Recent NHL expansion talks would have ramifications for the Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings have called the Eastern Conference home since the 2013-14 season, and let’s just say they haven’t enjoyed the best luck since then. Detroit has missed the playoffs in each of the last eight seasons, and they’ve had it rough since flip-flopping conferences.
The Wings made the postseason in each of the first three years they joined the East, but haven’t won a playoff series. They lost in the first round twice to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and once to the Boston Bruins. Their last series win came during the 2012-13 season, the last time the Wings played in the West to date, edging out the Anaheim Ducks four games to three.
But, with talk of expansion once again in the news, the Wings could find themselves heading West once more. New Orleans seems to be the tentative front-runner, meaning the Wings would stay put in the East, even if a city like Atlanta also got a team back during the next round of expansion. But there is one way they’d shift back to the West.
A few cities east of Detroit are vying to lure an NHL franchise to town
Houston, Texas, and Quebec City, Quebec have also been mentioned, so if we saw the Quebec Nordiques (presumably) return alongside the Atlanta Thrashers, there’s no doubt that the Red Wings would return to the Western Conference at some point in the late 2020s.
However, if New Orleans and Houston were awarded clubs, expect the Red Wings to stay in the East as it would make zero geographic sense to push them westward. If New Orleans and Houston gained a franchise, expect a team from the West to head East, most likely the Nashville Predators, the St. Louis Blues, or the Chicago Blackhawks.
For Red Wings fans, either of the latter two would be welcoming, as it would reignite geographic rivalries and raise the stakes between the clubs. I’d personally rather see the Blackhawks, as it’d put the entire Original 6 into the Eastern Conference and that would be a lot of fun to watch.
