Of the thirty teams in the National Hockey League, there are
still twelve that have yet to hoist the Stanley Cup. There is just one team from
the NHL size doubling expansion in 1967-68 that have yet to win a Stanley Cup.
Since the Toronto Maple Leafs last won the Cup in 1966-67, Toronto and the St.
Louis Blues are tied for the most years without a Stanley Cup victory.
Both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild entered
the NHL for the 2000-01 season. The Blue Jackets have made the playoffs just
once since their inception and they didn’t make it past the first round. The
Wild have had mildly better success with a Western Conference finals loss in
2002-03.
The Atlanta Thrashers began play in the NHL one year before
Columbus and Minnesota. Atlanta’s one trip to the playoffs was a first round
sweep in 2006-07 at the hands of the New York Rangers. Since moving to Winnipeg
for the 2011-12 season, the Jets have not reached the post season.
The Nashville Predators have been in the NHL one more year
than Atlanta. Nashville has had some success qualifying for the post season.
The team has made the playoffs seven times over their short lifetime and have
reached the Western Conference semi-finals twice.
The Florida Panthers have made the playoffs just once since
1999-00, losing in the 2011-12 opening round to the New Jersey Devils in seven
games. The team came into the league in 1993-94 and had very rapid success,
making it to the Stanley Cup finals in just their third year in the league. The
Panthers lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the finals at the height of the
‘neutral zone trap’ era.
The latest incarnation of the Ottawa Senators entered the
league in 1992-93. Despite being one of the top regular season teams for a
number of years, the Senators made it to the Western Conference finals in just
2002-03 (losing to New Jersey Devils) and the Stanley Cup finals in just 2006-07
(losing to the Anaheim Ducks). A team called the Ottawa Senators won four
Stanley Cups in the 1920’s before moving to St. Louis then disappearing from
the league back in 1930’s.
The San Jose Sharks entered the NHL a year before the
Senators. As with the Senators, the Sharks have fielded a top-notch team that
has done great during the regular season but has had trouble in the playoffs.
The team has made it to the Western Conference finals twice before being
knocked out, 2003-04 against the Calgary Flames and 2009-10 against the Chicago
Blackhawks.
The Phoenix Coyotes moved to the desert from Winnipeg for
the 1996-97 season. The Coyotes didn’t win a single playoff series until
2011-12 when they managed to reach the Western Conference finals before losing
to the Los Angeles Kings. The team was originally dubbed the Jets in Winnipeg
from the 1979-80 NHL season forward and had no better luck at that location. As
a member of the World Hockey Association, however, the Jets won the Avco Cup
three times as the league’s playoff champions.
The Washington Capitals have been favoured to compete
strongly for the Stanley Cup over the past decade but have provided their fans
with perennial post season disappointment. The Capitals entered the league in
1974-75. They have lost in the Conference finals just once, losing to the
Boston Bruins in 1988-89, and the Stanley Cup finals just once, losing to the
Detroit Red Wings in 1997-98.
The Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks both entered the
NHL for the 1970-71 season. Buffalo has lost in the Stanley Cup finals twice
while the Canucks have played the role of bridesmaid on three occasions. The
Sabres lost out to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974-75 and the Dallas Stars in
1998-99. The Canucks lost to the mighty New York Islanders in 1981-82, the New
York Rangers in 1993-94 and the Boston Bruins in 2010-11.
The only team from the expansion of 1967-68 that is still in
search of its first Stanley Cup victory is the St. Louis Blues. The Blues went
to the Cup finals in their first three years of existence and haven’t been back
since. The Kings made one unsuccessful trip to the finals, a loss to the
Montreal Canadiens in 1992-93, before winning the championship in 2011-12 with
a victory over the New Jersey Devils in the finals. Los Angeles did it again in 2013-14.
