The New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks are each celebrating their Centennial seasons in 2025-26 with special jerseys and nights throughout the season. To mark the special seasons for each of the three teams, NHL.com columnist Dave Stubbs is taking a look at each team's first NHL game. Here, a look at the Red Wings' -- then the Cougars -- first game against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 18, 1926:

The splashy advertisement in the Nov. 11, 1926, edition of the Detroit Free Press trumpeted the arrival of the city's new NHL entry, players arriving from the Victoria Cougars of the folded Western Hockey League.

"Welcome! Detroit 'Cougars'" it announced, putting the team's nickname in quotation marks. "Detroit's First Year in the National Hockey League Should be a Great Succe

See Full Page