Hockey is a game of frozen echoes. You can’t talk about the stanley cup list of winners without hearing the ghost of Maurice Richard’s skates or the roar of 1980s Edmonton. It’s the oldest trophy in North American professional sports, and honestly, it’s probably the hardest one to haul home.
The Florida Panthers just did it again.
In June 2025, the Panthers cemented themselves as a modern juggernaut by taking down the Edmonton Oilers in a six-game thriller. It was a repeat of 2024. Seeing Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov lift that silver bowl for the second year in a row felt like a shift in the NHL's tectonic plates. We aren't just looking at a lucky run; we're looking at the first true repeat champion since the Tampa Bay Lightning’s "COVID-era" dominance.
The Current State of the Stanley Cup list of winners
If you're looking at the recent ledger, the names tell a story of parity—and then suddenly, a lack of it. Before the Panthers went back-to-back, the trophy was bouncing around like a loose puck in the crease.
The 2025 Florida Panthers beat Edmonton 4-2 in the series.
The 2024 Florida Panthers beat Edmonton 4-3 in the series.
The 2023 Vegas Golden Knights beat Florida 4-1 in the series.
The 2022 Colorado Avalanche beat Tampa Bay 4-2 in the series.
The 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning beat Montreal 4-1 in the series.
The 2020 Tampa Bay Lightning beat Dallas 4-2 in the series.
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Florida’s 2025 victory was punctuated by a 5-1 blowout in Game 6. Sam Reinhart actually netted four goals in that clincher. That's a "where were you" moment. It’s only the second time in history a player has scored four in a Cup-clinching game.
The Heavyweights: Who Owns the Most Hardware?
When people search for the stanley cup list of winners, they usually end up staring at a massive wall of Montreal Canadiens red. The "Habs" have 24 titles. That is a number so large it feels fake in the salary-cap era. To put it in perspective, the Toronto Maple Leafs are second with 13, and they haven't touched the trophy since 1967.
The Canadiens’ dominance wasn't just a streak; it was a half-century of terrorizing the rest of the league. They won five in a row from 1956 to 1960. Think about that. Most players today go an entire career without even seeing a Final, and Jean Beliveau's crew just owned the thing for half a decade.
Detroit holds 11 Cups.
Boston and Chicago both have 6.
Edmonton and Pittsburgh are sitting on 5 each.
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It’s kinda wild to think that the Edmonton Oilers, despite having the best player in the world in Connor McDavid, have now lost two straight Finals to Florida. The 1980s Oilers were a different breed. With Gretzky, Messier, and Kurri, they won four Cups in five years. That’s the kind of dynasty the Panthers are currently chasing.
The Maple Leafs and the Burden of History
You can't discuss winners without acknowledging the losers—specifically the ones who haven't won in a while. Toronto’s 58-year drought is the stuff of nightmares. Every year, the "Leads" (as frustrated fans sometimes call them) enter the season with top-tier talent like Auston Matthews, and every year, the stanley cup list of winners remains unchanged for them.
The Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres are right there in the basement too, both at 54 years without a title.
Eras of the Cup: From Challenges to the NHL
The Stanley Cup wasn't always the NHL’s property. Back in the day, it was a "challenge cup." If you were a top amateur team in Canada, you could basically challenge the holder to a game.
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The Montreal Maroons.
The Kenora Thistles.
The Ottawa Silver Sevens.
These names sound like they belong in a black-and-white movie because they do. The NHL didn’t take full control of the trophy until 1926. Since then, the format has morphed from a best-of-three series to the grueling four-round, best-of-seven marathon we see today. Winning the Cup now requires 16 wins over two months of high-impact collisions. Basically, it's a war of attrition.
Actionable Insights for Hockey History Buffs
If you're trying to master the trivia of the stanley cup list of winners, start by categorizing the league into eras.
- The Original Six Era (1942–1967): This is where Montreal and Toronto built their massive lead. There were only six teams, so the odds of winning were statistically much higher.
- The Expansion/Dynasty Era (1968–1990): This gave us the four-straight Islanders (1980-83) and the high-flying Oilers.
- The Parity Era (1994–Present): Since the 1994 Rangers broke their 54-year curse, we've seen teams like Carolina, Anaheim, and Vegas win their first-ever titles.
To stay ahead of the curve for the 2026 season, watch the Florida Panthers' roster management. Bill Zito, their GM, has basically rewritten the playbook on how to build a repeat champion in the cap era. He traded for Matthew Tkachuk when everyone thought it was too risky. Now, Tkachuk has two rings and a permanent spot in South Florida lore.
Keep an eye on the 2026 trade deadline. History shows that teams on the stanley cup list of winners almost always make a "glue guy" acquisition in February. For the Panthers in 2025, it was picking up veterans who could play heavy minutes in the defensive zone.
The next step for any fan is to track the "active droughts" list. As of 2026, twelve teams have still never won the Cup. If a team like the Buffalo Sabres or Ottawa Senators makes a deep run, you're watching history in the making—literally a chance to add a new name to a list that started in 1893.