Which is the best NHL team not in the Stanley Cup Finals?  

By Sam Nestler

Modified Jun 01, 2023 16:36 GMT

On Saturday, the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers will begin the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

Both teams have proven to be the hottest and most battle-tested during a surprising playoff season. But what about the other 30 teams? Which team no longer standing is the best among the rest?

Best NHL team not in the Stanley Cup Finals

Every season, a handful of very good teams fall short of their goal. In the end, only one team can win the Stanley Cup. And it is not always the best team that comes out on top, but often the hottest.

Here are the top three teams (at the time of the playoffs) not taking part in the Stanley Cup Finals.

#3 Boston Bruins

The obvious choice.

The Boston Bruins were by far the best team in the NHL this regular season. Boston won 65 of 82 games, recording an NHL-record 135 points. They were the Presidents' Trophy winners with plenty of runway to go.

But after a historic season, the Bruins bowed out in the first round of the playoffs, continuing the curse on the team with the most points at the end of the regular season.

After jumping out to a 3-1 series lead, Boston allowed the Florida Panthers to storm back and win three straight to shock the hockey world. Boston clearly was in shock, and once Florida started rolling, it had no answer.

It would be interesting to see what happened if these teams played another set of seven games.

#2 Carolina Hurricanes

Speaking of being overwhelmed by the Cats from Sunrise, the Carolina Hurricanes met a similar fate to the Boston Bruins.

After crushing the tri-state hopes by knocking off the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, Carolina was a favorite to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. But once again, Sergei Bobrovsky and the Panthers had other plans and swept an excellent hockey team in only four games.

Carolina had just gotten back Teuvo Teräväinen and was playing some excellent hockey. I can't help but think that they should have performed far better.

#1 Dallas Stars

I truly believed that once the Dallas Stars reached the Western Conference finals, they would win the Stanley Cup. And I don't think I was alone.

Dallas showed its mental toughness, overcoming series deficits to beat the Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken in six and seven games, respectively. Not to mention, they did so without Joe Pavelski in Round 1 and with a very poor performance from Jake Oettinger in Round 2.

Heading into a matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights, the Stars had everything going for them. They were healthy, Oettinger was coming off his best game of the playoffs in Game 7, their structure was built to win in May, and they had Pete DeBoer behind their bench, a man who was very knowledgeable about the team they were up against.

If Dallas did not throw away Game 2 in such an ugly fashion, this series would likely have been very different.

Rather than trailing 2-0 and being smacked in the face with a late defeat that bled into an awful lopsided Game 3 loss, the Stars would have split two games in Vegas and had a chance to steal home ice. But it did throw away Game 2 and although it made a valiant comeback effort, the 3-0 series hole was far too much to overcome.