Stanley Cup Final in the context of "Minnesota North Stars"

The Stanley Cup playoffs (French: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is the annual elimination tournament to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, and the league champion of the National Hockey League (NHL). The four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held after the NHL's regular season. Eight teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is known as the Stanley Cup Final, which matches the two conference champions.

The NHL is the only one of the big four major leagues in Canada and the United States to refer to its playoffs by the name of its championship trophy, a tradition which has arisen because the Stanley Cup is North America's oldest professional sports trophy, dating back more than two decades before the establishment of the NHL. Originally inscribed the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the trophy was donated in 1892 by Lord Stanley of Preston, then–Governor General of Canada, initially as a "challenge trophy" for Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. From 1893 when the first Cup was awarded to 1914, the champions held onto the Cup until they either lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and defeated the reigning Cup champion in a final game to claim their win. Professional teams then first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Starting in 1915, the Cup was officially contested between the champion of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the champion of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). After a series of league mergers and folds, including the 1917 establishment of the NHL as a successor to the NHA, the Stanley Cup became the championship trophy of the NHL prior to the 1926–27 season.

The 2002 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2001–02 season, and the culmination of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings and the Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes. It was Detroit's twenty-second appearance in the Finals, their previous appearance being a win in 1998. It was Carolina's first appearance in the Finals in franchise history. The Red Wings defeated the Hurricanes in five games to win their tenth Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. The Red Wings became the third team in NHL history to win 10 or more Stanley Cup titles, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

The Red Wings became the first team in NHL history to win the Cup after starting the playoffs with two losses at home. After losing the first two games in the Conference Quarterfinals to the Vancouver Canucks, the Red Wings won 16 of their next 21 games en route to win their third Cup since 1997 for coach Scotty Bowman. Bowman won his ninth Cup as a head coach (he had previously won it in that capacity with the Montreal Canadiens in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979, with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992, and with Detroit in 1997 and 1998), surpassing the mark he held jointly with Montreal coach Toe Blake. It was the last Detroit championship to feature members of the Russian Five, as Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov were still with the team.

The 2008 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2007–08 season, and the culmination of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings and the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins. This was Detroit's 23rd appearance in the Finals, and its first since winning the Cup in 2002. This was Pittsburgh's third appearance in the Finals, and its first since winning consecutive Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. The Red Wings defeated the Penguins in six games to win their eleventh Stanley Cup title. Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. As of 2025, this is the most recent major professional sports championship won by a Detroit-based team.

This was also the first Cup Finals between two United States–based NHL teams since 2003.

The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Rogers Arena. Adam Foote is the head coach, Jim Rutherford serves as the president of hockey operations and Patrik Allvin serves as the general manager.

The Canucks joined the league in 1970 as an expansion team along with the Buffalo Sabres. The team has advanced to the Stanley Cup Final three times, losing to the New York Islanders in 1982, the New York Rangers in 1994 and the Boston Bruins in 2011. They have won the Presidents' Trophy in back-to-back seasons as the team with the league's best regular season record in both the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. The Canucks have won three division titles as a member of the Smythe Division from 1974 to 1993, seven titles as a member of the Northwest Division from 1998 to 2013, and one title as a member of the Pacific Division in 2024. The Canucks, along with the Sabres, are the two oldest teams in the NHL to have never won the Stanley Cup.

The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Honda Center, and is owned by Henry and Susan Samueli. The Ducks are affiliated with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL.

The Ducks were founded as an expansion team for the 1993–94 season by the Walt Disney Company, and were known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks. In 2005, Disney sold the franchise to the Samuelis, who, along with then-general manager Brian Burke, changed the name of the team to the Anaheim Ducks before the 2006–07 season. The Ducks have won six Pacific Division championships, and have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final twice, losing to the New Jersey Devils in 2003, and winning the Stanley Cup in 2007 over the Ottawa Senators, becoming the first of the three California-based teams to win the Stanley Cup. The Ducks have produced two Conn Smythe Trophy winners as the most valuable player of the playoffs – Jean-Sebastian Giguere in 2003 and Scott Niedermayer in 2007.

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. The team was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The team plays its home games at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, their home since the start of the 1999–2000 season. Prior to that, the Kings played for 32 years at the Forum in Inglewood, California, a suburb of the Greater Los Angeles area.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Kings had many years marked by impressive play in the regular season only to be washed out by early playoff exits. Their highlights in those years included the strong goaltending of Rogie Vachon, and the "Triple Crown Line" of Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor and Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne, who had a famous upset of the rising Edmonton Oilers in a 1982 playoff game known as the Miracle on Manchester. In 1988, the Kings traded with the Oilers to get their captain Wayne Gretzky, leading to a successful phase of the franchise that raised hockey's popularity in Los Angeles, and helped elevate the sport's profile in the American Sun Belt region. Gretzky, fellow Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille, and defenseman Rob Blake led the Kings to the franchise's sole division title in 1990–91, and the Kings' first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1993, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens.