Its NHL playoff time!

The issue is not just the empty seats in the Joe. The fans that were there did not act like a seventh man. The crowds in NSH were much rowdier, and the fans in PIT were much more supportive of their team. I've had a friend who's a diehard Wings fan tell me he wished his fans were as supportive as Pred-heads.

I do not buy the economy answer for sports event ticket buying. I haven't seen a lot of the data that would support this. WSJ articles have stated just the opposite. People are not taking money away from this kind of thing. And DET lowered their ticket prices for the playoffs. Pistons attendance has not suffered one whit. In fact, it increased this year.

No question most NHL teams need to lower their prices. And there's no question that Detroit and Michigan as a whole have a crummy economy. That's been true for the better part of the last four decades. But couple the empty seats along with the fan lethargy, along with the success of other Detroit franchises in attendance, and I just wonder if the Red Wings fans have gotten a little accustomed to the success, if they believed they were fine after the first round, or if something else is going on that is making the Detroit fans a little more passive than others.