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Detroit Red Wings New Arena: What We’d Like to See

We’re still several seasons away from the Detroit Red Wings taking permanent residence in a facility other than Joe Louis Arena. It will be a bittersweet time because The Joe is home, and moving is never an easy experience, no matter how much excitement there is in the new location and the new home.

They’ve already broken ground and laid out plans for everything and made sure things were funded already for Little Caesars Palace / Amway Arena / Olympia Center / etc. The architects and engineers are getting paid handsome sums, I’m sure, to make sure the next home of the Detroit Red Wings befits their history and their stature as a franchise. Even so, I’m sure they could find space for a few things on the fans’ wishlists, right?

(S/t commenter redwinger43 for contributing a few of these.)

LED Roof

Inspiration for this particular quirk comes from the Sochi Olympics and the roof of the Bolshoy Ice Dome. If it’s done well, it can serve as an effective advertising space in addition to the scores of the game being played inside, or when the night is done, scores from around the NHL or even of the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye. And if there’s a special ceremony happening, they can air highlights on it, whether it’s just flashes of images from the honorees or actual video on the display panels. If it’s Pavel Datsyuk bobblehead night, who wouldn’t want to see those beautiful Datsyukian dekes and dangles on the roof?

If Russia can do it, why not have someone in the United States get something like this done too?

The Kronwalled Booth

You ever watch a game and get the sudden urge to just crush Corey Perry Milan Lucic Andrew Shaw someone into the boards? Well, you won’t get the satisfaction of having your most hated hockey player set up on a tee for you to knock into next week, but if you wanted to do your best Kronwalled impression on the glass-banger in section 102 or the idiot who had just a little too much to drink in the row above you, here’s a healthy and safe and cathartic alternative to vent some aggression. Challenge your buddies, and see who can knock down whom the hardest!

Wheel of Honor

Some fans will always debate whether a player should have his number retired. Well, if there’s any confusion, just put him in the Wheel of Honor, where at the very least, his memory won’t be forgotten. Make a room with the actual layout of the wheel in the Red Wings logo, and have plaques for people like the Grind Line or Sergei Fedorov or Vladimir Konstantinov or Chris Osgood. If someone deserves to have their number retired, they’ll get the banner ceremony and will, in a sense, “graduate” from the Wheel of Honor to the rafters.

And now for the granddaddy of them all . . .

Octopi Aquarium

It’s the Detroit Red Wings. It’s the octopus tradition. It’s an aquarium full of octopi. I’m not going to say anything about the potential for them to be thrown on the ice when the playoffs inevitably roll around, but the actual facility would also make a nice tourist or off-day attraction. Just make an entire section of the complex an octopi aquarium.

Also, since the octopi is supposed to be a playoff good luck charm, brag about playoff successes like being the American team with the most Stanley Cups, or have museum-like displays about the most famous playoff games: the longest game in NHL history (which we won), the two Game 7 overtime wins in the Stanley Cup Final, the late-90s back-to-back including the storylines.

It’s our building, so let’s have some fun with it! What would you want to include in the Red Wings’ new arena?

Which thing mentioned here would you most like to include in the Red Wings’ new arena? (Don’t forget to comment and add your own if you like!)

LED Roof 599
The Kronwalled Booth 44
The Wheel of Honor 233
Octopi Aquarium 672

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