Welcome, Synblaze! Sorry to hear about you and your friend. You guys picked a good team to follow in the Red Wings. They are an "Original Six" team in the NHL (one of the first six teams in the league, founded in 1926) and have a solid history of great teams and players. You can get some ideas on the history of the NHL from browsing the NHL's website. Try:
http://www.nhl.com/history/fstand80s.html