Little Caesars Arena could make history in 2024-25, but you won’t find anyone celebrating.
That’s because the historic milestone is less a badge of honor and more a cone of shame. If the Detroit Red Wings fail to make the playoffs this season, Little Caesars Arena will have gone eight seasons since its opening without hosting an NHL playoff game. This would be the longest drought to welcome a new arena among all 32 NHL teams.
Right now, the Red Wings are tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets with seven seasons without hosting a playoff game in Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets technically went eight years without hosting a playoff game, but 2004-05 was the NHL lockout and no games were played that season.
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In greater NHL history, Detroit could tie the Washington Capitals for the longest ever NHL playoff drought after opening a new arena. When the Caps joined the league in 1974-75, they went eight seasons without hosting a playoff game at the Capital Centre. The difference is, Washington was an expansion team, not one of the league’s most historic franchises.
Since Little Caesars Arena opened, three new arenas have joined the NHL circuit. The New York Islanders opened UBS Arena in 2021-22, while the Seattle Kraken joined the NHL while playing in their current Climate Pledge Arena in the same season. Both those teams went one season without playoff hockey to usher in their new homes. The Utah Hockey Club will add the third new arena this season when it plays its first season in Salt Lake City at the Delta Center.
Excluding newcomer Utah that has yet to play a game, Little Caesars Arena is the only current NHL arena to never host a playoff game.
Across the Red Wings’ 98-year history, the franchise has often struggled to bring playoff games to its new arenas, but the droughts have never been this bleak. Detroit’s first and only season at the Border Cities Arena in Windsor never saw playoff hockey, but it took just one playoff absence before Detroit brought playoff hockey to Olympia Stadium. Joe Louis Arena, the Red Wings’ home before Little Caesars Arena, went four seasons before hosting a playoff game. Little Caesars Arena could double that time span if Detroit can’t crack the playoffs this season.
In all of NHL history, just four rinks went without ever hosting a playoff game. Each of these rinks’ NHL tenures were short lived, which is one reason they never hosted playoff games. The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Expo Hall and the Red Wings’ first Border Cities Arena played their single NHL seasons without playoffs. In two seasons as NHL venues, the former Kansas City Scouts’ Kemper Arena and the San Jose Sharks’ first home at Cow Palace never saw playoff action.
Among the current NHL venues arenas, 18 teams brought in their homes by making playoffs in its first season. Out of the 43 defunct NHL venues, another 18 also hosted playoff games in their first seasons. Out of 73 venues past and present, just eight have gone five seasons or more without hosting playoff games. Little Caesars Arena could go down in history as the longest drought of them all.
Detroit enters this season with a chance to avoid etching its name on the shameful side of the record books. After missing the playoffs by a tiebreaker last season, the Red Wings re-tooled in free agency, losing some big contributors but also gaining some other players. They kept high-performing forward Patrick Kane, secured goaltending depth in Cam Talbot and added defensive depth to the bottom six. As internal development of its prospects adds more depth to the roster, Detroit hopes that it’s enough to make the playoffs this season. On paper, it appears to be a wild card contender much like last season. The question is whether the Red Wings can finally break through.
If Detroit can’t make the playoffs, next season could be memorable for all the wrong reasons.
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