NHL Teams Ranked By the Number of Sports Bars Within a 1-mile Radius of Their Home Arenas

Paul Kemp Nov 2, 2023

With the new NHL 2023-24 season in full swing, multitudes of hockey fans are already flocking to the home arenas of each of the 25 U.S. and seven Canadian teams. Of course, sharing the love for your favorite team with fellow hockey fans always adds up to the fan experience. One of the best ways to do that is to meet up at a dedicated hockey or sports bar before or after a game.

Therefore, our team at SportingPedia decided to answer the question “which hockey arenas offer fans easy access to sports bars?” Luckily, many locations have quite a few nearby dedicated sports bars and restaurants that welcome hockey fans.

When it comes to offering the highest number of sports bars within walking distance of big NHL arenas, the Little Caesars Arena, which is the home of the Detroit Red Wings, has the most sports bars within a 1-mile radius. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks’ Roger Arena ranks tenth on our list, offering about 14 sports bars within a 1-mile radius.

Methodology

To identify the top 10 NHL teams with the highest number of sports bars within a 1-mile radius, we took all 32 NHL franchises and their current home arenas. Using the FreeMapTools website and its Find Places Within Radius functionality, we checked the sports bars in close proximity.

We looked for bars within 5 km of each location (the search does not work with miles) and only took into account the sports bars located up to 1.6 km from each arena since 1 mile is approximately 1.6 km. We composed a list of the 10 teams, including both US and Canadian franchises, with the highest number of sports bars within approximately 1-mile radius.

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings started as an expansion NHL team called the Detroit Cougars, with September 25, 1928, being the founding date of the franchise. The first home arena of the team was located in Windsor, Canada. Nowadays, the Detroit hockey team’s home games are played at the Little Caesars Arena, with the Detroit Red Wings opening the season for the first time at their new home in 2017. Fans of the team can enjoy a great time before or after Red Wings games at more than 30 sports bars within walking distance.

The Detroit Red Wings are expected to start the new season on a high note, with the team currently playing with its most experienced roster in years. During the offseason, the Red Wings acquired quite a few veterans, which led to a new lineup of no rookies or even second-year professional hockey players.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators were founded in 1998 and the Bridgestone Arena has been hosting their home games ever since. On May 4, 1998, the National Hockey League welcomed the Nashville Predators as the 27th team to compete in the League.

Just recently, in honor of the Bridgestone Arena hosting NHL games for 25 years, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced that October 10 is now to be celebrated as the “Nashville Predators Golden Pride Day”. The Preds were the first to start the new NHL season in a game against the Lightning. As the Tuesday game was coincidentally on the 25th anniversary of the Preds’ first game at Bridgestone Arena, Mr O’Connell even pleaded with employers across Nashville to end the work day earlier so employees could prepare for the significant start of the new NHL season. It is even better that fans of the team can choose from about 24 sports bars near the Predators’ home arena.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs is one of the founding teams of the NHL, starting its journey in 1917. The Maple Leafs is one of the hockey teams that have the most achievements in their NHL history. During the first five years of the league, the Maple Leafs won two Stanley Cups. As of now, the Leafs’ achievements have added up to 13 Stanley Cups since they started competing in the NHL.

One of the most-talked events surrounding the new season for the Leafs was the surprising call-up of Fraser Minten, a 19-year-old hockey player who has experience playing for the Kamloops Blazers but has never played a hockey game of such a high level. Minten made a great impression during development camp and earned his spot at the Maple Leafs. If you are interested in how the team will begin the new season at their home Scotiabank Arena, you can also add to the fun experience by visiting the 21 nearby sports bars.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins were founded in 1924 and were the first American hockey team to join the NHL. In the very first Stanley Cup final to feature two American hockey teams in 1929, the Bruins ended up winning the trophy. The team added two more Stanley Cups to its achievements, with the two trophies won after the 1938-39 and the 1940-41 seasons.

In September, the Bruins announced their “Historic 100”, which included 100 of the most legendary players in franchise history. The players were chosen by a committee of independent journalists and media members as well as hockey experts and members of the community. The list of players included popular names from just about every era of Bruins history. If you happen to watch any of the home games of the Bruins at TD Garden, you may also try any of the 20 sports bars within a 1-mile radius from the team’s home arena.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins were founded during the 1967 expansion of the NHL, with the inspiration behind their name being the igloolike shape of Mellon Arena, which is the place where the Penguins played their home games until the 2009-10 season. Nowadays, hockey fans can buy tickets for their home games played at the PPG Paints Arena and even visit some of the sports bars one can easily find within walking distance of the arena. Among the team’s achievements, there are five Stanley Cups, which were won in 1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, and the last one in 2017.

The Penguins’ current roster includes the star-studded trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. The three major hockey stars have been a big part of the Penguins’ achievements which were accomplished during the hockey players’ almost two-decade-long run with the NHL team. The three Penguins veterans will also play for the team during the new 2023-24 season, which launched on October 10th.

New York Rangers

New York Rangers were founded in 1926, making it one of the oldest teams to compete in the NHL. The team has been playing its home games in Madison Square Garden since its inception. To add to the fun, Rangers fans who happen to watch a game at the team’s home arena can also enjoy about 19 sports bars that are located close to Madison Square Garden. Up until the NHL expansion in 1967, the Rangers were one of the ‘original six”, which comprised the league. The team has won the Stanley Cup trophy a total of four times – in 1928, 1933, 1940, and 1994.

In 2023, the New York Rangers were the most valuable NHL team, with their estimated value coming in at $2.2 billion. These figures reflected a 10% jump from the team’s value for the previous year, with the Rangers becoming the most valuable NHL team for the eighth consecutive year.

Dallas Stars

The Stars joined the NHL in 1967, with the team having its origin in Minnesota and then moving to Dallas for the 1993-94 season. As the team was showing a great performance during its first years, even though it was playing at the then-newly constructed Metropolitan Sports Center, fans were eager to watch the North Stars play. Nowadays, fans of the Stars can watch them play at home in the American Airlines Center – TX, with about 19 nearby sports bars also offering a great time to Stars hockey fans.

The Dallas Stars have played at the Stanley Cup finals a total of five times (in 1981, 1991, 1999, 2000, and 2020) but have won the trophy only in 1999. During that year, the Stars achieved a record of winning 51 games and finishing the Cup with 114 points. To this day, this is still an unbeatable score in franchise history.

St.Louis Blues

The Blues was founded in 1967, during the NHL expansion for the 1967-68 season, when six other teams joined the so-called “Original Six”. The Blues have competed in four Stanley Cup Finals (during the 1968-70 season and in 2019) and have won the championship in 2019. The team’s name was derived from the classic composition “St. Louis Blues” by W.C. Handy.

During the 1999-2000 season, the Blues achieved a record in the NHL while right wing Pavol Demitra as well as defensemen Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis were playing for the hockey team. Outside of the “Original Six”, the Blues are the NHL team with the most Stanley Cup playoff appearances in the league’s history. The Enterprise Center has been the Blues’ home arena since 1994 when the team moved from St. Louis Arena. Those who enjoy watching home games can share the experience with other Blues fans at the 17 sports bars located near the home arena.

Washington Capitals

The Capitals were founded in 1974 and unfortunately suffered a pretty disastrous start during the 1974-75 season. Despite that, they managed to improve in the following years, with the team’s achievements including two Eastern Conference championships in 1998 and 2018 as well as one Stanley Cup in 2018.

During the 2009-10 season, the Capitals won the team its first Presidents’ Trophy, which was awarded for finishing a regular season with the most points. The 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons also turned out to be very successful for the team as they won the Presidents’ Trophy for a second and third time, respectively. The hockey team played at the Capital Centre up until 1997 when it moved to Capital One Arena where it is currently playing its home games. Fans who happen to be at the team’s home arena can also check about 16 sports bars nearby where they can find other fellow Capitals fans.

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks became an NHL franchise in 1970 during a league expansion. The team has reached the Stanley Cup finals a total of three times (1982, 1994, and 2011) but did not manage to win the trophy. While the team was struggling initially, it did manage to improve its performance and ended up adding two Presidents’ Trophy wins to its list of achievements. The Canucks finished both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 regular seasons with the most points.

The Canucks definitely had a more successful first decade of the 2000s, as the team managed to win four division titles and achieved a total of seven postseason appearances during the period between 2000-01 and 2009-10. Rogers Arena (formerly General Motors Place) is the home of the Canucks, with fans of the team being able to purchase tickets for home games played at the arena. It does not hurt that there are also about 14 nearby sports bars you can easily visit when you watch any of the Canucks home games.

Raw data