Down Goes Brown: Ranking all 50 Stanley Cup finals of the expansion era

Posted by Delta Gatti on Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Through four games, the 2019 Stanley Cup final has been … well, pretty great, actually. It’s featured some big hits, highlight-reel goals, interesting storylines and at least a little bit of bad blood (along with some real blood). Three of the four games weren’t decided until the final moments, including an overtime, the first in the final since 2016. We’ve also seen a lopsided blowout and a few ugly moments, so it hasn’t exactly reached instant classic status yet. But we’re only four games in with at least two more to go and if we get two or three more good games then the 2019 final has a chance to be remembered as one of the better ones in recent memory.

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But while we wait to see how this series turns out, let’s spend some time looking back on the ones that came before. There have been exactly 50 Stanley Cup finals in the NHL’s post-expansion history, dating back to 1968. And today, we’re going to rank them all, from worst to best.

Now clearly, this is a subjective exercise. Your view of what makes a series great may not match mine, and it goes without saying that the “best” final will be whichever one your favorite team won. But I think there are certain things that fans tend to look for in a great Cup final. You want fun teams and plenty of stars, with at least a few interesting subplots. Longer series are generally better, and ones that go seven are the best of all, especially if there are a few overtimes along the way. And there should be some sort of signature moment that still resonates, even for fans who weren’t around to see the series play out at the time.

Can we come up with a list everyone will agree on? No, of course not, but that’s half the fun. And at the very least, today’s post will force an answer to the age-old question: Is Sean actually capable of writing an entire post that doesn’t include at least a few sections about the Maple Leafs?

We’ve got 51 years and 50 finals to work through, so let’s start from the bottom. In our case, that means going way back…

#50 – Canadiens over Blues (1969)

#49 – Canadiens over Blues (1968)

The Canadiens were the league’s best team. The Blues were the only one of the six expansion teams that could tie their skates properly. If that strikes you as a recipe for an anticlimactic series, well, you have more foresight than the NHL did. The league’s poorly thought-out playoff format ensured the final would be a massive mismatch, and the Canadiens rolled to a sweep both times. The 1968 series at least included a couple of overtime games, so we’ll nudge it ahead of 1969 in the race for last place.

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#48 – Avalanche over Panthers (1996)

This one could have been so good. It looked like we’d get the Avs and the Penguins in a final that would have been stacked with Hall of Famers and high-flying offenses. Instead, the Panthers pulled off an Eastern Conference final upset, then got swept by the Avalanche.

To make matters worse, it was a matchup between a recent expansion team that was so boring you couldn’t even get behind them as a fun underdog and a Colorado team everyone hated at the moment because of Claude Lemieux. One of the games was 8-1, and the series ended on a triple-overtime 1-0 game that set the perfect tone for the Dead Puck era to come.

#47 – Red Wings over Capitals (1998)

#46 – Devils over Red Wings (1995)

That Panthers/Avs series was one of four straight 1990s finals that ended in a sweep, and only one of them was especially interesting. I’m not sure I remember anything at all from the 1998 final apart from the emotional Cup handoff to Vladimir Konstantinov. And the most memorable moment of the 1995 series was probably furious New Jersey fans absolutely ethering Gary Bettman on live TV.

#45 – Oilers over Bruins (1988)

#44 – Islanders over Canucks (1982)

#43 – Canadiens over Rangers (1979)

#42 –  Islanders over North Stars (1981)

#41 – Oilers over Flyers (1985)

Is the NHL age of parity a good thing? It’s been a topic of debate in recent years. The NHL thinks it’s great; others (including me) aren’t so sure. Isn’t there something to be said for a good-old-fashioned dynasty?

Sure there is. But as these series remind us, often the thing to be said is “don’t bother watching the final, because the powerhouse team is just going to roll to an easy win.” Watching a heavy favorite cruise to a four- or five-game rout isn’t all that entertaining, which is why all five of these series end up in our bottom-10. The 1988 series deserves a special mention, as it featured an embarrassing power failure that caused one of the games to be wiped out and made the Oilers the only team to ever sweep a five-game final.

#40 – Kings over Devils (2012)

This is the longest series to show up on our list so far, having gone six games. But it was over well before that, with the Kings jumping out to a 3-0 series lead and then taking their sweet time in wrapping things up when everyone just wanted it to be over. Their 6-1 blowout win to mercifully end the series brought the franchise their first ever Cup, which was cool, and the main reason I’ve moved this final up a few spots over the years. It would have been cooler if they’d just finished it off in four.

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#39 – Ducks over Senators (2007)

#38 – Red Wings over Hurricanes (2002)

#37 – Capitals over Golden Knights (2018)

Sometimes, a matchup that doesn’t carry much history can end up being all sorts of fun. Other times, not so much. Last year’s Caps/Knights matchup should have been great, but just didn’t deliver (although the post-Cup celebrations sure did). The Wings and Hurricanes gave us one memorable OT marathon, but that’s about it. And Sens/Ducks is mostly remembered for Chris Pronger getting suspended, Chris Phillips scoring into his own net, and Daniel Alfredsson shooting the puck at Scott Niedermayer.

 #36 – Red Wings over Flyers (1997)

Here’s the last of those 1990s sweep, and like with the 2012 Kings, I’m nudging it up a few spots because it features the dramatic end of a Cup drought. It also had plenty of star power, with Steve Yzerman and the stacked Wings facing Eric Lindros and his Legion of Doom. On paper, it had everything you’d want. In reality, we got four so-so games. Darren McCarty’s goal was pretty great, though.

 #35 – Bruins over Blues (1970)

Look, I moved this one up as high as I could, partly out of pity for Blues fans who saw their other appearances take up the bottom two slots. And yes, the Bobby Orr goal still stands as perhaps the most famous in NHL history, which on its own makes this final worth remembering. But other than that, it was yet another sweep that was all but guaranteed by the NHL’s weird format.

#34 – Canadiens over Bruins (1977)

#33 – Oilers over Bruins (1990)

#32 – Penguins over Blackhawks (1992)

Let’s file these under matchups that should have been great but didn’t quite deliver. The Habs and Bruins was a great rivalry matchup that ended in a dull sweep; the two teams would have a better rematch a year later, although their classic series actually came in the 1979 semifinal. Boston’s meeting with Edmonton in 1990 featured a head-to-head matchup between the year’s two MVP candidates in Mark Messier and Ray Bourque and felt like Boston’s best chance to finally knock off the Gretzky-less Oilers, but they went out meekly in five. And the Hawks and Pens was packed with star power and produced Jaromir Jagr’s legendary goal, but only lasted four games. At least we’ll always have the NHLPA ’93 intro screen.

 #31 – Canadiens over Flyers (1976)

This one could also fit into the “dynasties winning easily” category from up above. But it’s worth moving up a few slots, if only because a) we didn’t know the Habs were a dynasty yet, and b) the Flyers were the defending two-time champs. In hindsight, it was a transition between eras. But it still ended in four straight.

#30 – Bruins over Rangers (1972)

#29 – Penguins over Predators (2017)

#28 – Canadiens over Black Hawks (1973)

#27 – Penguins over Sharks (2016)

#26 – Canadiens over Bruins (1978)

#25 – Flyers over Sabres (1975)

We hit the halfway mark on our list with a six-pack of six-game finals, each perfectly fine and featuring a handful of memorable moments. Only one on-ice animal murder, though.

#24 – Kings over Rangers (2014)

This one ranks significantly higher if you’re a TV executive, as it pitted the two biggest U.S. markets against each other. The series only ended up going five games, but three of those went to overtime, including the big finale.

 #23 – Stars over Sabres (1999)

Eesh. This is a tough one. It was a tight, low-scoring series pitting the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Stars against Dominik Hasek and … well, mostly just Hasek. It was almost enough to earn the Sabres their first title, and maybe it should have been, but it ended with what might still stand as the most controversial moment in NHL history. Does that make the series better? Worse? I’m not sure, but it was definitely memorable.

#22 – Canadiens over Flames (1986)

#21 – Flames over Canadiens (1989)

While the 1986 series only lasted five games, it delivered a record-setting overtime, the unusual sight of the Habs playing the role of scrappy playoff underdogs, and the arrival of Patrick Roy as a legitimate star. The 1989 rematch was even better, with six close games and the Flames finally claiming the Cup with help from one of the great OGWAC stories ever.

#20 – Blackhawks over Lighting (2015)

#19 – Blackhawks over Bruins (2013)

We’ll pair up two of the three Hawks’ Cups, both of which came in very good six-game series against worthy opponents. The Bruins had already won a Cup two years earlier, while we all assumed the Lightning were only another year or two away from a few of their own. We’ll give the edge to the Boston series based on a better ending, with two goals in 17 seconds narrowly edging out tornado warnings and a missing Stanley Cup.

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#18 – Islanders over Flyers (1980)

#17 – Flyers over Bruins (1974)

#16 – Blackhawks over Flyers (2010)

This might be cheating a little bit, but some finals end up feeling more important in hindsight. In this case, two mini-dynasties and one full-blown one all get their starts in six-game finals that feature the Flyers. The first Hawks’ Cup in 49 years still stands as the best memory for a generation of Chicago fans, even though it remains funny that nobody saw Patrick Kane’s winner in 2010. Then again, as Flyers fans will remind us, sometimes important plays get missed.

#15 – Canadiens over Kings (1993)

This one should have been a slam dunk for the top 10. Patrick Roy and the impossible overtime magic of the storied Habs facing Wayne Gretzky and the new-school Kings trying to take out their fourth straight Canadian team? It couldn’t fail. And then it kind of did, lasting only five games. The best season in NHL history didn’t produce the best finale, but it packed a hell of a lot of fun into just five games, including an illegal stick, an immortal wink, three overtimes and one of Bob Cole’s greatest calls.

#14 – Devils over Stars (2000)

You can’t ask for a much better matchup than two recent champs squaring off, especially when both features a Hall of Fame goalie in his prime. They treated us to a 7-3 opener before settling in to exactly what you’d expect from these teams in this era: low-scoring, heavy hitting, absolutely no room for anyone and five overtime periods in the last two games. And sudden death Cup-winners are always cool.

#13 – Penguins over North Stars (1991)

#12 – Devils over Mighty Ducks (2003)

Can a David vs. Goliath story still be great if David loses? I’d argue that it can, especially if Goliath has to sweat a little along the way. The 2003 Ducks remain the last team to have a player win the Conn Smythe in a losing cause, and the 1991 Stars might be the best near-miss Cinderella story in playoff history. The 2003 series gets nudged ahead because it went seven games, but the 1991 edition gave us the greatest moment.

#11 – Bruins over Canucks (2011)

A great Cup final always leaves you feeling like they should make a movie out of it. Normally, that film would be a feel-good pick-me-up. This one would be more of an apocalyptic doomsday tale, one featuring two of the most easy-to-hate finalists in memory.

The two teams served up a nonstop parade of cheap shots and sucker punches, along with multiple biting incidents and the longest suspension in Cup final history. They also gave us four shutouts, including a pair of 1-0 finals, to go along with an 8-1 laugher. The last of those shutouts came in Game 7 in front of a Vancouver crowd that went from joyous to stunned to nauseous to outright furious, culminating in a downtown riot.

Was any of it pretty? Nope. But it was memorable, and fascinating in its own way.

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#10 – Islanders over Oilers (1983)

#9 – Oilers over Islanders (1984)

On paper, you couldn’t ask for two better matchups, as the last two true NHL dynasties went head-to-head in what turned out to be a passing of the torch. Both sides were stacked with Hall of Famers, both believed that the Cup was their destiny, and both would come to symbolize everything fans loved (and sometimes hated) about the high-flying 1980s.

Unfortunately, neither series was all that good. The Islanders swept the 1983 meeting, and the Oilers won in five in 1984. So in that sense, both finals were disappointing, and maybe even overrated. But in the bigger picture, they were two of the most important series in NHL history, and seeing two dynasties overlap so perfectly was almost too good to be true.

 #8 – Lightning over Flames (2004)

This seven-game classic was low-scoring and occasionally ugly, but it was a fitting end to the pre-cap era. The first three games were so-so, but from there we got four straight one-goal games, including two overtimes. And of course, there was the most controversial no-goal in NHL history, courtesy of Martin Gelinas in Game 6. Flames fans still swear it was in, and that they were robbed of a Cup. They might be right.

#7 – Oilers over Flyers (1987)

The Gretzky-era Oilers went to four finals and only lost five games. Three of them came in this series, as the underdog Flyers nearly rode rookie goalie Ron Hextall to the upset. At the time, it was thrilling to see the Oilers up against the ropes and in danger of being KO’d on the league’s biggest stage. The fact that they managed to hold on in a dramatic seventh game just reminded us of how good they were.

#6 – Canadiens over Black Hawks (1971)

Remember that dumb playoff format that forced an established franchise to play an expansion team in the final? The NHL finally got rid of it in time for the 1971 playoffs, and the hockey gods rewarded fans with the only seven-game final between 1966 and 1986.

The end result was fun … and also weird. The series featured legends like Jean Beliveau, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Frank Mahovlich, Henri Richard, Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito. The two teams went back and forth in a tight series, with the home team winning every game until the deciding seventh, in which the visiting Habs came back from down 2-0 to earn a 3-2 win; it was only the second Game 7 road win in Cup final history.

When it was all over, the victorious Canadiens celebrated by firing their coach.

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#5 – Hurricanes over Oilers (2006)

You know when you get a matchup that just feels like it was destined to happen, because the two teams just have so much history and interlocking storylines that it can’t be any other way? This matchup was the exact opposite of that.

But that was part of the appeal. In 2006, the NHL was back after a year-long lockout, and everything felt fresh and new, and maybe even a little bit random. The small-market Oilers and Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup final? Why not? TV executives hated it, but the two teams delivered a highly entertaining series filled with highlights and plot twists and one very big injury. Oh, and it ended with the most awkward Cup handoff ever. It was a lot of things, but never boring.

It all added up to a hell of a series. Is it overrated because we were all so starved for big league hockey to come back? Maybe, but after a year of watching poker and spelling bees, we’ll allow it.

#4 – Red Wings over Penguins (2008)

#3 – Penguins over Red Wings (2009)

It’s not the only Stanley Cup final rematch in NHL history, but it is the best. And it was a near-perfect storyline, with a Red Wings’ dynasty that had spanned two eras facing the next generation in Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. The veteran Wings held off the kids in a six-game win in 2008, but the future was served in 2009. And it all culminated with just about the most ridiculous finish to a final we’ve ever seen, featuring a literal last-second showdown between two future Hall of Famers.

#2 – Avalanche over Devils (2001)

We all remember this one for how it ended – with Joe Sakic taking the Stanley Cup from Gary Bettman and handing it directly to Ray Bourque, giving the legendary defenseman his first skate with the Cup in the very last game of a 22-year career.

And yes, that was a great moment, one that would make this final worthy of a top-10 spot all on its own. But that makes it easy to forget how great the rest of the series was. It featured Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur, two of the three greatest goaltenders of their era (and maybe ever) going head-to-head for the only time. In addition to Bourque and the goalies, the series included five other Hall of Famers, all in their prime. It was two teams that would combine to win five of nine Cups between 1995 and 2003. And it saw the Avs rally back from a 3-2 deficit to win in seven.

And then, that perfect ending. As a fan, you can’t ask for much more.

#1 – Rangers over Canucks (1994)

Here’s the dirty secret of the 1994 final: It was supposed to be a coronation. Mark Messier and the Rangers had just won their second Presidents’ Trophy in three years. They’d loaded up with one of the most aggressive trade deadlines in history. They’d rolled through the first two rounds without breaking a sweat, then survived the obligatory near-miss by overcoming the Devils thanks to The Guarantee and Matteau Matteau Matteau.

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In an NHL that was clearly shifting its attention to the United States, here was the biggest market ready to win the biggest prize on the biggest stage, snapping a 54-year drought in the process. It was perfect. And the hockey gods even served up a cupcake matchup in the form of the Western Conference’s seventh-best team. A mere formality, really.

And then the series started. The Canucks stole Game 1 in overtime, signaling that they may not be following the script. New York roared back with three straight wins, punctuated by Mike Richter stopping the unstoppable Pavel Bure on a penalty shot. That set up the Rangers to break the drought and claim the Cup on home ice. Instead, the Canucks won the game on the strength of the wildest third period you’ll ever see, then took Game 6 on home ice. Even a quarter-century later, the shot of an exhausted Trevor Linden and Kirk McLean after that win remains iconic.

It all set up a dramatic seventh game that lived up to the hype, with the Rangers taking an early lead before the Canucks battled back to get within one. Nathan LaFayette came an inch from tying it late in the third, and the Rangers would hold on for the win, if only barely.

The waiting was over. But the Rangers had had to wait just a little longer than anyone expected, thanks to one of the most compelling underdog stories in recent memory. It was a series that had everything. Including the No. 1 spot on our list.

(Photo: Dave Reginek / NHLI via Getty Images)

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