<P> This article is a list of the active and all - time National Hockey League (NHL) franchise post-season appearance, post-season series win, Stanley Cup Finals and Stanley Cup droughts up to and including the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs . Those teams which have never made it in franchise history are listed by the season that they entered the league, either as a new franchise or when they merged into the NHL from the defunct World Hockey Association (WHA) league . </P> <P> Note: These lists do not include the cancelled 2004--05 NHL season . </P> <P> Among the current 31 NHL teams, 13 have never won the Stanley Cup, including one (the St. Louis Blues) that is among the five oldest expansion teams . Additionally, one of the Original Six franchises--the Toronto Maple Leafs--has a Stanley Cup drought that includes the entire expansion era (48 seasons and counting). With the Nashville Predators winning the Western Conference in 2017, there are only five franchises that have never reached the Stanley Cup Finals . Of those five, the oldest is the Arizona Coyotes (previously the Winnipeg Jets) (35 seasons), while the Maple Leafs and the Blues have even longer droughts (48 and 45 seasons, respectively). The longest Stanley Cup championship drought in history was that of the New York Rangers, broken in 1994 after 53 seasons . The Toronto Maple Leafs have the current longest active Stanley Cup championship drought (and second - longest) at 49 seasons and counting . The Chicago Blackhawks had the third - longest ever Stanley Cup championship drought at 47 seasons, which was broken in 2010 . The end of that drought was the first of three consecutive years in which one of the eleven longest such droughts was broken (Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, Boston Bruins in 2011, and Los Angeles Kings in 2012). </P> <P> There are only three franchises that have never won a post-season playoff series (the Atlanta Thrashers / Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights and the Columbus Blue Jackets), though the oldest is just 16 seasons old; one other franchise (the Florida Panthers) has a longer win drought (19 seasons) (though the Vegas Golden Knights are yet to play a full season). The Panthers and Oilers had not appeared in the playoffs at all for 10 seasons, the longest such streak in NHL history, which ended in 2012 and 2017 respectively . </P>

How many teams in the nhl have not won a stanley cup