Oldest to Newest NHL Arenas, Ranked

There have been some iconic venues in the history of the National Hockey League, but we are now in the modern era. 

There are just two buildings in the NHL that opened before 1990, and 11 arenas were opened after the turn of the millennium.

Oldest NHL Arena

Madison Square Garden is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League.

Opened in 1968, the Garden has become one of the most famous sports and entertainment venues in the world. It is also the oldest arena in the NHL. The second-oldest barn, the Scotiabank Saddledome, opened 15 years after MSG.

Despite its status as the oldest arena in the NHL, Madison Square Garden has seen only one Stanley Cup winner in its history. 

That came in 1994 when the Rangers defied the NHL odds by storming back to beat the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals before winning another Game 7 against the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final.

Newest NHL Arena

UBS Arena is the newest NHL Arena. It opened in November 2021 with a game between the New York Islanders and Calgary Flames.

UBS Arena, which was built adjacent to Belmont Park, can hold 17,255 fans for hockey, making it one of the smaller venues in the NHL.

Prior to moving to UBS, the Islanders played at the Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum for close to 50 years. The Coliseum was home to the last team to four-peat in North American professional sports.

Knowing that the Isles had a distinct home-ice advantage due to the intimate nature of Nassau Coliseum, the team lobbied the designers of UBS Arena to do their best to replicate the design of the inner bowl of Nassau Coliseum.

The Islanders know better than most that a strong home-ice advantage can change the hockey odds of a playoff series.

Ranking the Oldest to Newest NHL Arenas