Welcome back to Peculiar Side of Sports. Every so often something in sports perplexes me. So, I do what any normal, sane sports fan does—I search ad nauseam for the answer by any means necessary. The good news is that I take all my hard work and relay the results to you. If you are a fan of Sports History, check out the other articles I have written covering virtually all major sports.
We all know the Montreal Canadiens are the most successful hockey franchise, but by how much? How do we gauge success considering some teams—namely the “Original Six”—played in a by-gone era, one which boasted a fifth of franchises that exist today? The Peculiar Side of Sports examines Stanley Cups by Year through the following infographic.
For the purpose of this study, I considered the starting point the 1909-10 season, which was the year the first existing franchise—the aforementioned Canadiens—was established. In keeping with the NHL’s official statistics, I included all previous stops for existing franchises. For instance, Quebec Nordiques years were counted as part of the Colorado Avalanche totals, the Minnesota North Stars were included with Dallas Stars, and other franchise moves. I did not count the 2004-05 season. I did not count defunct franchises such as the Ottawa Senators in the 1920s as they are not the same franchise as the one that exists today.
To arrive at the numbers you will find below—which show Stanley Cups per year for each team—I counted total Stanley Cups for each franchise and divided by the number of years in existence. Because there were so many years of just six teams, I created two separate graphics: the first depicts the Original Six from 1909-1967, and the second which captures the entire 1909-2015.
As with anything, there is always context to consider. That is, if we were to only look at 1967-2015—the “Expansion Era”—while you would still have the Habs on top, it would also cause a few other franchises lower on the list below to emerge such as the Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders which would eclipse Detroit due to them not being established until 1972-73. You also have to consider the fact that later Stanley cups are arguably harder to win due to the increased number of teams in competition for them.
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