It should not come as a surprise to anyone: Detroit, also known as Hockeytown, has some passionate hockey fans.
Over the 100 years of the franchise, the Detroit faithful have never wavered. From the success of the Production Line in the 1950s, to the resurgence in the 1990s and 2000s, and the current playoff drought of the 2010s and 2020s, the Red Wings are a fabric of their city and have one of the most dedicated fanbases in hockey.
So far in 2025-26, it looks like that has held true. The Red Wings currently sit third in the NHL in average home attendance (19,408), behind only the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. The attendance mark is the highest it has been for the Red Wings since 2017-18, when Little Caesars Arena first opened.
Despite attendance being in a good place, something feels different about the Red Wings fanbase this year. The team was mercilessly booed on Opening Night during a 5-1 thumping by the Canadiens. The booing has continued throughout the year.
Although the Red Wings have been booed in years past, this season it seems to be more frequent and intense.
Detroit fans are growing more fed up with their Red Wings by the day, and it is easy to see why.
The most obvious reason for the frustration is the on-ice product
The Red Wings were the most successful franchise of the 1990s and 2000s. They reached the playoffs for 25 straight seasons from 1990-91 to 2015-16, including four Stanley Cup championships.
Success like that is almost unprecedented, and Detroit fans are smart enough to know that. They knew they were due for some losing seasons and a rebuild. However, the way the team has gone about their rebuild and how long it has lasted is wearing on fans.
Detroit is now in the midst of one of the longest playoff droughts in National Hockey League (NHL) history. Their nine-season drought is tied for the fourth worst ever and is the worst in Wings history.
How did they get here? It began with former general manager Ken Holland. He was obsessed with continuing the playoff streak, even after the Red Wings contention window had shut. He did a series of bad contracts and bad trades, including Justin Abdelkader, Danny Dekeyser, Darren Helm, Kyle Quincey, and Stephen Weiss.
These deals for aging veterans and below-average players not only cost the team wins on the ice, but also hamstrung their future. The lack of cap space and loss of draft picks probably extended the rebuild by at least five years.
Red Wings fans were obviously furious, but then a beloved hero returned to restore the team to prominence. In 2019, Steve Yzerman came home to replace Holland as general manager. This move bought the team a little more patience with fans. Now, that has also run thin.
Objectively, Yzerman has been one of the worst GMs in the NHL over the last few seasons, making several of the same mistakes as Holland. He traded away players like Jake Walman and Olli Maatta for pennies on the dollar. He signed players like Justin Holl, Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher, Erik Gustafsson, and Vladimir Tarasenko to lucrative deals that aged poorly almost immediately.
Yzerman has also failed to make a meaningful trade deadline acquisition, even with the team fighting for a playoff spot the last two seasons.
Stevie Y has preached patience because of Detroit’s strong prospect system. Yet, hope for the future is not enough for Detroit fans who have not seen the postseason for nearly a decade.
Fan outrage stretches beyond the ice
The disappointment is not exclusively reserved for the hockey product. Fans have been feeling more and more shortchanged by the Red Wings organization as a whole.
In spite of the team’s poor performance, the Red Wings have continued to raise ticket prices. This was best evidenced by the new Labatt Blue Club that debuted this year.
With minimal notice and communication, the Red Wings took the Labatt Blue Club, which were mezzanine seats that were previously $40-$50, and transformed it into a premier club that cost over $200 per ticket. Season ticket holders in this section were thus subjected to a 400% ticket increase, which obviously sparked outrage.
The Red Wings have also been scrutinized for their promotions, specifically their giveaways. Giveaways are a staple of any sporting event, a way for the team to show their appreciation to fans by giving them a unique item for free.
However, the Red Wings have just five this season, which includes a rally towel and magnet schedule to open the year. There is also only one bobblehead giveaway. The bobblehead is also not even a player, instead a generic Red Wings doll representing the Centennial.
While they have a small number of free giveaways, they have numerous special ticket packages that include an item. These essentially force fans to pay more money for their tickets in order to get a giveaway item that was previously free. This obviously further enraged the fanbase.
Additionally, there were several frustrations with the Centennial FanFest that occurred last weekend. Fans yet again had to open their wallets, but the event was much smaller than advertised. It was also unorganized and miscommunicated, especially in regards to the autograph sessions.
Fair or not, fans have chosen Red Wings owner Chris Ilitch as who is to blame. Unlike his father Mike, Chris has been accused of being more focused on making a profit at any cost, even if that means angering the fans and worsening the team.
Yzerman may be shouldering much of the blame, but several fans also point to Ilitch as the reason the Red Wings have not opened up the checkbooks and made a blockbuster trade or free agency acquisition.
It is also important to note that Ilitch is further alienating Detroiters through his management of the Detroit Tigers, whom he also owns. Ilitch is currently refusing to pay an extension to two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
Red Wings fans, and Detroit sports fans as a whole, are growing fed up with these perceived slights by Ilitch and the organization.
If fans are so upset, why does attendance continue to be so high?
It may be confusing as to how fans are so angry, yet still show up for every Red Wings game. However, it has a pretty simple answer.
For better or worse, Detroit fans are some of the most loyal in all of sports. They identify with their teams, especially the Red Wings, and truly are diehards. Their deep-rooted passion for the Winged Wheel is worth more than the playoff drought, the mismanagement of the team, or the transgressions by the ownership.
The question remains as to if it will ever reach a tipping point for the fanbase. Will the losing become too much? Will the organization push the fans too far? Only time will tell, but, if the team continues to struggle, that tipping point may be sooner than the Red Wings think.