Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is a trophy given to the champion of the National Hockey League (NHL) every year.
It was bought by Lord Stanley, the Governor General of Canada, in 1892, for $50. The first team to win it was the Montreal A.A.A. in 1893. Other teams could challenge for it. By 1915, it was awarded on a yearly basis.
The names of players and others such as coaches are put on the cup every year. As a result, the NHL had to make the cup bigger, by adding layers to the bottom. When the first cup was full of names, they made a copy of it, which is now what is awarded.
Today, there are 32 teams in the NHL who each play 82 regular season ice hockey games per year. 16 teams make the playoffs every year; these teams are made up of the top 3 teams from each division by regular season points as well as 2 wildcard teams from each conference . There are 4 best of 7 ice hockey playoff rounds that a team must win to win the Stanley Cup.
The Montreal Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup 24 times, the most of any team. They also won the most in a row: five between 1955-56 and 1959-60.
Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadiens appears the most on the Stanley Cup, 11 times.
The Stanley Cup was not awarded in 2005: there was no NHL season because of a labour disagreement. It was not awarded in 1919, either, because of the influenza epidemic.
Recent Stanley Cup winners
- 2024 Florida Panthers
- 2023 Vegas Golden Knights
- 2022 Colorado Avalanche
- 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning
- 2020 Tampa Bay Lightning
- 2019 St. Louis Blues
- 2018 Washington Capitals
- 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins
- 2016 Pittsburgh Penguins
- 2015 Chicago Blackhawks
- 2014 Los Angeles Kings
- 2013 Chicago Blackhawks
- 2012 Los Angeles Kings
- 2011 Boston Bruins
- 2010 Chicago Blackhawks
- 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins
- 2008 Detroit Red Wings
- 2007 Anaheim Ducks
- 2006 Carolina Hurricanes
- 2005 Season cancelled
- 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning
- 2003 New Jersey Devils
- 2002 Detroit Red Wings
- 2001 Colorado Avalanche
- 2000 New Jersey Devils
- 1999 Dallas Stars
- 1998 Detroit Red Wings
- 1997 Detroit Red Wings
- 1996 Colorado Avalanche
- 1995 New Jersey Devils
- 1994 New York Rangers
- 1993 Montreal Canadiens
- 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins
- 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins
- 1990 Edmonton Oilers
- 1989 Calgary Flames
- 1988 Edmonton Oilers
- 1987 Edmonton Oilers
- 1986 Montreal Canadiens
- 1985 Edmonton Oilers
- 1984 Edmonton Oilers
- 1983 New York Islanders
- 1982 New York Islanders
- 1981 New York Islanders
- 1980 New York Islanders
- 1979 Montreal Canadiens
- 1978 Montreal Canadiens
- 1977 Montreal Canadiens
- 1976 Montreal Canadiens
- 1975 Philadelphia Flyers
- 1974 Philadelphia Flyers
- 1973 Montreal Canadiens
- 1972 Boston Bruins
- 1971 Montreal Canadiens
- 1970 Boston Bruins
- 1969 Montreal Canadiens
- 1968 Montreal Canadiens
- 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs
Stanley Cup Media
The first Stanley Cup Champions were the Montreal Hockey Club (affiliated with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association).
The first Stanley Cup (1893 pic.), donated by Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley of Preston in 1892: a flashy silver salad bowl, which is a minimal prerequisite to deserve the attribution of "trophy". It is the same cup that sits on top of the current trophy.
After winning the Cup, players traditionally skate around holding the trophy above their heads, as Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings does here when the Red Wings captured their 11th cup in 2008.
Lord Stanley's Gift Monument
A close-up view of the engraving for the 2001 champion Colorado Avalanche
Syl Apps, with the "Stovepipe Cup" before it was redesigned, in the 1940s
The Stanley Cup acknowledges the cancelled 2004–05 season with the words, "2004–05 Season Not Played" due to the lockout.
Basil Pocklington, father of Peter, the owner of the Edmonton Oilers, is scratched out in the 1984 engraving (top right corner).
July 13, 2006: Wounded United States Marines pose with Carolina Hurricanes star Glen Wesley (in orange shirt) and the Stanley Cup.
