As you may have heard, the Detroit Red Wings have currently made the post-season 25 consecutive times, having missed out last in 1989–90.
But, sad as it is for Detroiters, the streak is all but over. As of right now, the Wings are 14 points back of the eighth-place Islanders in the East — and just one point ahead of last-place New Jersey — with only 14 games left to play. They haven’t been officially eliminated, but Sportsclubstats.com gives them a 0.0–per cent shot at getting in.
So it’s a good time to honour that streak (and don’t worry — many, many people will do that).
But it’s also a good time to see where the Wings’ run stacks up against teams in the other Big Four North American sports leagues.
The NFL’s New England Patriots have been incredibly dominant in winning five Super Bowls in the past 25 years, but their playoff streak doesn’t hold a candle — they’ve missed seven post-seasons in that time.
Likewise, the New York Yankees have had a run of major success as well, but they’ve also missed out seven times in the last 25 years.
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That said, one major team may be on an even better run than the Red Wings, and that’s the San Antonio Spurs, who have already locked up a playoff berth — their 20th straight — with one month to go in the NBA season despite the fact they bid adieu to franchise pillar Tim Duncan last off-season.
But wait, you say — the Wings’ 25-year streak is longer. How could the Spurs’ run be better?
A couple reasons:
1) The Spurs may have missed out on the playoffs in 1996–97, but they’ve made the playoffs 27 times in 28 seasons — the same number as the Wings; and
2) San Antonio has been a little better versus their competition since the start of the Wings’ run than the Wings themselves.
Here’s a chart showing year-over-year results (going back to the last time the Wings missed the playoffs), using PTS% for the Wings and Win% for the Spurs.
Not counting this season, the average Wings’ PTS% since the start of their streak is an impressive .616. The average Spurs’ Win% over the same span? .657.
Note: This isn’t a direct apples-to-apples comparison, obviously. But the fact that the NHL awards points for certain losses would seem to give the Wings a leg up if anything.
Also note: Wings fans might still argue that if pick a different arbitrary starting point — like 1983–84, say — you get a period where the Wings missed the playoffs just twice while the Spurs missed out four times.
But if you continue down that path the Spurs will win out. Don’t believe me? See below:
• The Spurs moved to the NBA from the ABA in 1976–77. In the 41 seasons since (including this one), they’ve missed the playoffs just the four times mentioned above. Put another way: That’s 37 playoff appearances in 41 years, or a .902 playoff percentage. Over their entire NBA history.
• In that same timeframe, the Wings have missed the playoffs eight times. (And but you’ll be able to add a ninth to that this season.)
• Since joining the NBA, the Spurs have never missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Meanwhile, the Wings missed the playoffs in five straight years at the end of the ’70s and start of the ’80s.
• Since 1999–00, the Spurs have won no fewer than 50 games in each season.
• That span included a 66-game season in 2010–11, in which they won exactly 50.
So no disrespect to the Red Wings at all — making the playoffs in 25 straight seasons may never be achieved by another NHL team (or Big Four team, for that matter…), particularly in this age of parity.
But what the Spurs are continuing to do is otherworldly in its own right, and might make them the dominant playoff team of the current era.