Twenty years is a long time to wait. On June 14, 2026, the Carolina Hurricanes ended it.
A 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 brought the sport’s oldest trophy back to Raleigh. It was the second championship in franchise history. The first time was 2006. Rod Brind’Amour was on the ice then. This time, he was behind the bench.
The Hurricanes finished the playoffs with a 16-3 record. That is the fewest losses for a Stanley Cup champion since the 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers.
How the Hurricanes Won the Stanley Cup
Carolina entered the playoffs as Eastern Conference regular season champions with 113 points. They swept through the Metropolitan Division, beat the New York Rangers in the second round, and handled the Florida Panthers in the conference final.
Florida, the two-time defending champions, did not even qualify for the playoffs this season. That opened a clear path through the East, and Carolina did not waste it.
In the Stanley Cup Final, the Hurricanes met the Vegas Golden Knights, who had swept the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final. Vegas arrived with momentum. Carolina had 12 wins and one loss going into the series. They extended that run to 16-3 by the end of it.
The series turned in Game 3. Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour replaced starting goaltender Frederik Andersen with Brandon Bussi. Andersen had carried the team to the Final. Bussi had started the season on waivers, claimed from the Florida Panthers’ system days before opening night. He went on to win three straight games, including a 22-save shutout in Game 6.
Taylor Hall scored 3:47 into the deciding game. Jackson Blake added a second in the second period. Bussi did the rest.
Jordan Staal Wins the Conn Smythe at 37
The story of this series belonged to Jordan Staal.
Staal, 37, scored in each of the first five games of the Final. He tied an NHL record that had stood since 1973, matching Yvan Cournoyer. He finished the series with six goals and one assist. He had two goals and three assists in the earlier rounds, giving him 12 points in 19 playoff games.
The Professional Hockey Writers Association named him the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. At 37 years and 277 days old, he is the oldest recipient of the award in NHL history.
Staal won his first Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, as a 20-year-old. The 17-year gap between championships is the longest in NHL history. The previous record was held by Chris Chelios, who waited 16 years between his titles in 1986 and 2002.
“This is something I’ve been going after ever since we got the first one,” Staal said in the postgame broadcast. “You want to win it again and again and again.”
In his 14th season with Carolina, Staal had scored 20 regular season goals. It was his highest total in a decade. He came into the playoffs as a steady, respected veteran. He left it as the playoff’s most valuable player.
What the Hurricanes’ Win Means for the NHL
Carolina won this championship without a conventional superstar at the top of their roster. Their leading scorer was Nikolaj Ehlers. The free agent signing posted 71 points in 82 games in his first season in Raleigh. Ehlers added 18 points in 18 playoff games.
Taylor Hall had seven goals and 12 assists in the playoffs. Jackson Blake had seven goals and 13 assists. Three players could have won the Conn Smythe without much argument.
General manager Eric Tulsky, who holds a PhD in chemistry, has run one of the NHL’s most analytically driven front offices. The Hurricanes led the league in Corsi percentage again this season. Critics had pointed to Carolina’s earlier final appearances without a title. They called it proof that the analytical model fails in the postseason.
This team answered that directly. A 16-3 playoff record is not a lucky run. It is a team that was better than almost every opponent it faced, across four rounds.
The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers missed the playoffs entirely. The Presidents’ Trophy winner in Colorado was swept in the conference final. The team that went 16-3, built quietly through trades and waivers and analytics, is the one holding the Cup.
Brind’Amour has now been to the postseason every year since he became head coach in 2018. He never missed. He just had to wait for the right group to take it all the way.
In Raleigh on June 20, 2026, tens of thousands of people filled the streets for the Championship Parade. Staal lifted the Cup above his head. Bussi stood beside him. Brind’Amour watched them both.
Twenty years was a long time. It was worth it.
