Pistons Success a Reminder of Red Wings Long Road

Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit Pistons will host just the second playoff series the building has seen since its opening in 2017.  The lone playoff series to unfold at LCA came in the spring of 2019, when the Milwaukee Bucks swept through the Pistons, which is to say Detroit will be looking for the first home playoff win in the building's history against the New York Knicks Thursday night.

Apr 21, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) is fouled by New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the third quarter of game two of the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. (Brad Penner, Imagn Images)

None of this needs to be an indictment of the Detroit Red Wings, but it is a reminder.  The Red Wings playoff drought (nine years and counting) began with the city of Detroit mired in ignominy: none of the Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers, or Lions fielding competitive teams.  Now, as the Wings' drought keeps building, the Lions are a bona fide Super Bowl contender, the Tigers are coming off a surprising playoff run and currently lead the AL Central (albeit in the season's early days), and the Pistons have miraculously leapt straight from a 14-win season to a playoff berth (and not just via the NBA's Play-In either).

Again, this isn't a zero sum game, and strictly speaking, the success of Detroit's three other 'Big Four' teams has no bearing on the Red Wings.  Nonetheless, it's impossible to see the Pistons' success and not think at all about the speed (or lack thereof) of the Wings' rebuild.

Steve Yzerman returned to Detroit in 2019, and while his rebuild always revolved around drafting and development, his Red Wings have spent liberally over the last three free agent periods with nothing yet to show for their efforts.  The pendulum is swinging in the right direction for three of Detroit's four major pro teams, but, for the time being, Red Wings fans remain stuck in the waiting game.