List of Stanley Cup Finals sweeps

Steve Yzerman, won the Conn Smythe Trophy with the Detroit Red Wings in 1998, the most recent series to occur in a sweep.

Joe Sakic, won the Conn Smythe Trophy with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, their first championship in franchise's history.

In the Stanley Cup Finals, a sweep refers to a National Hockey League (NHL) team winning four straight games and losing none in a best-of-seven format. There have been 20 sweeps in Stanley Cup Finals history. ^[1]

The first sweep is credited to the Boston Bruins who defeated the Detroit Red Wings in four straight games in the 1941 Stanley Cup Finals. The most recent sweep occurred in the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals, when the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Washington Capitals.

List of sweeps

Pre-NHL division alignment

Year	Winning team	Head coaches	Losing team	Head coaches	Conn Smythe	Ref.
1941	Boston Bruins	Cooney Weiland	Detroit Red Wings	Jack Adams	[a]	[2]
1943	Detroit Red Wings	Jack Adams	Boston Bruins	Art Ross		[3]
1944	Montreal Canadiens	Dick Irvin	Chicago Black Hawks	Paul Thompson		[4]
1948	Toronto Maple Leafs	Hap Day	Detroit Red Wings	Tommy Ivan		[5]
1949	Toronto Maple Leafs		Detroit Red Wings			[6]
1952	Detroit Red Wings	Tommy Ivan	Montreal Canadiens	Dick Irvin		[7]
1960	Montreal Canadiens	Toe Blake	Toronto Maple Leafs	Punch Imlach		[8]

1967-1974 NHL division alignment

Year	Winning team	Head coaches	Losing team	Head coaches	Conn Smythe	Ref.
1968	Montreal Canadiens	Toe Blake	St. Louis Blues	Scotty Bowman	Glenn Hall	[9]
1969	Montreal Canadiens	Claude Ruel	St. Louis Blues		Serge Savard	[10]
1970	Boston Bruins	Harry Sinden	St. Louis Blues		Bobby Orr	[11]

Conference realignment

Starting in the 1974-75 NHL season, the National Hockey League expanded to 18 teams, installing new conferences and divisions and reorganizing its playoff format. ^[12] In the 1993-94 NHL season, The Eastern Conference and Western Conference became officially formed and are both tied for 2 sweeps each conference, with the Detroit Red Wings account for half of those, with two. As of the 2013-2014 NHL season, the National Hockey League uses these methods today with 2 Eastern Conference divisions (Atlantic & Metropolitan) and 2 in the Western Conference (Central & Pacific). ^[13]

Key

	Western Conference
	Eastern Conference

1974-1993 conference alignment

Year	Winning team	Head coaches	Losing team	Head coaches	Conn Smythe	Ref.
1976	Montreal Canadiens	Scotty Bowman	Philadelphia Flyers	Fred Shero	Reggie Leach	[14]

The 1977 Series between the Canadiens and Bruins was unique due to both teams partaking in the finals as members of the same conference (Wales).

Year	Winning team	Head coaches	Losing team	Head coaches	Conn Smythe	Ref.
1977	Montreal Canadiens	Scotty Bowman	Boston Bruins	Don Cherry	Guy Lafleur	[15]

Year	Winning team	Head coaches	Losing team	Head coaches	Conn Smythe	Ref.
1982	New York Islanders	Al Arbour	Vancouver Canucks	Roger Neilson	Mike Bossy	[16]
1983	New York Islanders		Edmonton Oilers	Glen Sather	Billy Smith	[17]
1988	Edmonton Oilers	Glen Sather	Boston Bruins	Terry O'Reilly	Wayne Gretzky	[18]
1992	Pittsburgh Penguins	Scotty Bowman	Chicago Blackhawks	Mike Keenan	Mario Lemieux	[19]

1994 conference alignment

Year	Winning team	Head coaches	Losing team	Head coaches	Conn Smythe	Ref.
1995	New Jersey Devils	Jacques Lemaire	Detroit Red Wings [b]	Scotty Bowman	Claude Lemieux	[20]
1996	Colorado Avalanche	Marc Crawford	Florida Panthers	Doug MacLean	Joe Sakic	[21]
1997	Detroit Red Wings	Scotty Bowman	Philadelphia Flyers	Terry Murray	Mike Vernon	[22]
1998	Detroit Red Wings		Washington Capitals	Ron Wilson	Steve Yzerman	[23]

Notes

1. The Conn Smythe Trophy started being awarded out to the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 1964–65 NHL season.
2. The Red Wings were present in the Western Conference from 1993-94 until 2013-14.

References

1. Dierberger, Tom. "Looking Back at Every Sweep in Stanley Cup Final History". si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
2. "1941 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
3. "1943 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
4. "1944 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
5. "1948 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
6. "1949 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
7. "1952 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
8. "1960 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
9. "1968 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
10. "1969 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
11. "1970 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
12. Eskenazi, Gerald. "N.H.L. Reshuffling Is Set for 1974‐75". www.nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
13. Wood, Donald. "NHL Realignment 2013-14: New Division Map and Playoff Format". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
14. "1976 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
15. "1977 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
16. "1982 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
17. "1983 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
18. "1988 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
19. "1992 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
20. "1995 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
21. "1996 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
22. "1997 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
23. "1998 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Summary". hockey-reference.com/. Hockey Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2025.