While it doesn't feel like it after the past couple months, the Red Wings have, in fact, improved this season. They're playing at about a 75-point pace after playing at a 70-point pace last season. Most of that progress came in the first half of the year when the Wings were competitive on a nightly basis and close to dominant at home.
Upshot was, they woke up Little Caesars Arena.
The building, believe it or not, has been open for five years. But it hasn't been all that alive, mostly because the Red Wings haven't given it much reason to roar. It roared, at times, this year. Take it from Dylan Larkin, who knows the building as well as anyone who calls it home.
“All season the fans have been there for us and the building has been loud,” Larkin said over the weekend. “It’s the most energy it’s had since it opened. It’s great to see. When we start playing well, start scoring goals and finding our way back into games, the fans are there, they were loud. That was really exciting. It’s not the result we wanted by missing the playoffs, but it’s been a great atmosphere all year around and we need to keep that going next year.”
It was actually the Red Wings' quietest season at LCA in terms of attendance. Excluding the COVID-limited crowds of 2020-21, the Wings have dropped from 100 percent capacity in year one at LCA to 98.0 percent, 95.9 percent and to 87.1 percent this season, which ranked just 18th in the NHL -- one spot ahead of the Florida Panthers, for perspective.
But the crowds this year felt bigger. They felt louder, never louder than the Saturday night in February when the Wings rallied from a 7-2 deficit against the Maple Leafs in one of the most entertaining games of the NHL season.
Then, as the team began to spiral, the crowds began to boo, never more angrily than on a Tuesday night in March when a 7-2 deficit against the Coyotes turned into a 9-2 loss -- capped off by a fan throwing a Red Wings jersey onto the ice.
"That performance tonight was worthy of boos and frustration," Larkin said that night. "I don’t agree with someone throwing their jersey on the ice, but we show up like that at home we’re going to get booed."
Related
The Wings were within striking distance of a playoff spot at the All-Star break, closer than they'd been since the last time they claimed one in Jeff Blashill's first season behind bench. Larkin's bounce-back season was a big reason why; his 31 goals are 12th in the NHL among centers. So were the arrivals of Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond. For the first time in while, Larkin said "we've had enough good players to go into buildings and expect to win."
“It’s disappointing when you don’t," he said, "but it’s definitely trending in the right direction.”
Blashill, whose future with the Wings is in question, would agree. In the past three seasons, Detroit has improved in points percentage from .275 to .429 to .458. By next season, they'll hope to be pushing for a playoff spot deeper into the schedule.
“There’s no doubt that the arc of the franchise is headed in the right direction," Blashill said after the Wings were officially eliminated from playoff contention Saturday night for the sixth season in a row. "Three years ago we bottomed out on that arc. It started obviously in my first year when we made the playoffs -- it was the first year we didn’t trade for any players. And then we started to trade away assets, and that’s just the reality of it. You’re going to arc and you’re going to hit that bottom.
"How quickly we can all get to where we want to be, I can’t answer that question. That depends on growth of players, on some new guys coming in and a lot of things that are unknown.”
Whenever they get there, the Red Wings will have a rowdy building to back them.