Four of the Five Winningest Teams Since 2021 Have a Cup. Guess Who Doesn't.
Saw this going around Twitter and Instagram this week. Most wins in the NHL since 2021, playoffs included.
- Hurricanes, 345
- Avalanche, 342
- Panthers, 327
- Oilers, 317
- Golden Knights, 316
First reaction, obviously, is that we're number one and I'll take it. Five years of being the team that wins more games than anybody, and now there's finally a championship banner to go with it. For a long time that list was a punchline around here. Look at all those wins and nothing to show for it. Not anymore.
But look closer at who else is on it.
Colorado won in 2022. Vegas won in 2023. Florida won in 2024 and again in 2025. We won in 2026.
That list is every Stanley Cup champion since 2022, plus Edmonton.
Four teams piled up wins and turned them into rings. One team piled up wins and has two Final losses to Florida to show for it, and hasn't won since 1990.
I don't say that to be mean about it. I say it because that was almost us. That was us, actually, for a solid four or five years, right up until June. You win a ton of games, you're in the mix every spring, and then something goes sideways in the third round and you go home and everybody says the same things about you. Can't get over the hump. Regular season team. All that stuff. I heard it for years and I hated it and I also could not really argue with it.
So when I look at Edmonton sitting there at 317 wins with nothing, I get it. That's a haunted number.
Which brings me to Freddie.
Andersen signed there. One year, 2.8 million. And I've got a lot of feelings about it, because Freddie was really good for us and because his ending here was strange.
The guy went 13-2 in our Cup run with a 1.89 and three shutouts. That is elite playoff goaltending, full stop. And then he got pulled in Game 3 of the Final and never got the net back. Bussi won the last three and closed it out. So Freddie has a ring and also did not finish the job, which has to be a complicated thing to carry around.
Now he goes to a team whose entire problem is not finishing the job.
Is he the answer? Honestly, maybe. Edmonton has never lacked for scoring, they've lacked for someone to steal them a game in June, and Freddie has proven he can be that guy for a stretch. Thirteen and two is not an accident.
But I'd also point out that his regular season last year was a slog. 16-14-5 with an .874. He was not good for long stretches and then he was unbelievable when it mattered. If you're Edmonton you're betting entirely on the second version showing up in April.
That's a real bet. It might work. I kind of hope it does, because I liked him here and because I'd rather see him get to actually finish one.
Just not against us.
Go Canes.
