End Of An Era In Detroit

Twenty Five years. let that number sink in for a second. Twenty Five years. That's how many years in a row the Detroit Red Wings have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Wings haven't missed the playoffs since 1989-90. In that time, the boys from Hockeytown have made the playoffs every year since, including Stanley Cup victories in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. Now the run has come to an end.

Thanks to the Red Wings 4-1 loss to Carolina Tuesday night, coupled with wins by both the Bruins and Maple Leafs, the Red Wings will miss the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century. Before we go on with looking at what happened and what the Cup playoffs will be without Detroit, lets put this into a little bit of perspective.

When the streak came to an end thanks to the loss against Carolina on Tuesday, nine players who were dressed for the Red Wings weren't even born yet. During Detroit's incredible 25 year playoff run, they won the four Cups mentioned earlier, made eight conference finals appearances and took 14 division crowns over the course of that playoff run. And think about that run. Twenty five straight years of playing in the post season. Doing that in any sport is quite impressive. Detroit's playoff run was the longest current streak in the four major sports. Now that Detroit's run has come to an end, the longest playoff streak now belongs to the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, who's qualified 20 years in a row. The Pittsburgh Penguins now have the longest NHL streak, which is likely to be extended to 11 seasons this year. Detroit's run is tied for the third-longest in NHL history, behind the Boston Bruins (29 seasons from 1967-68 to 1995-96) and Chicago Blackhawks (28 seasons from 1969-70 to 1996-97).

What happened to the Wings this year? You'd think that in this year more so then any year in the past, would give the club extra incentive to try and make the playoffs. Not just for the streak. It is after all the final year of Joe Louis Arena. After all, its been the home of the Red Wings since 1979. Detroit will move into its new building, Little Caesars Arena starting next year, 2017-18. As for the play on the ice this year, there has been too much inconsistent play from the Wings to try and keep them afloat in the playoff race. Offense was a major issue. Several players didn't step up as expected and the power play was ranked last in the league much of the season. The defense struggled. Goaltender Petr Mrazek didn't perform to the level he did the first half of last season. You know its bad in Hockeytown when there's one team in the East with a worse record then the Wings, and in total, there's five teams who have less points on the year then Detroit.

You knew, somewhere along the line, this was bound to happen. As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Just didn't exactly see it coming this way for Detroit. I would have seen it being something like a battle with somebody else in the conference for the final playoff spot in the conference and losing out on the last day of the season. But the fact that the Wings are out with about a week and a half to go in the year, and it being the final year of the Joe, make it sting a little more.

Still, nothing can take away from what the Detroit Red Wings did. Make the playoffs for twenty five straight years is quite the feet and the Red Wings organization should be very proud of that accomplishment.