Despite losing their final two games of the regular season, the Detroit Red Wings narrowly squeaked into the playoffs and preserved their impressive run of consecutive playoff appearances. Thanks to the Boston Bruins falling to the Ottawa Senators, the Red Wings pushed their streak to 25 straight seasons.
The Red Wings’ 25-season playoff streak is the longest in the NHL and by a healthy margin. The team with the second-longest streak is the Pittsburgh Penguins who have participated in the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons. Beyond that, the Chicago Blackhawks have a seven-season streak while the New York Rangers have a five-season streak.
The last time the Red Wings missed the playoffs was way back in 1989-90. Since then the Red Wings have made 25 consecutive appearances and have hoisted four Stanley Cups. Will a fifth Cup soon be added to their storied history? That’s yet to be determined, but they’ll first have to make it past the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round.
When will the streak end? Most signs were pointing to this season as the final year of their run, but three straight wins to start off the month of April as well as a good amount of help from other teams pushed it another season. With Pavel Datsyuk’s future up in the air and a lot of contracts expiring this summer (Brad Richards, Darren Helm, Joakim Andersson, Kyle Quincey, Petr Mrazek, Alexey Marchenko, Danny Dekeyser, Teemu Pulkkinen, Drew Miller and Riley Sheahan), the Red Wings have plenty of tasks to address. How well they handle managing their team and their cap will determine if the streak reaches season 26.
