How the Stanley Cup Final Has Evolved Since the 1990s: Key Similarities, Major Differences and Enduring Traditions
The Stanley Cup Final remains one of sport's greatest championships. We look at how the Final has evolved with thoughts from ESPN's Steve Levy, who has been at 32 consecutive Finals.
The Stanley Cup Final remains one of sport’s greatest championships. It takes winning four grueling rounds against the world’s best players in order to have the honor of lifting the cup and having your name engraved on it for life.
When we say grueling, that doesn’t put it in proper perspective. Hockey’s grand prize is so hard to win because of not only the physical toll it takes, but also the mental toll. Just look at what’s going on in this year’s Final.
The Carolina Hurricanes stormed out to an early lead in Game 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights. But as has been the norm in this Final, the Golden Knights fought back to make it 3-3 going into the third period.
Then Hurricanes’ captain Jordan Staal scored a memorable goal that saw him celebrate while on the ice. It proved to be the game-winning goal. It is now a best-of-three series for all the marbles.
This series has had momentum swings, huge moments, big hits and so much more. After Game 3, head coach John Tortorella admitted saying that the two-day break between games would be good just from a mental recovery standpoint.
That’s what make the Final so unique and incredible. The drama that plays out in every game is second-to-none. Think back to how Game 3 ended. The Hurricanes scored three goals in 39 seconds to set a Final record, only to see them lose on an incredibly unlucky bounce off the boards and off the skate of Brandon Bussi.
But yet, the Hurricanes recovered in Game 4 to send the series back to Raleigh. This series has the chance to go down as one of the best in recent memory.
Speaking of recent memory, the Final has brought many memorable moments going back over 30 years and more. Today we consider a question especially in light of hockey’s popularity.
How has the Final evolved through the years?
Key Similarities
The first thing you’ll notice is that several elements of the Final remain unchanged. When you don’t have to adjust many things, you know what you have is a good thing.
The format has remained the same through the years. Its best-of-7, 2-2-1-1-1 format remains the standard in the Final. The higher-seeded team wins the honor of hosting a potential Game 7 should it be necessary.
Then with the exception of during Covid, the Final has featured a team from the East playing against a team from the West. While teams and divisions have seen changes, the East-West matchup has remained consistent.
Of course, we have to talk about the Stanley Cup itself. It remains the most iconic and hardest trophy to win in sports. It remains the dream of every hockey player to lift the Cup one day.
And for anyone lucky enough to play in at least one Final, the memories will last forever good or bad. Everyone remembers the clutch performances, the overtime thrillers and the big moments.
While a lot has stayed the same, a lot has changed too.
Major Differences
ESPN’s Steve Levy, who has been a part of the last 32 Stanley Cup Finals in one capacity or another, has had a front-row seat in seeing how the Final has evolved. Whether he was on site doing Sportscenter hits with Barry Melrose or he was leading coverage at the desk, Levy has seen a lot of things.
On the ESPN conference call last week in advance of Game 2, the Hockey Writers asked Levy how the Final has evolved since 1994 when his impressive run at the Final began. He called out two major changes.
