Active and all-time National Hockey League (NHL) franchise post-season appearance, post-season series win, Stanley Cup Finals and Stanley Cup droughts up to and including the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, are listed below. Those teams which have never made it in franchise history are listed by the season that they entered the league, either as a new franchise or when they merged into the NHL from the disbanded World Hockey Association (WHA) league. These lists do not include the cancelled 2004–05 NHL season when calculating "number of seasons".
Among the current 32 NHL teams, ten have never won the Stanley Cup, with the oldest of them being the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres (53 seasons). The longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history belongs to the Toronto Maple Leafs (56 seasons). Toronto's drought is still active, and they have not made the Finals since winning the last Stanley Cup in 1967, before the expansion era. Five teams have never reached the Stanley Cup Finals, with the oldest of them being the Winnipeg Jets/Arizona Coyotes franchise (43 seasons). Toronto's active 56-season drought from the Finals is the longest in NHL history. In 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks ended what was the second-longest Stanley Cup championship drought at 49 seasons (now the sixth-longest). The end of that drought was the first of three consecutive years in which one of the eleven longest such droughts was broken (Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, Boston Bruins in 2011, and Los Angeles Kings in 2012).
The Buffalo Sabres have the longest active playoff series win drought at 17 seasons and also have the longest active post-season appearance drought at 13 seasons, a league record. The Florida Panthers have the longest playoff series win drought in league history at 24 seasons.
A postseason appearance drought is continued by not making the NHL playoffs after the regular season. Since the first round of the playoffs normally consists of eight series (sixteen teams) and there were thirty-two active teams in the NHL during the 2023–24 season, there are sixteen teams that did not make the most recent playoffs on this list.
A post-season series win drought is continued either by not making the playoffs in a season or by making the playoffs in a season and subsequently losing the first-round series. Since the first round of the NHL playoffs consists of eight series (sixteen teams), there will be twenty-four teams in this list – the sixteen teams that do not qualify for the post-season, plus the eight teams that lose their first-round series.
1 includes Preliminary Rounds from 1974–75 through to 1980–81, Division Semifinals from 1981–82 through to 1992–93 and Conference Quarterfinals from 1993–94 through to 2012–13.
1 it is common to refer to the duration of the New York Rangers' record Stanley Cup drought as 54 "years" (1940 to 1994), but that only encompasses 53 seasons (1940–41 to 1992–93).
2 the name of the team was Black Hawks for a majority of the drought (25 of the 47 seasons) before being renamed to Blackhawks in 1986.
While the current Ottawa Senators have never won the Stanley Cup since inception of franchise in 1992–93, Ottawa celebrated 11 Stanley Cup championships with the original era Ottawa Senators, the last one in 1927.
While neither team called the Winnipeg Jets has ever won the Stanley Cup in Winnipeg, the city celebrated three Stanley Cup championships by the Winnipeg Victorias, the last in 1902, prior to the founding of the NHL in 1917. The original Winnipeg Jets team played between 1979–80 and 1995–96, while the current Winnipeg Jets team has been competing since 2011–12.
The Seattle Kraken began play in 2021–22; however, the city of Seattle has one prior Stanley Cup championship as the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association became the first U.S.-based team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917.
Canadian droughts
Despite having fewer Canadian-based teams than U.S.-based ones throughout much of the NHL's existence (dating back to the Original Six era when it was two Canadian clubs to four American ones, and now seven to twenty-five since 2021), there have been only two times in league history where none of the Canadian teams qualified for the postseason: 1969–70 and 2015–16.[1] The 1992–93 Montreal Canadiens remain the most recent Canadian club to win the Stanley Cup.[2]
Last time that all Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs: 1985–86
Last time that no Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs: 2015–16
↑ Tim Warnsby (June 15, 2011). "Bruins win Stanley Cup". CBC Sports. Retrieved Feb 5, 2012. The Canucks weren't going to become the first Canadian-based team since the 1992-93 Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup with such little production.
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