Penguins Fans: Winning the Stanley Cup Isn’t Easy

For all of you ‘so-called’ Penguin fans who want to continually criticize the Penguin organization and players for not winning the Stanley Cup every year, I would like to present to you some historical data on the NHL.      Without another victory this season, the Penguins will already have had a better year than 22 other teams in the league.  They are in the final 8 teams.  Even though last year was a disappointment in the end, they had a better year than 26 other teams in the NHL.

I don’t want to go back to the beginning of the NHL, but I am going back to the ’67-’68 season when the Pens came into the League.  Since the NHL started 12 current teams have NEVER won the Stanley Cup  In the 1970’s, the Montreal Canadians dominated the NHL.  Since 1968, Montreal has won 10 Stanley Cups (mostly in the 1970’s).  Their last cup was won in 1993.       Boston has won 3 cups  — their win in 2011 was their first since their win in 1972. The Flyers have won 2 cups – their only two wins came back to back in 1974 and1975. New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers dominated the 1980’s.  New York Islanders won 4 straight in the early 80’s and Edmonton won 5 of the next 7 Cups with their last win being in 1990.  And neither one of them as won a Stanley Cup since.  (Keep in mind this was all prior to the salary cap era, when they were able to keep their teams together.)

Moving into the 1990’s , the ’92 Penguins and the ’98 Red Wings are the last teams to win consecutive  year Cups.  Since the 1990’s to date, the Detroit Red Wings have won four Cups, the Devils and the Penguins have three, Chicago Black Hawks have won two, and seven teams have won the Cup once.

As great a franchise as the Canadians are, their last Cup was in 1993.  Boston’s win in 2011 was their first since 1972.  The Rangers win in 1994 was their first since 1940.  Chicago has been the most successful franchise with two recent Cups in 2010 and 2013, but their prior win was in 1961.  The Red Wings have also been very successful since 1990 with four cups, along with the Devils who have three.  The Toronto Maple Leafs, an original six team, has not won a Cup since 1967. 

What I’m saying is – it’s very hard to win the Stanley Cup, and a team can have a really great year without winning it.  In the last 25 years, the Red Wings, the Penguins, the Devils, the Black Hawks, and the Bruins have been the most successful franchises in the NHL.   Be happy we are able to root for one of these winning teams!!!   The fourth cup is coming – not sure when – but the fourth cup IS COMING!

As a P.S.  – Just a little info about the Columbus Blue Jackets from this past season –

The Flyers were 1-3 against CBJ.

The Rangers were 2-2 against CBJ.

The Penguins were 9-2 against CBJ.

The CBJ were 25-12-3 in the second half of the season.

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***PenguinPoop writer “Horse” has been a Pittsburgh Penguins season ticket holder since 1975