospect Pavel Datsyuk.

Strengthened by their new signings, the Red Wings finished with the league’s best record at 116 points, clinching the Presidents' Trophy and the overall #1 seed in the playoffs.

While they were seeded third as a division winner, they actually had the second-lowest point total (91) for a playoff team not only in the Eastern Conference, but also the whole NHL (ahead of only Montreal).

The Cup win was the first for many veterans on the team, including goaltender Dominik Hasek, forward Luc Robitaille, and defencemen Steve Duchesne (who retired after this season) and Fredrik Olausson.

They would eventually return to the Finals six years later, where they defeated the Sidney Crosby-led Pittsburgh Penguins for their eleventh overall Stanley Cup championship.