The NHL's expanded 24-team postseason has been a success on multiple fronts so far. On top of being coronavirus-free to this point, the play-in series have brought surprises that a standard playoff format would not have. Most notably, that includes the last two teams into the event - the Canadiens in the East, the Blackhawks in the West - pulling off convincing upsets of the five seeds to qualify for the first round this week.
Despite sitting nine games below NHL-.500 when the season paused (31-40-9), Montreal dispatched of Pittsburgh in four games, enough to garner them a spot against Philadelphia. Chicago, meanwhile, sat in last place in the Central Division by a full five points in March (32-38-8), yet scored 16 goals in four games to eliminate Edmonton, earning a first-round series against Vegas. Could either of these teams pull off the near-impossible and win the Stanley Cup despite such regular season mediocrity? It's not unprecedented in NHL history, as the Habs or Blackhawks could join these teams with a title either would gladly take: the "worst" Stanley Cup champions.
1) 1938 Chicago Black Hawks: The current record-holders for worst win percentage by a Stanley Cup champ, Chicago's 1938 title came in an era when six of the league's eight teams made the postseason. While their 14-25-9 regular season record wouldn't be described as "good" - the 37 points were 23 fewer than the second-place Rangers - it was enough to edge Detroit and sneak into the playoffs, where they got hot at the perfect time.
After dropping Game 1 of a best-of-three against Montreal, Chicago won the next two to advance, including a decisive Game 3 that saw them tie it up with less than 90 seconds to go before winning in overtime. Facing the New York Americans, the Black Hawks again lost Game 1 before surviving overtime in Game 2 and then winning 3-2 to advance to the Final, where they beat Toronto 3 games to 1 (after winning just once in six tries in the regular season) to hoist Lord Stanley.
2) 1949 Toronto Maple Leafs: The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions weren't great in 1949-49, finishing the regular season 22-25-7. The Maple Leafs did, however, qualify for the postseason comfortably, finishing seven points clear of Chicago for the fourth and final berth. Playing best-of-seven series by this point, Toronto needed just five games to beat Boston before advancing to face first-place Detroit. The Leafs not only swept a Red Wings team with eight future Hall of Famers (including a 20-year-old named Gordie Howe), a Game 1 overtime win was the only decided by one goal. Toronto became the first team to win three consecutive Cups.
3) 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs: The dominance of the late-1940s Leafs started with an okay 1944-45 team that went just 24-22-5 in the regular season, good enough for third place in the league, but a distant 28 points behind juggernaut Montreal (38-8-4) in the year Maurice Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games. But playing the Canadiens in the first round of the semi-finals, Toronto took the first two games in Montreal, winning 1-0 and 3-2. Then the Leafs won Game 4 in overtime, and after getting whacked in Game 5 by a 10-3 final, were able to finish off the heavy favorites in Game 6 to advance.
The Finals looked to be a laugher, with Toronto winning each of the first three games against Detroit. But the Red Wings came all the way back to force a championship-deciding Game 7. Unlike in 1942, when the Leafs overcame a 3-0 series deficit to stun the Wings, Detroit couldn't finish the job. Toronto won 2-1 to hoist the Cup.
4) 2012 Los Angeles Kings: Without a Cup for their first four decades of existence, the 2011-12 Kings didn't look to be any different than its predecessorts. With a 40-27-15 regular season record, LA snuck into the postseason as the eight seed in the West. Then in the first round they routed the Presidents' Trophy winning Canucks in five games. They topped that in the conference semis, convincingly sweeping the second-seeded Blues in a series in which LA outscored St. Louis 15-6. In the conference final the Kings won the first three games again, this time against Phoenix, before finishing off the Coyotes in five games.
It was the same story in the Stanley Cup Final against New Jersey. For the fourth time in as many series the Kings took the first three games, winning Games 1 and 2 in New Jersey by identical 2-1 overtime scorelines (winners: Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter). They'd go on to win the series in six to become the first eight-seed to win it all.
5) 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs: Toronto was pretty good at sneaking into the playoffs and going on a heater, eh? The 1966-67 team went 32-27-11 in the regular season, 19 points behind league-leading Chicago. Taking on the Black Hawks in the first round, the Leafs won in six games, scoring 18 goals against a Chicago team that led the league in goals allowed. Montreal awaited in the Finals, and despite the Habs winning a pair of games by identical 6-2 scorelines, those would be their only victories. Toronto took the series in six games to win their 13th Cup. Unfortunately for them, they haven't been back to the Finals since.
6) 1986 Montreal Canadiens: Whalers fans, turn away. It's not so much that Montreal was bad in the regular season, going 40-33-7. It's that the playoffs were supposed to be a formality after the two-time defending champion Oilers went 56-17-7 for an absurd 119 points. But the Habs got hot thanks in part to a rookie goaltender named Patrick Roy.
The Canadiens swept the Bruins in a best-of-five to open up the playoffs, beat Hartford in overtime of Game 7 (thanks Claude Lemieux) to advance to the conference final, then hammered the Rangers (who stunned the 110-point Flyers earlier in the postseason) in five games. Lastly, a twist of fate helped them tremendously. Calgary shocked Edmonton in the division finals, thanks in part to Steve Smith's infamous own goal in Game 7. It took just five games for the Habs to dispatch of the Flames to win it all.
7) 1934 Chicago Black Hawks: With a 20-17-11 regular season record, Chicago comfortably made the playoffs, but the offensive outburst that followed was certainly unexpected. Scoring a league-low 88 goals (next lowest: 99), the Hawks won Game 1 against Montreal 3-2, then after a tie in Game 2 (seriously) they advanced. Then against the Montreal Maroons they scored six goals to win the best-of-three series in two games. In the Final against Detroit they didn't score as much, but it didn't matter. A 2-1 double overtime victory in Game 1 paved the way for a 1-0 double OT winner in Game 6 to give the franchise its first championship.