No playoffs, no problem: Detroit still America's best hockey city

Brian Manzullo | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Little Caesars Arena tour Little Caesars Arena tour with Free Press sports writer Helene St. James on June 1, 2017.

The Detroit Red Wings' 25-season playoff streak is over.

That apparently doesn't make Detroit any less of a hockey city.

The Motor City remains the greatest hockey city in America, narrowly beating out Boston, Pittsburgh, Anaheim and St. Louis, according to WalletHub's latest study on hockey cities in the United States.

Detroit was also ranked No. 1 last year by the same study despite the Pittsburgh Penguins' run at the Stanley Cup. They're going for a repeat this year, tied 2-2 with the Nashville Predators in the finals.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs for the first time since 1991 - and future success doesn't look so certain for a franchise that's about to move to Little Caesars Arena, starting next season. But that's just one of many factors WalletHub takes into account.

"WalletHub crunched the numbers to determine the best places for hockey enthusiasts," the website says. "We ranked 72 U.S. cities based on 19 key indicators of a good hockey city. Our data set ranges from ticket prices to stadium capacity to the performance level of each city’s teams. Read on for the winners, commentary from a panel of sports experts and a full description of our methodology."

WalletHub combined each city's NHL and NCAA ranking. Detroit ranked No. 1 in NHL, but No. 56 in NCAA - still good enough to earn a No. 1 overall score of 63.07, ahead of Boston's 62.07.

Factors determining each city's NHL rank include performance level of NHL teams, number of Stanley Cup wins, franchise value, average ticket price, stadium capacity and more. Detroit has the No. 5 highest NHL fan engagement in the country, which helped its score.

Other Michigan cities on the 72-city list, mainly because they host prominent college hockey teams: No. 23 Houghton, No. 24 Ann Arbor, No. 31 Big Rapids, No. 41 Sault Ste. Marie, No. 46 East Lansing, No. 51 Marquette and No. 71 Kalamazoo.

Read the methodology here.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.

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