The 25 best NHL teams who didn't win the Stanley Cup

No team in the history of hockey has ever won more games in a regular season than this unit. Boston compiled a 65-12-5 record, which also resulted in the most standings points ever (135). Linus Ullmark was that year's Vezina winner and David Pastrnak was a 61-goal scorer. Despite all of that, they not only failed to win the Cup, but they also couldn't get out of the first round. They lost in Game 7 in overtime after going up 3-1 in the series, allowing Florida to pull off one of the greatest upsets and comebacks ever. 

This was the team that set the precedent for how future teams' regular-season success would be measured. They became the first to ever hit the 100-point mark in the standings with a 44-13-13 record. The top line, also known as the "Production Line," was as historic as they come with three Hall of Famers in Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, and Ted Lindsay. All of that fell by the wayside when they were upset in the first round that season, though, in a series that saw triple and quadruple overtime games.

This was a historic campaign in the nation's capital. The Capitals' 313 goals were the most a team had scored in more than a decade at the time, and they went on to become the first non-Original Six team to hit the 120-point mark in the standings. Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green were unreal, but could not come up with an answer in the first round against Montreal and Jaroslav Halak. The goaltender was impossible to beat over the final three games of the series, turning away 131 of the 134 shots that Washington threw at him before putting an end to this record year. 

One of the most decorated and storied franchises in the game, this Rangers team set franchise marks in wins (55) and points (114). Artemi Panarin, who had 120 points, put together a historic season in the red, white, and blue while propelling one of the league's most effective power-play units. Despite their talent and their league-best 28 comeback wins, the team fell in the conference finals to the eventual champion, Florida. 

This Detroit unit was as stacked as any in the club’s history. The team boasted a pair of 80-point scorers in Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, a young duo that complemented the older stars in Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, and the top defenseman in the NHL that year, Nicklas Lidstrom. Despite that team finishing with a league-best 122 points, they were unable to escape the first round, falling in six to an upstart Edmonton team that miraculously went on to reach the Finals.

Washington was so dominant in 2016 that it clinched its division at the start of March. Behind a 50-goal season from Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov’s breakout season with 77 points, the Capitals easily led the league in wins. They won in the first round but met their match in the eventual champ, Pittsburgh, in a series that saw multiple overtime games. The 120 points marked the second-highest total in franchise history. Between the pipes, Braden Holtby had a history campaign, tying the single-season mark in wins (48) en route to winning the Vezina. 

Tampa Bay won 62 games, but was unable to win a single playoff game. Before being swept in the first round, the team had pulled so far ahead in the standings that they were up 21 points on the next-closest team. Nikita Kucherov was so dominant that he won multiple honors, including the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award. Likewise, the team was led by a Vezina-winning goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy and a Norris finalist on the blue line in Victor Hedman. What made their postseason defeat all the worse was that they went up 3-0 in Game 1 before being outscored 19-5 over the rest of the series. 

At the time of doing so, no team had ever reached 50 points in the standings quicker than San Jose. They began the season on fire, going 25-3-2, establishing early on just how much of a force they would become come playoff time. The group included a “Who’s Who” of San Jose greats such as Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, and Evgeni Nabokov. Unfortunately, the group couldn’t shake the “underachievers” label despite the remarkable regular season. They fell in the first round to Anaheim and were shut out twice. 

Though their season unceremoniously ended after a seven-game series in the first round, this Oilers team set the precedent for Cup-winning seasons soon to come. The team was the first in history to score more than 400 goals in a season, which explains why Wayne Gretzky’s stat line is so absurd. He racked up 212 points. 

Eclipsing 50 wins and more than 110 points is an achievement in itself; yet, what made this unit so impressive was how they achieved it. Not only did the team lead the league in goals (258), but they also allowed the fewest goals (180) behind a dynamic duo in Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider. Vancouver made it to the Stanley Cup finals and were up 3-2 in the series over Boston before faltering in seven. 

This team forever lives in Edmonton’s lore. Had it not been for an unlucky pass that wound up in the back of their own net, this unit felt destined to win their third straight Cup. Instead, they fell short after a 56-17-7 season. They would go on to win the next two Cups after this crushing ending, leaving many to wonder what could have been had they won that infamous series. 

The Blues didn’t blow opponents away by lighting up the scoreboard, they simply didn’t allow the opposition to score. The goalie tandem of Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak stood on their heads all season, teaming up for an NHL-record 15 shutouts. They also set the franchise mark for fewest goals allowed in a year. Unfortunately, after advancing through the first round, this team faced the rising juggernaut of Los Angeles, which was virtually untouchable that postseason, going 16-4 en route to winning the Cup. 

This was the Dallas team that put the franchise on the map one year before finally winning it all. This particular group was as defensively sound as any in the league, thanks to Ed Belfour and his league-low 1.88 GAA. The group was led by Mike Modano, who helped propel the club to the league's best record. They ran into the defending champs, Detroit, in the conference final, a team that would go on to win back-to-back Cups. 

For multiple decades, this was the group with the most regular-season wins, at 62. The roster was littered with Hall of Famers from Steve Yzerman to Nicklas Lidstrom to Brendan Shanahan. Yet, as many of these regular-season juggernauts came to realize, what happened before the postseason didn’t matter much come crunch time. The Red Wings went down in six in the conference finals at the hands of Colorado behind their star goalie, Patrick Roy. 

This Senators team finished with 113 points, which led to them being the first team north of the border to win the Presidents’ Trophy in more than a decade. The combination of Marian Hosea, Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Martin Havlat spearheaded the third-highest scoring team in the league. At the same time, they were stingy at the blue line as the fifth ranked defensive unit. Unfortunately, their run ended in Game 7 of the conference finals after initially falling behind 3-1 in the series. 

It's probably unfair to put this particular squad on the list because they had won the prior two Cups and were seeking a three-peat. That being said, this was the best team of those three years, earning a franchise-best 119 points. Mario Lemieux, Rick Tocchet, Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens, and Joe Mullen all posted 100-point seasons. The former's season is truly the stuff of legends as he put up 160 points in just 60 games – yes, you read that right. 

This was the Florida team that paved the way for their eventual first Cup in 2024 and again in 2025. This unit won the first playoff series in 26 years, but couldn’t get past the second round. Before that, the team blew everyone away with a league-best 337 goals that fueled their 122-point season. After coming up short, the team made a blockbuster trade that summer to acquire Matthew Tkachuk and pave the way for their eventual dynasty. 

Looking back on this group, it's hard to argue that there's any, if any, team that had a more successful regular-season than this unit. At the time, they set single-season records for wins (57) and points (121), while falling just shy of becoming the first to score 400 goals in a season with 399. Their 57-14-7 record didn't matter in the postseason, however, as they were shocked in the first round in a seven-game series with Montreal. 

If not for how this team’s season ended, the Devils could have won three Cups in four years. Unlike many of New Jersey’s squads under Lou Lamoriello, this was not a trap-first roster; this was an offensive juggernaut. They led the league in scoring behind its top line of Patrick Elias, Petr Sykora, and Jason Arnott. Having Martin Brodeur in his prime didn't hurt either, as he led the league in wins. 

The Flyers felt inevitable this year. In fact, there hasn't been a single team in any of the four major sports leagues that has reached their level of excellence. They went 35 straight games without a loss, which propelled them to a league-best 116 points. That success carried into the playoffs, where they went 11-6 before falling in six to the Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals. 

A year after losing their star, Bobby Clarke, to retirement, the Flyers weren't expected to reach the Finals as they did. Yet, the youth infusion paid off major dividends. Mark Howe was a 21-year-old phenom while Pelle Lindbergh, a 22-year-old goaltender, became the first European to win the Vezina. Their surprise run ended when they ran into the Edmonton dynasty. 

The Canadians were the definition of winning in the mid-1950s and mid-1960s. This group had won five-straight Cups between 1956 and 1960 and later would resume that dominance in the late 60s. In between, though, was the 1961-62 team that continued to be a regular-season stalwart but was upended by a Chicago team that won four straight in the first round after falling behind 0-2 in the series. 

Out of all the teams on this list, the '04 Flames had the lowest point total at 94. The reason they land on this list, however, has to do with how they reached the Stanley Cup and the dominance of their two stars. Jarome Iginla had one of his defining Hall of Fame-esque seasons with a league-high 41 goals. Likewise, Mikka Kiprusoff was unbeatable in net to the tune of a modern-NHL record 1.69 GAA. To reach the finals, they impressively went through the three division champions. 

Before Chicago had Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane leading them on Cup runs, this was a franchise that was starving for success in the 80s and 90s. It was this group, led by Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios, who produced a then-franchise-best 106 points (49-23-8). The regular season kings of the 1990-91 season didn't escape the first round, though. 

The Blues' 114 points were a franchise record, and their 50 wins were the most in the league. The reason for their success had much to do with their defensive system, which suffocated opponents behind the likes of Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis. Pronger became the first defenseman since Bobby Orr to win the league MVP and Norris Trophy in the same season, highlighting just how remarkable and rare the campaign was. Their run ended in the first round, falling in Game 7 by a 3-1 score.