Stanley Cup History and Winners

The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy in North American professional sports and probably the hardest to win: 16 playoff wins over two months, after an 84-game regular season. Here are the champions, the records and the stories behind the trophy. Champions and counts on this page come from the NHL's own record book.

Who won the Stanley Cup last year?

The Carolina Hurricanes won the 2026 Stanley Cup, the 2025-26 season, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games. It was the franchise's second Stanley Cup.

When is the Stanley Cup Final?

The Stanley Cup Final is played in June, at the end of two months of playoffs. The 2026-27 regular season ends on April 10, 2027, the playoffs begin a few days later, and the Final follows the two conference finals. The NHL announces the exact dates during the playoffs. See how the NHL playoffs work for the format.

Who is playing in the Stanley Cup?

The Final is between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences, decided by three rounds of playoffs. Until the playoffs are set, nobody knows. Right now, the race to get in is on our NHL playoff picture, with every team's odds of making the playoffs updated daily.

We do not publish betting odds. Our odds are model estimates of making the playoffs, explained on the methodology page.

What team has won the most Stanley Cups?

The Montréal Canadiens have won the most Stanley Cups: 24 in all. 23 of those came after the NHL was founded in 1917, and one came in 1916, when the Canadiens played in the National Hockey Association. Their most recent title was in 1993.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are next with 13, counting the titles won as the Toronto Arenas and Toronto St. Patricks, though the last came in 1967. The Detroit Red Wings have 11.

Of today's 32 clubs, 10 have never won the Cup.

How many Stanley Cups has Pittsburgh won?

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won the Stanley Cup 5 times, most recently in 2017. Their first five titles came in two bursts: back-to-back Cups in 1991 and 1992 with Mario Lemieux, then 2009, 2016 and 2017 in the Sidney Crosby era.

Who is Stanley in the Stanley Cup?

The Cup is named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada in the early 1890s. His family took to the game in Ottawa, and in 1892 he bought a silver bowl in London to be awarded to the best amateur hockey team in Canada. It was first awarded in 1893, to the Montreal Hockey Club of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.

Lord Stanley never saw a Stanley Cup game. He returned to England before the first championship was decided.

How did the Cup become the NHL's trophy?

For its first decades the Cup was a challenge trophy. Champions of different leagues and amateur clubs challenged the holder, and the trustees decided who could compete. Professional teams took it over in the early 1900s.

After the NHL was formed in 1917, its champion played the champions of western leagues for the Cup. That is how the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League won it in 1925. When the western league folded in 1926, the Stanley Cup became the NHL's championship trophy only.

The Cup was not awarded twice in NHL history: in 1919, when the Final between Montréal and Seattle was cancelled during the influenza pandemic, and in 2005, when the season was lost to a lockout.

What does the Stanley Cup look like?

The modern Cup is almost 3 feet tall and weighs nearly 35 pounds, a silver and nickel alloy body topped by a copy of Lord Stanley's original bowl. The names of the players, coaches and staff of each winning team are engraved on bands around its base. When the bands fill up, the oldest is retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, so the Cup never grows too tall to lift.

Stanley Cup traditions

• The handshake line. After every playoff series, the two teams line up and shake hands, no matter how bitter the series was.
• A day with the Cup. Every player on the winning team gets a day with the trophy in the offseason, usually back in his hometown. A Hall of Fame staffer travels with it everywhere.
• Not touching it. Many players will not touch the Cup until they have won it, and many captains will not touch their conference trophy either.
• The first lift. The captain lifts the Cup first and then passes it to a teammate, usually someone with a story: a veteran who waited years, or a player coming back from injury.
• The Conn Smythe Trophy. The playoff MVP gets the Conn Smythe, awarded on the ice just before the Cup.