This list ranks the current home arena of every NHL team by the year it opened its doors, oldest to newest. It’s a snapshot of the buildings teams actually play in today, not the age of the franchises themselves — an original-six team can skate in a building that’s decades younger than an expansion club’s barn, and that’s exactly what happens here.
The headline is the gap at the very top. Madison Square Garden opened in 1968 and has hosted the Rangers ever since, a full 15 years before the next-oldest building on the list, Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome (1983), even broke ground. After that, the list compresses fast — more than half the league is playing in arenas that opened within a single decade, the 1990s, when a wave of new construction swept through pro sports.
Madison Square Garden’s improbable staying power
MSG’s run at the top isn’t close. Built above Penn Station in Manhattan, the current Garden is the fourth arena to carry the name, and it has stayed relevant through repeated interior overhauls rather than a full teardown — a strategy almost no other NHL market has replicated at this scale. Every other original-six or early-era barn on this list has since been replaced; MSG is the exception.
Calgary’s Saddledome, instantly recognizable for its saddle-shaped roof, is the only other arena from before the 1990s still hosting a team. Everything else — all 30 remaining entries — opened in 1991 or later, which tells you how aggressively the league’s real estate turned over in the back half of the 20th century.
| # | Venue | Team | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madison Square Garden | New York Rangers | 1968 |
| 2 | Scotiabank Saddledome* | Calgary Flames | 1983 |
| 3 | Delta Center | Utah Mammoth | 1991 |
| 4 | Honda Center | Anaheim Ducks | 1993 |
| 5 | SAP Center | San Jose Sharks | 1993 |
| 6 | Enterprise Center | St. Louis Blues | 1994 |
| 7 | United Center | Chicago Blackhawks | 1994 |
| 8 | Rogers Arena | Vancouver Canucks | 1995 |
| 9 | TD Garden | Boston Bruins | 1995 |
| 10 | Bell Centre | Montreal Canadiens | 1996 |
| 11 | Benchmark International Arena | Tampa Bay Lightning | 1996 |
| 12 | Bridgestone Arena | Nashville Predators | 1996 |
| 13 | Canadian Tire Centre | Ottawa Senators | 1996 |
| 14 | KeyBank Center | Buffalo Sabres | 1996 |
| 15 | Xfinity Mobile Arena* | Philadelphia Flyers | 1996 |
| 16 | Capital One Arena | Washington Capitals | 1997 |
| 17 | Amerant Bank Arena | Florida Panthers | 1998 |
| 18 | Ball Arena | Colorado Avalanche | 1999 |
| 19 | Crypto.com Arena | Los Angeles Kings | 1999 |
| 20 | Lenovo Center | Carolina Hurricanes | 1999 |
| 21 | Scotiabank Arena | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1999 |
| 22 | Grand Casino Arena | Minnesota Wild | 2000 |
| 23 | Nationwide Arena | Columbus Blue Jackets | 2000 |
| 24 | American Airlines Center | Dallas Stars | 2001 |
| 25 | Canada Life Centre | Winnipeg Jets | 2004 |
| 26 | Prudential Center | New Jersey Devils | 2007 |
| 27 | PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2010 |
| 28 | Rogers Place | Edmonton Oilers | 2016 |
| 29 | T-Mobile Arena | Vegas Golden Knights | 2016 |
| 30 | Little Caesars Arena | Detroit Red Wings | 2017 |
| 31 | Climate Pledge Arena | Seattle Kraken | 2021 |
| 32 | UBS Arena | New York Islanders | 2021 |
* An announced or under-construction replacement is on the way — see Replacement Watch below.
Replacement Watch: What’s Next
Scotiabank Saddledome*: Calgary’s replacement, Scotia Place, is under construction and slated to open for the 2027-28 season.
Xfinity Mobile Arena*: The planned new South Philadelphia arena is expected to eventually house the Flyers as well.
Why the 1990s cluster so tightly together
‘Opened’ here means the year the building first hosted games, not the year it was last renovated or renamed — many arenas on this list have gone through sponsor-name changes since they opened, but the opening year itself doesn’t move. That’s why you’ll see teams playing in a building with a very different name than the one it debuted under.
The mid-1990s stretch is the densest part of the list: six arenas — Bell Centre, Benchmark International Arena, Bridgestone Arena, Canadian Tire Centre, KeyBank Center, and Xfinity Mobile Arena — all trace back to 1996 alone, part of a broader boom in new NHL construction that also produced Honda Center, SAP Center, Enterprise Center, United Center, Rogers Arena, and TD Garden within a few years on either side. For fans, that era’s buildings generally mean wider concourses and better sightlines than the barns they replaced, even if some now feel dated next to the league’s newest venues.
What stands out further down the list
At the other end, Climate Pledge Arena and UBS Arena both opened in 2021, making them the newest buildings in the league and giving fans in Seattle and on Long Island the most modern game-day experience on this list. Between the 1990s cluster and that newest pair sits a slower trickle — one new arena roughly every few years through the 2000s and 2010s, including Prudential Center (2007), PPG Paints Arena (2010), and the 2016–2017 run of Rogers Place, T-Mobile Arena, and Little Caesars Arena. If you’re chasing the full range of NHL arena eras in person, that spread from 1968 to 2021 is effectively a walking tour of how hockey venues have evolved for more than half a century.
Explore more: Explore more ThrillZing venue guides.
Oldest NHL Arenas FAQs
What is the oldest arena in the NHL?
Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers, is the oldest active NHL arena — it opened in 1968.
What is the newest arena in the NHL?
Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle Kraken) and UBS Arena (New York Islanders) are tied as the newest, both opening in 2021.
Which year had the most NHL arenas open?
1996 saw the most, with six current arenas debuting that year: Bell Centre, Benchmark International Arena, Bridgestone Arena, Canadian Tire Centre, KeyBank Center, and Xfinity Mobile Arena.
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Photo by Ryan Dellolio on Unsplash.