The New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks are all celebrating their NHL centennials in the 2025-26 season. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
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As the NHL continues to evolve, the league’s history will be front and center in 2025-26. Three of the league’s Original Six franchises — the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers — will be celebrating their NHL centennials with special events dotted through the upcoming campaign.
The youngest members of the Original Six, all three franchises debuted in the 1926-27 season, the first year that the Stanley Cup was awarded to the National Hockey League champion.
Here’s a look at the history of the three squads and what we know about their celebration plans.
Detroit Red Wings
With seven Stanley Cups before the NHL expanded to 12 teams in 1967 and 11 championships in total, the Red Wings have the most decorated history of the three centennial teams. They also stand as the league’s most successful American-based team — the Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins are tied for second, with six Cups each.
The Red Wings have also placed 83 players, coaches and executives into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and current GM Steve Yzerman holds the record as the longest-serving captain in NHL history with a tenure that spanned 1,303 games over 19 seasons — including three Stanley Cup wins.
Founded as the Cougars, the team changed its name to the Falcons in 1930 before adopting the Red Wings moniker in 1932.
The Wings’ centennial celebration has been dubbed ‘100 Years of Hockeytown.’ In August, the team unveiled a special centennial logo for center ice at Little Caesars Arena which includes the beloved ‘Hockeytown’ wordmark for the first time since 2018.
The Red Wings have announced a four-day FanFest to be held at Motor City Casino from Nov. 6-9. It will feature alumni guest appearances, autograph sessions and other activations.
A special centennial jersey is also forthcoming and last week, the team announced that it will finally be retiring the No. 91 of first-ballot Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov on Jan. 12, 2026.
The Red Wings’ centennial season will begin against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, Oct. 9 at Little Caesars Arena.
Chicago Blackhawks
Known as the Black Hawks until 1986, Chicago won the Stanley Cup in 1934, 1938 and 1961 before going on its more recent run of championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
The Blackhawks’ centennial theme is ‘Always an Original,’ and the team has already released the slate of its centennial celebration events. Divided into eras, the Blackhawks will honor their original stars as well as their fearsome old arena, Chicago Stadium, the teams that won it all and ‘the next originals.’ Bobblehead giveaways through the year will honor icons including Stan Mikita, Chris Chelios and Duncan Keith, who’s set to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.
After they open their campaign on the road against the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins, the Blackhawks will kick off their centennial season festivities against Montreal on Saturday, Oct. 11 at the United Center.
New York Rangers
Just two years into their existence, the Rangers became the first U.S.-based franchise to win the Cup in 1928. They followed that up with wins in 1933 and 1940, then added one more championship in 1994. And like the Red Wings (nine-year drought) and the Blackhawks (five-year drought), the Rangers are looking to return to the post-season picture under new coach Mike Sullivan in 2025-26, after a miss last season.
All three centennial teams feature relatively new faces behind the bench. Todd McLellan took over in Detroit last December and has amassed a record of 26-18-4 for a .583 points percentage to date, while former Red Wings bench boss Jeff Blashill is taking over in Chicago this fall.
Sullivan is the only one of the three with a Cup ring as a head coach. He has two from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, from 2016 and 2017, and was also part of the Blackhawks’ staff in 2015 as a development coach. McLellan got his name on the Cup in 2008, as an assistant to Mike Babcock with the Detroit Red Wings.
Details are sparse so far on the Rangers’ plans for their centennial celebration. Their logo and branding has been released, as well as a video commemorating memories from the last 100 years.
Stay tuned for more as part of this year’s NHL centennials. Sullivan will make his debut behind the Rangers bench against his old team from Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden on the opening night of the 2025-26 season, Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolschram/2025/08/24/red-wings-blackhawks-and-rangers-to-celebrate-2025-26-nhl-centennials/
