The Chicago Blackhawks ended a 49-year Stanley Cup drought Wednesday with a 4-3 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6. Now that they’ve removed themselves from the top of the least-desirable totem pole in hockey, which teams reign as the kings of sorrow?
Toronto Maple Leafs » Imagine, for a second, that you are a charter member of the NHL. You play in puck-crazed Canada and are — financially — the planet’s most valuable hockey franchise. Oh, and you haven’t even been to the Stanley Cup Finals, let alone won the darn thing, in 43 years. Welcome to the pole position, Maple Leafs. You certainly have earned it.
St. Louis Blues » This one’s gonna hurt, Blues fans. St. Louis, an expansion team in 1967, made the Stanley Cup Finals in each of its first three NHL seasons … and failed to win a single game each time. But no matter, any franchise that had both Bernie Federko and Brett Hull in their primes is bound to return at some point, right? Um, not exactly. The Blues haven’t reached the finals since 1970.
Los Angeles Kings » This was a tight race between L.A. and the Boston Bruins. And while the Bruins have been on the losing end of five Cup finals since their last title in 1972, the Kings have the hammer. L.A. went to one (one!) finals (1993) despite having Wayne Gretzky in his prime for eight seasons. The Kings, like the Blues, are sitting on a 42-year drought.
