Best Stanley Cup winner since 2011 debated by NHL.com panel

The Tampa Bay Lightning are the 2020 Stanley Cup champions after winning the best-of-7 Final against the Dallas Stars with a 2-0 victory in Game 6 on Monday.
Their 2020 championship credentials are unquestioned, outlasting 23 other teams during a two-month tournament contested in the secure zones at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and Rogers Place in Edmonton.
But where do the Lightning stack up against each champion from the past 10 NHL seasons? Are they the best? If not, who is? We asked six NHL.com writers for their opinions:

2011 Boston Bruins

I'm going back 10 seasons on this one, to the first Stanley Cup Final I saw in person, a baptism by fire into the best of the best. The Bruins somehow managed to prevail in seven games against the Vancouver Canucks despite an almost completely powerless power play throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs (10-for-88; 11.4 percent), tied with the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks as the worst among Cup winners since 2011. They dominated defensively, led by a mammoth effort from Zdeno Chara and a Conn Smythe-winning performance from goalie Tim Thomas, allowing 53 goals (2.12 per game) and scoring 81 (3.24 per game). Center David Krejci was at his finest, and it was the true birth of the Patrice Bergeron era. Boston was a tough, physical team that played tough, physical hockey, and it won three Game 7s on the way to the Stanley Cup. Oh, and the Bruins did it with a bit of swagger, including pouring water from Boston onto the ice in Vancouver before Game 7. I'd take this group against anyone. -- Amalie Benjamin, staff writer

2013 Chicago Blackhawks

Amalie makes a good case for that Bruins team, but there's no denying the greatness of the 2013 Blackhawks, who started 21-0-3 in the regular season and won the Cup for the second time in four seasons. The Blackhawks power play was bad (8-for-70; 11.4 percent), but their penalty kill was excellent (69-for-76; 90.8 percent). There was drama: Chicago came back to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in overtime of Game 7 in the Western Conference Second Round after trailing 3-1 in the series. In the Cup Final, the Blackhawks avoided Game 7 by scoring two goals in 17 seconds, in the final 1:16 of the game, the first by Bryan Bickell and the second by Dave Bolland, to win the Cup with a 3-2 victory. Goalie Corey Crawford silenced detractors, allowing 46 goals in 23 games (16-7, 1.84 goals-against average, .932 save percentage). Patrick Kane won the Conn Smythe voted as playoff MVP with 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in 23 games. This team ended the season as incredibly as it started it. The 2013 Blackhawks were the best. -- Tracey Myers, staff writer

2015 Chicago Blackhawks

If you're going to win this battle royal against great teams like Amalie and Tracey selected, you've got to be oozing talent. These Blackhawks, like their 2010 and 2013 championship teams, had Hockey Hall of Fame forward Marian Hossa and three players who one day will join him there: defenseman Duncan Keith and forwards Kane and Jonathan Toews. Crawford was outstanding, winning the Cup for the second time by allowing two goals on 82 shots (.976 save percentage) in the final three games of the Cup Final against the Lightning, all wins. The Blackhawks' 16-7 run in the playoffs was highlighted by Game 6 of the Cup Final in Chicago. They had a chance to win the Cup on home ice for the first time since 1938, a span of 77 years, and the joint was rocking in anticipation. The national anthem was among the most electrifying moments I've experienced in three decades as a sportswriter; my ears were still ringing in the second period. It was a fitting and memorable tribute to a great team, which defeated Tampa Bay 2-0 for Chicago's third championship under coach Joel Quenneville (2010, 2013, 2015). -- Mike Zeisberger, staff writer

2017 Pittsburgh Penguins

Although the other teams on this list are impressive, the 2017 Penguins accomplished something none of them could: They repeated. Winning the Cup once is difficult. Doing it again the following season has proven impossible for every other team since the 1997-98 Red Wings. The Penguins' goalie depth also separates this team. When rookie Matt Murray was injured at the start of the playoffs, veteran Marc-Andre Fleury (9-6, 2.56 GAA, .924 save percentage, two shutouts) stepped in and carried Pittsburgh past the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference First Round and the Washington Capitals, the Presidents' Trophy winners that season, in the second round. Murray (7-3, 1.70 GAA, .937 save percentage, three shutouts) reclaimed the net in Game 4 of the conference final against the Ottawa Senators, which Pittsburgh won in seven before defeating the Nashville Predators in six games in the Cup Final. Pittsburgh had four players score at least 20 points: Evgeni Malkin (28), Sidney Crosby (27), Phil Kessel (23) and Jake Guentzel (21). Crosby was the third player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy in consecutive seasons, joining Mario Lemieux (1991, 1992 with Pittsburgh) and Bernie Parent (1974, 1975 with Philadelphia Flyers). -- Tom Gulitti, staff writer

2019 St. Louis Blues

Comparing Stanley Cup champions, even in the breadth of 10 seasons, is an inexact science in a sport with so many variables. The Bruins, two Blackhawks and Penguins teams picked by my colleagues are all fine choices. But I'm going with the historic first title for the Blues, a 1967 expansion team that was almost flatlining turning into the 2019 calendar year, then parading in mid-June. Guided by coach Craig Berube, who took the reins Nov. 19, 2018, the Blues cashed in with the postseason goaltending of Jordan Binnington, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O'Reilly and a cast of characters who could have rolled over months before the playoffs began. Instead, they put their heads down and steamed into the postseason, grinding out series wins of seven, six and seven games before facing the Bruins in the Cup Final. They lost 5-1 at home in Game 6, with Boston carrying the momentum home for the deciding game, but it was just one more challenge, one met with a convincing 4-1 victory in Game 7 and a maiden championship that Blues center Brayden Schenn said felt like a video game. It was that, and a whole lot more. -- Dave Stubbs, columnist

2020 Tampa Bay Lightning

Man, there have been some pretty special championship teams since 2011, but this Lightning team compares favorably with any of them. It's not recency bias either. How do you want to compare them? Offensive explosiveness? Well, since 2011, four players have scored as many as 30 points in a single postseason. Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov (34 points) and Brayden Point (33) are Nos. 1 and 2 among them. Yet neither won the Conn Smythe Trophy because defenseman Victor Hedman had a postseason few of his contemporaries could touch. Character? After the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, the Lightning went 10-3 in one-goal games in the playoffs, 6-2 in overtime games and 6-0 in games after a loss. I haven't even mentioned that they did all of this despite the mental hardships caused by spending two months in the isolation of the Toronto and Edmonton bubbles, something none of these other champions had to endure. Someday, what the Lightning did this postseason will be more appreciated. I'm starting now. -- Shawn P. Roarke, Senior Director of Editorial