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With the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers providing fans with a full seven-game series, it’s the perfect time to look back at the most popular Stanley Cups in history. While there are a multitude of ways to measure that, we’ll be looking at the top five in terms of average viewership throughout a series. Television networks only covered full series in the US beginning in 2005, meaning we’ll be going back just 20 years.
Topping the list is a team that we are going to see quite often, which would be the Chicago Blackhawks. That’s thanks to what can be labeled as a short-term dynasty to begin the 2010s led by one of the best American skaters in NHL history, Patrick Kane.
This 2013 Stanley Cup victory was the middle of their three titles, each of which took six games to complete. Their victory over the Boston Bruins was quite an impressive one, as they were the Cup champions just two years prior. The Bruins even had three of the top four point-scorers in that postseason, but the depth of the ‘Hawks proved to be too much.
We also had a rare case of the very first game of the series arguably being the most thrilling, as it was a triple-overtime comeback win for Chicago after being down 3-1 in the third period.
We mentioned that the Blackhawks had a pseudo-dynasty to begin the 2010s, and the same can be said for the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin the 2020s as they made three straight Stanley Cup Finals, winning two of them.
Of course, this series was before that incredible run, and it was the last of the Blackhawks’ three titles in a five-year span. Both teams needed to win seven-game series in their respective conference finals, so there was plenty of attrition to battle through at that point.
However, with so much experience in the Stanley Cup Final at this point, the duo of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews was simply too much for the Lightning and a young Nikita Kucherov. Overall, it was one of the lowest-scoring Stanley Cup Finals in league history, as just two of the six games finished with more than three goals.
For the second time in this list, the Boston Bruins find themselves on the losing end of a series. After all, Boston is one of the largest sports markets, so it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. On the flip side, seeing a Midwest team like the St. Louis Blues may be a bit more shocking.
Of course, a seven-game series certainly helps boost excitement, and ultimately, viewership. The Bruins were off a 4-0 sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals, and even won two of the first three games of the series. However, the hunger of the Blues prevailed, as they were the oldest franchise to have never won a Cup at the time. Captain Ryan O’Reilly was tied for the most points (23) that postseason to lead St. Louis to the title.
Wrapping up the run of Blackhawks series in the list of most popular Stanley Cup Finals is actually the first of their three. This one came over the Philadelphia Flyers, who had lost each of their previous five trips to the Stanley Cup Final. Therefore, they were trying to end a drought since 1975, but the ‘Hawks had other plans.
Chicago absolutely cruised through the postseason, including a 4-0 series sweep in the Western Conference Finals over the San Jose Sharks. That hot play transferred into the Stanley Cup Final, as they won each of the first two games on home ice. However, one of the reasons that likely led to such high ratings was the fact that each of the first three games were decided by just a single goal.
Additionally, the first and last games of the series had 11 total goals scored, so there was plenty of fireworks for fans to enjoy from start to finish.
The fifth and last Stanley Cup Final that was considered the most popular may come as a surprise given that it was a rather quick five-game series. Despite that, once we see that the markets were Los Angeles and New York, it makes a lot more sense.
It took the Kings three straight seven-game series to reach this Stanley Cup Final, and the Rangers were involved in two of them plus a six-game Eastern Conference Finals. In other words, these were two exhausted teams, but it was Olympic-silver-medalist goaltender Jonathan Quick for the Kings that came through.
An additional boost to viewership was also likely thanks to three of the five games going to overtime, including two double-overtime matchups.
Mark has been a lifelong fan of all sports, and five years ago turned it into a profession, specializing in the NFL, NHL and MLB. He is a diehard Baltimore Ravens fan and has had his work published in sites such as Sports Illustrated, Pickswise and other top outlets.