6 Best Teams in NHL History: Ranking Best Hockey Dynasties

We’ve waited over 40 years since the last team to win three straight Stanley Cups, and that streak won’t end any time soon. 

The New York Islanders, consistently among the Stanley Cup odds favourites during their glory years, are among the best hockey franchises for their exploits in the early 1980s. 

There have been five back-to-back Stanley Cup winners since the Islanders won four in a row, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings, and Pittsburgh Penguins twice. 

Did any of those teams crack the list of best franchises of all time? Let’s take a look. 

Greatest NHL Teams of All Time

6. 2020 to 2022, Tampa Bay Lightning, Cups: 2 

The only team to make this list since the 1990 Edmonton Oilers, the Jon Cooper-led Lightning, won back-to-back Cups before falling in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche. They were among the favourites, according to the hockey odds, throughout their run. 

Other teams since the Oilers have won back-to-back Cups, but the Lightning were a couple of games away from securing a three-peat, which separates them from the others. 

Related: 10 Worst Teams in NHL History, Ranked

5. 1945 to 1949, Toronto Maple Leafs, Cups: 4 

The Maple Leafs won four Stanley Cups in five seasons, with a three-peat from 1947 to 1949. Some of the best players included Bill Ezinicki, Syl Apps, Hap Day, Ted Kennedy, and, for the final two Cups of the three-peat, superstar center Max Bentley. 

There’s a strong argument to be made for plopping an asterisk on the team’s exploits, as their success came in the Original Six era, when only six teams participated in the NHL. 

4. 1965 to 1973, Montreal Canadiens, Cups: 6 

The Montreal Canadiens won six Stanley Cups in nine seasons from 1965 to 1973, including two back-to-back titles. 

While an incredible accomplishment, the first back-to-back run in 1965 and 1966 came when the NHL had just six teams, slightly watering down the impressiveness.

3. 1976 to 1979, Montreal Canadiens, Cups: 4 

The Canadiens completed the four-peat from 1976 to 1979, competing against 17 teams for the first three and 16 for the last one.

Ten players from the dynasty were eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame, and the team was led by the following legends: Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Guy Lapointe, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Bob Gainey, and Ken Dryden, who won the Vezina in all four seasons.

2. 1984 to 1990, Edmonton Oilers, Cups: 5 

Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, and Co. spearheaded the second-greatest NHL dynasty, with the Oilers winning five Cups in seven seasons. 

They won consecutive Cups in 1984 and 1985 and again in 1987 and 1988. The Calgary Flames ended the Oilers’ bid for a three-peat, beating them in a thrilling seven-game second-round series in the 1986 playoffs. 

The Oilers won their fifth Cup in 1990, the only one without the Great One.

1. 1980 to 1983, New York Islanders, Cups: 4

The Islanders are the only franchise to win a three-peat in the last 43 years. They did one better, winning four straight from 1980 to 1983. 

In 1983, they swept the Oilers for their fourth successive Cup. However, the Oilers exacted some revenge and won their first of five Stanley Cups the following season, beating the Islanders in the final, ending the dynasty and starting their own. 

What makes the run even more impressive is that they competed in a 21-team NHL, the most of any four-peat winner.