The Real Reason The NHL Removes Champions From The Stanley Cup
It was decided that each ring would feature a maximum of 13 teams, although for some reason that no one knows the answer to, the 1964-65 Montreal Canadiens occupy a space twice the size of a usual winner. Still, even with the modern version of the Stanley Cup, rings fill up. To maintain the Cup's height of 35.25 inches and its 34.5-pound weight, some rings needed to be retired (via Hockey Hall of Fame).
According to ESPN, this meant that after the 2005-06 NHL season, for the first time with this design, a ring of the Cup needed to be retired to make room for another. Following the Carolina Hurricanes' 2006 Cup victory, the ring featuring champions from the 1940-41 to 1952-53 seasons was removed. But where did it go?
The retired rings — which have traveled all over the world, as each player on the winning team gets a day to take the Stanley Cup wherever they want — are housed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Specifically, they sit in Lord Stanley's Vault in the Esso Great Hall. According to the NHL, the most recent retirement came in 2018 when a ring featuring the 1952-54 Detroit Red Wings to the 1964-65 Montreal Canadiens was removed to make room for a fresh ring. The first team on the newest addition to the Cup was the 2017-2018 Washington Capitals.
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