Only 10 active teams have never won a Stanley Cup, which might be fewer than you might have thought. But when you hear what the teams are and how recently most of them came into the league, it starts to make a lot more sense.
The Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks are two of the longest-active teams without a title, both of which joined the league in 1970-71. The Winnipeg Jets also haven't won a Stanley Cup in either of the city's two NHL stints, from 1979 to 1996 and 2011 to the present, and even as part of the Atlanta Thrashers organization from 1999-00 to 2010-11.
Besides that, six teams from the 1990s to 2000s expansion era almost make up the rest of the group. That's the San Jose Sharks (1991-92), Ottawa Senators (1992-93), Nashville Predators (1998-99), as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild (2000-01). Lastly, the Seattle Kraken (2021-22) and Utah Mammoth (2024-25) round out the group.
Most of these teams have a long history of losing, but five of the 10 have at least been to the Stanley Cup final. And now, some of those teams seem to be on the rise for the first time in years.
So which clubs are most likely to make a legitimate run at their first-ever championship? Here are the top three, based on what we know right now.
The Wild added Norris Trophy-calibre talent on the blueline in Quinn Hughes back in December, which provides some help to their star forwards such as Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. Hughes' addition came with an already solid back end of Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin. Not to mention a star-studded goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt.
This comes with the caveat, of course, that they play in the extremely difficult Central Division, with two other top contenders standing in their way in the first two rounds of every playoff.
But they showed this past spring against the Dallas Stars that they're more than capable of cruising past the Stars, and the Colorado Avalanche had their own problems, mostly related to injury. The other potentially limiting factor is that they obviously have to re-sign Hughes to keep the window open, which isn't guaranteed, but does feel more likely than not.
They do still have center depth issues — maybe Dylan Larkin can solve those — but of the teams that haven't won the Cup, they currently feel like they have the highest ceiling.
The Sabres have a very solid roster, and it's the fourth-youngest in the league, according to eliteprospects.com. There's a lot of room to grow here.
They have a superstar defenseman, a great goalscorer, and reliable depth at nearly every skater position. The one area on the roster holding back Buffalo is goaltending.
Getting a goalie isn't always easy to sort out, and the history of teams that make unexpectedly deep playoff runs despite uncertain goaltending is long. In that sense, the Sabres might have a legit claim to the No. 1 position here.
But when your starter loses his job to the backup, and you end up going out somewhat meekly in the second round, even after snapping a 14-year playoff drought, it's fair to say that's a point of concern for exactly how far this team can go.
Nonetheless, there's light on the horizon. They've been linked to future Hall of Famer Connor Hellebuyck, and if he's actually available to them, that changes the entire dynamic. If they don't get goaltending help, the Sabres are likely to take at least a small step back this coming season, but that doesn't mean the future isn't very bright.
People may be surprised that San Jose isn't in this spot, and they're a perfectly good candidate. However, all their best players are a smidge too young to be really convinced they can go from zero to 60. Put another way, let's wait until this group makes the playoffs.
But Utah? Utah already made the playoffs, and they share some similarities to Buffalo, including some really exciting young players, a solid D-corps, though no one is nearly as good as Rasmus Dahlin, and more help on the way in the form of growth from young stars who have already shown they can contribute.
Add in youngsters like Tij Iginla and Caleb Desnoyers, who could be major contributors a few years down the line, and the future is bright.
They also have a great setup in goal, which Buffalo lacks. Karel Vejmelka has shown he can be extremely reliable, and younger netminders like Sebastian Cossa and Michael Hrabal provide hope that even if one or two of them don't work out in the long term, the third will.
Add in the fact that Utah is a market with a new owner and fan base, veteran free agents seem to want to go to, and they don't seem to have much difficulty re-signing their own players, this could also be a destination franchise in a way that Minnesota or Buffalo haven't been historically.
Image