Ranking every Stanley Cup winner of the salary cap era
Every team that wins the Stanley Cup is great. That’s obvious. But what separates each of those champions from each other? What makes a great team truly immortal?
Does it matter most to have legendary stars at the top of their games, like the Pittsburgh Penguins with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin or the Chicago Blackhawks with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane? Or should we assign more weight to true teams that dominated their opposition and barely lost any games during their Stanley Cup runs?
In crafting a formula for ranking the best Stanley Cup winning teams of the salary-cap era, I originally made the regular season matter quite a bit. But a year later, I realized it had far too much of a bearing on the calculation, especially when some of the greatest teams save their best efforts for – and rest their stars for – the playoffs.
This season, I’m no longer awarding points for regular-season dominance. I weighted the calculation as follows:
Playoff dominance: 16 is the max score, and subtract one point for every loss during the playoff run.
Star power: One point for a major individual award (Conn Smythe excluded) and a top-10 scorer in points or points per game.
Hall Calls: One point for every Hall of Famer or projected Hall of Famer.
Fear Factor (New category): How inevitable and unbeatable did this team feel during its run? Rated on a scale of one to five.
Will the formula paint an accurate picture of which teams were truly the best? Let’s give it a shot.
And before you get up in arms over “Team X finishing so low,” remember: every one of these teams won the Stanley Cup.
20. St. Louis Blues, 2018-19 (11 pts)
Even though I’m not using regular-season results in the formula this time, it’s fitting that the Blues finish last because, more than any other team on this list, they were not elite wire to wire. Famously, they were last overall in the NHL standings as late as Jan. 3, 2019. Riding an incredible run from rookie netminder Jordan Binnington and the peak of Ryan O’Reilly, who captured the Selke and Conn Smythe Trophies, the Blues fired up Gloria and ended their 51-season championship drought.
19. Carolina Hurricanes, 2005-06 (13 pts)
The Canes rung in The New NHL by closing out a back-and-forth Final to topple an Oilers squad that had Team of Destiny vibes. The Canes had Rod ‘The Bod’ Brind’Amour in his Selke years, not to mention young Eric Staal in his breakout 100-point season. After heading into the lockout having missed the playoffs in consecutive campaigns, these Canes were dominant pretty much from the start of the season. Their defining storyline, of course, was rookie goaltender Cam Ward replacing Martin Gerber in Round 1 and delivering an icy Conn Smythe performance, authoring 15 of Carolina’s 16 wins.
T-17. Los Angeles Kings, 2013-14 (15 pts)
The Kings had already won the Cup two seasons prior and by 2013-14 were in their “just get in and flick the switch” era, posting the 10th best record in the league. They were big, strong, tough and experienced, fighting back from a 3-0 series deficit to defeat the San Jose Sharks in Round 1. Trade deadline addition Marian Gaborik buried a league-best 14 goals during the playoff run.
T-17. Washington Capitals, 2017-18 (15 pts)
For the first 12 seasons of Alex Ovechkin’s career, he was the generational superstar who couldn’t win when it mattered. His Capitals had never even escaped Round 2 of the playoffs before finally breaking through in 2017-18 after slaying their boogeyman in the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov were the standouts, while Braden Holtby delivered in goal after opening the postseason as backup to Philipp Grubauer.
16. Florida Panthers, 2023-24 (16 pts)
Hellbent on revenge, the Panthers became the first team since 2008-09 to win the Cup after losing in the Final the year prior. They ranked among the best regular-season teams and were the NHL’s No. 1 defensive unit, anchored by a Selke Trophy winner in Aleksander Barkov. They would’ve cracked the top 10 easily had they not been docked three points for blowing a 3-0 series lead to Edmonton in the Final. But after winning Game 7, the potential biggest choke in sports history became a What If.
T-11. Boston Bruins, 2010-11 (17 pts)
The 2010-11 Bruins literally caused a riot by beating the Vancouver Canucks in their own barn to close out Game 7 of an epic Final. They had a legendary captain on defense in Zdeno Chara, the rookie version of Brad Marchand, a grizzled veteran presence in Mark Recchi and, in goal, Tim Thomas delivering one of the best year-round seasons ever by a goalie. He captured the Vezina and Conn Smythe.
T-11. Los Angles Kings, 2011-12 (17 pts)
Similar to the 2018-19 Blues with Craig Berube, these Kings turned their season around with a mid-year coaching change, bringing in Darryl Sutter. They had Hall of Fame talents in Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty but mostly won with a lunchpail identity and a playoff run for the ages from Jonathan Quick, who posted an NHL-record .946 save percentage en route to the Conn Smythe. The 2011-12 Kings are the first and only No. 8 seed to win the Cup, and they only lost four games in the entire postseason.
T-11. Pittsburgh Penguins, 2015-16 (17 pts)
With Mike Sullivan helping transform their identity midway through the season, these Pens ushered in an era of speed and ranked among the physically smallest teams to win the Cup. Crosby and Malkin were their usual dominant selves, but Phil Kessel deepened the Pens on a third deadly scoring line with Carl Hagelin and Nick Bonino, a.k.a the HBK Line.
T-11. Pittsburgh Penguins, 2016-17 (17 pts)
The 2016-17 Pens carried over most of the personnel from the previous year’s group, except Justin Schultz had to step his game up with Kris Letang sidelined for the entire playoffs. They lost a ‘HHOF’ point with Letang not on the roster for the playoffs, but they got a strong Fear Factor score because it didn’t feel like they were in danger of losing the Final against a Nashville Predators team that was the No. 16 overall seed.
T-11. Vegas Golden Knights, 2022-23 (17 pts)
The Golden Knights had pedestrian special teams and lacked a true superstar. But they fit the definition of a team like few champions. Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe, but Vegas had so many worthy candidates, from Jack Eichel to Mark Stone to Adin Hill. No team pushed them to a Game 7 during their run, and they made short work of the Panthers, who entered the Final looking like giant slayers.
10. Anaheim Ducks, 2006-07 (18 pts)
If we look at Anaheim as a market, sure, the Ducks rank among the most obscure Cup winners. But everything about the team itself was memorable. Built by Brian Burke, they were famously the Cup champs who chucked knuckles, leading the NHL in fights. Ageless Teemu Selanne powered their offense, supported by two youngsters named Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf down the lineup, while a top defensive pair doesn’t get any better than Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. The 2006-07 Ducks went 16-4 in the postseason.
9. Florida Panthers, 2024-25 (19 pts)
It’s a testament to how deep and balanced this team was that selecting a Conn Smythe Trophy winner seemed like an impossible ask. Sam Bennett was a one-man army and paced the playoffs in goals. Brad Marchand led a third line that outscored its opponents 13-4 at 5-on-5 for the postseason. Future Hall of Fame goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky delivered whenever Florida needed him most. Oh, and the Panthers had the top two defensive forwards in the NHL on their first line, bottling up Connor McDavid for a second consecutive Final. Coach Paul Maurice was right when he claimed this year’s squad was even better than the 2023-24 one.
T-5. Pittsburgh Penguins, 2008-09 (20 pts)
The 2008-09 Pens had Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury in their primes, Sergei Gonchar at the end of his and were determined to finish the job after reaching the Final the year before. It felt like only a matter of time before the generational talents of Crosby and Malkin had their moment and, thanks to Fleury’s iconic save on Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom in the Final, it happened.
T-5. Chicago Blackhawks, 2009-10 (20 pts)
As you can see, we’re reaching the tier of teams that had it all. The 2009-10 Hawks had four Hall of Fame talents at the top of their games in Kane, Toews, Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa, with Keith capturing his first of two Norris Trophies. They finished with the NHL’s third-best record in the regular season and went 16-6 in the postseason. Kane’s overtime winner in Game 6 of the Final against Chicago kickstarted a modern-day dynasty.
T-5. Chicago Blackhawks, 2014-15 (20 pts)
Before winning their third Cup in a five-year stretch, the Hawks were very much in “the regular season doesn’t matter as much” mode. Their leading scorer, Toews, had 66 points because Kane missed the last quarter of the season with a broken collarbone before returning for Game 1 of the playoffs. This was The Duncan Keith Year; he averaged more than 31 minutes per night and took home the Conn Smythe.
T-5. Tampa Bay Lightning, 2020-21 (20 pts)
Tampa went back-to-back in one of the NHL’s stranger seasons, meeting their usual Atlantic Division neighbor, the Montreal Canadiens, in the Final due to the one-year divisional format change to navigate COVID-19. Andrei Vasilevskiy was in peak form, while Nikita Kucherov rather infamously parachuted from his season-long LTIR stint right into the playoffs, just in time to lead all players in scoring.
T-3. Chicago Blackhawks, 2012-13 (21 pts)
If you were to ask off the top of my head which team I suspected the formula to spit out as No. 1, it’s this one. The 2012-13 Hawks rank among the greatest teams of all-time, independent of era. They set an NHL record for the longest streak to open a season without a regulation loss, going 21-0-3. Because the NHL was on a lockout-shortened schedule, that run represented exactly half the regular season. They snatched the Stanley Cup in spectacular fashion to boot, scoring two goals at 18:44 and 19:01 of the third period to stun the Boston Bruins and flip the score in Game 6. The 2012-13 Hawks epitomized wire-to-wire success and are the last Presidents’ Trophy winner to lift the chalice.
T-3. Tampa Bay Lightning, 2019-20 (21 pts)
I didn’t include the bubble round-robin in the formula, but it’s worth nothing that these Bolts won the most games of any team in a single postseason with 18. They had Hall of Fame talent fuelling them in Victor Hedman, Kucherov and Vasilevskiy and won it all despite getting just one game – and one goal – out of Steven Stamkos. One reason why: they were deeper, boosted because GM Julien BriseBois shelled out first-round picks for Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman. That’s what finally changed Tampa for the better following a disastrous 2018-19 in which they tied a then-NHL record with 62 wins only to be swept in Round 1.
2. Colorado Avalanche, 2021-22 (22 pts)
As the years pass, I suspect we’ll look back on the 2021-22 Avs with increasing reverance. What a team. It had Nathan MacKinnon in his prime and blueliner Cale Makar delivering one of the best all-around seasons ever for a defenseman, taking home the Norris and Conn Smythe. In Mikko Rantanen, that team has at least one more probable Hall of Famer on it. Not only did the Avs lose just four games in the entire postseason, they swept two opponents along the way.
1. Detroit Red Wings, 2007-08 (25 pts)
While the 2002 Red Wings had an absolutely silly collection of Hall of Fame talent, the 2007-08 group was spectacular in its own right. It had icons Chris Chelios and Lidstrom near the ends of their amazing careers. It had Dominik Hasek in goal for a couple of the playoff wins that spring, with Chris Osgood posting a 1.55 goal-against average in the starter’s role. It had Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg leading the way at the absolute peak of their powers. Detroit also posted 54 regular-season wins while sporting the league’s No. 1 defense and No. 3 offense. They were an absolute machine from start to finish.
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