how many nhl team have not won the stanley cup
List of NHL franchise post-season droughts Among the current 31 NHL teams, 12 have never won the Stanley Cup, including one (the St. Louis Blues) that is among the five oldest expansion teams. Additionally, one of the Original Six franchises – the Toronto Maple Leafs – has a Stanley Cup drought that includes the entire expansion era (50 seasons and counting). With the Vegas Golden Knights winning the Western Conference in 2018, there are only four franchises that have never reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Of those four, the oldest is the Arizona Coyotes (previously the Winnipeg Jets) (35 seasons), while the Maple Leafs and the Blues have even longer droughts (50 and 47 seasons, respectively). The longest Stanley Cup championship drought in history was that of the New York Rangers, broken in 1994 after 53 seasons. The Maple Leafs have the current longest active Stanley Cup championship drought (and second-longest) at 50 seasons and counting. The Chicago Blackhawks had the third-longest ever Stanley Cup championship drought at 47 seasons, which was broken in 2010. 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).
Stanley Cup Finals During the Original Six era, the top four teams made the playoffs, with the first and third place teams battling in one semifinal series, while the second and fourth place teams battled in the other. And from 1975 to 1981, all the playoff teams were seeded regardless of division or conference. Since 1982, the NHL's final round has pitted the league's two conference playoff champions.