Red Wings

Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL), and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, and Chicago Blackhawks.

As of 2011, the Red Wings have won the most Stanley Cup championships (11) of any NHL franchise based in the United States, and are third overall in total NHL championships, behind the Montreal Canadiens (24) and Toronto Maple Leafs (13). They play home games in the 20,066 capacity Joe Louis Arena after having spent over 40 years playing in Olympia Stadium. The Red Wings are one of the most popular franchises in the NHL, and fans and commentators refer to Detroit and its surrounding areas as "Hockeytown".

Between the 1933–34 and 1965–66 seasons, the Red Wings missed the playoffs only four times. Between the 1966–67 and 1990–91 seasons, the dismal Red Wings made the playoffs only eight times in 25 seasons. During the last 11 years of this stretch, only five of the league's 21 teams did not make the postseason, yet the Wings still managed to miss the playoffs five times. They advanced to the conference finals only twice in these 25 seasons, failing to make the Stanley Cup Finals both times. This rough period for the team from the motor city caused disgruntled fans to commonly refer to them as the "Dead Wings". More recently, however, the Red Wings have made the playoffs in 27 of the last 29 seasons, including the last 22 in a row (1991–2013), winning the Stanley Cup four times. This is the longest current streak of post-season appearances in all of North American professional sports.