For years now, everyone believed there were two main reasons as to why the Red Wings couldn’t land the big name players anymore: One was Mike Babcock’s tough coaching style, and the other was the rundown dump that was Joe Louis Arena. Babcock is now in Toronto, and aside from the Red Wings’ horrendous contract situation (a topic for another day), the Red Wings are still trending in the wrong direction.
[Enter stage left] Little Caesars arena (LCA) officially opened yesterday, and it looks as spectacular as everyone anticipated. If you are as geeked about it as most, you have been active on Twitter looking at all the pictures, videos, tours, etc. that different media members have been posting. Here are just some of the few….
Portraits of legends line the wall of the new Red Wings locker room. #LCA pic.twitter.com/E6eXmQ7QmW
— Kellie Rowe (@kellierowe) September 6, 2017
Theatre room for watching video in Wings locker room at LCA. pic.twitter.com/NiLrQvCLbe
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) September 6, 2017
Practice facility inside Little Caesars Arena pic.twitter.com/it2P131toW
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) September 6, 2017
Comerica Players Club at Little Caesars Arena. pic.twitter.com/8AQ6AidA4u
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) September 6, 2017
These are just a few of the hundreds of amenities that every Red Wings player, coach, etc. will have on their behalf for years to come. You can’t even compare LCA to the Joe, because it’s essentially like falling asleep during ancient Roman times, and waking up to this thing called the automobile. Well, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea. With all of the upgrades, additions and state-of-the-art facilities, this may be exactly what the Red Wings need to turn this franchise around.
While the uncertainty of Andreas Athanasiou continues to loom large over this organization, Ken Holland is inching closer to sealing his fate after this year. Not to mention, with almost all of the preseason predictions having the Red Wings out of the playoffs again this year, more players should be traded off at the deadline, hopefully easing the cap problem.
With all of this in mind, the Red Wings may actually have a future ahead of them. As mentioned in the beginning, a lot of the rumors were people didn’t want to play in Detroit because of the Joe. Now, with essentially the new Roman Colosseum in downtown Detroit, the llitch family, and I guess Ken Holland (for now), have a shiny new toy to pitch to big-time players down the road.
The turning point for this team may not be as far off as we think. The new arena is going to help in more ways than just giving the fans a new in-game experience. While it won’t help the Red Wings’ cap room during this transitional period, a new era in the front office is pretty much due after this year. After that, only time will tell as the terrible contracts will expire and a new era of Red Wings hockey will be upon us.
“If you build it, he will come.” A timeless quote from Field of Dreams is only fitting to what may be around the corner for the Red Wings. The next two years are likely to suck, but after all the changes we assume are made in that time frame, a dazzling new arena will be the center point of it for years to come. Little Caesars arena could very well help bring the Red Wings back to where they were for the last 25 years.
