All 8 Remaining Possible 2019 Stanley Cup Final Matchups

Note: We’ll be updating this post as teams (and therefore possible Stanley Cup Final matchups) are eliminated. The majority of this post was originally written on April 10, 2019

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are here, and if you’re a fan of the 16 teams to qualify you’re pretty pumped for it… I mean, unless you’re a Leafs fan, otherwise you’re dreading yet another series with the Bruins; just one of these times they gotta beat ’em by accident, right? (UPDATE: Sigh… nope)

Anywho, as we immediately skip ahead a few weeks, with eight teams in each conference surviving the regular season, that gives us with sixty-four possible matchups for the Stanley Cup Final round. Let’s take a look.

See this graphic in full resolution here

LAST UPDATE: May 7, 2019

Round one is done, with every single one of our division champions were knocked out by a wildcard team. One of those wildcard teams, the Colorado Avalanche finished the regular season in the lower half of the NHL and actually ended up six points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who didn’t even qualify for the playoffs. Hockey’s whacky, but we love it.

Moving on to round two and just 16 possible Stanley Cup Final matchups remain, we’ve made the graphic a little easier to see and removed the 48 matchups that are no longer possible.

Click here for larger version of this graphic

And now updated with the elimination of the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets, we’re now down to these eight possibilities:

The rest of this post as I originally presented it prior to the playoffs, with the potential matchups that are no longer possible crossed out.

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Time for (what I consider to be) interesting pairings!

Past Stanley Cup Final rematches
~~2018: Vegas/Washington~~
~~2017: Nashville/Pittsburgh~~
~~2016: San Jose/Pittsburgh~~
~~2004: Calgary/Tampa Bay~~
~~1991: Dallas/Pittsburgh~~
~~1981: Dallas/NY Islanders~~
1970: St. Louis/Boston

Expansion Cousins
1979: Colorado/Carolina
1972: Calgary/NY Islanders
1967: St. Louis/Pittsburgh
~~1967: Dallas/Pittsburgh~~

New vs Old
~~100 years: Vegas (2017)/Toronto (1917)~~
~~94 years: Vegas (2017)/Boston (1924)~~
~~50 years: St Louis, Dallas (1967) / Toronto (1917)~~

Oh! Canada Matchups
Winnipeg vs. Toronto
Calgary vs. Toronto

Patriotic Pairs
~~Capitals vs Stars~~
~~Stars vs Maple Leafs~~
~~Blue Jackets vs Stars~~

Original Six
~~Toronto~~ and Boston are the only two Original Six teams to qualify, and they’re going at it in round one.

Colourful Cup
~~Blues vs Blue Jackets~~
~~Golden Knights vs Blue Jackets~~

Natural Disasters
~~Lightning/Flames~~
Avalanche/Hurricanes
~~Lightning/Avalanche~~
~~Flames/Hurricanes~~

Animal Kingdom
Bruins vs Sharks
Penguins vs Predators
Predators vs Bruins
Sharks vs Penguins

Any other fun matchups I missed? Share ’em in the comments. I’ll update this post as teams get knocked out until we get to the actual 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

Let’s do that hockey!