What Happens When They Run out of Room on the Stanley Cup?

In the world of hockey, there is no honor more important than the coveted Stanley Cup trophy awarded to the best of the best every year. The trophy has an interesting history that has resulted in fans having countless questions, including the most popular inquiry of what happens when the Stanley Cup runs out of room.

The Stanley Cup, originally commissioned back in 1892, is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America.

According to the NHL, it takes 12 years for the bottom band of the Stanley Cup to be filled with the latest championship teams, meaning that the top band has to be retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In order to continuously make room, every 13 years, the top band of the trophy is retired so a new, empty band can be added to the bottom.

In 1992, when the Stanley Cup was 100 years old and had run out of space to engrave new names, it was decided by the Trustees, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the NHL to retire the oldest band and add a new one to the bottom, to maintain its shape and size, per the league. To date, there have been over 3,400 names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Additionally, there is only one Stanley Cup, which has the Hockey Hall of Fame logo at the bottom. When the official Stanley Cup travels for public viewings, a special display version is used — but it should be noted that the display version is not a replica and as such, is not identical to the authentic trophy, per the league.

Engraving eligibility for the Stanley Cup is determined by various factors. Per the NHL, a player must have appeared in at least 41 regular-season games or one Stanley Cup Final game to be eligible to have his name engraved on the trophy.

However, in 1994, a stipulation was added to allow an NHL team to petition the Commissioner for permission to have players’ names added to the Stanley Cup if extenuating circumstances prevented them from playing. The maximum number of names a championship team can engrave on the trophy is 55.

The hockey player honored with the most appearances on the trophy is Henri Richard, who was a center for the Montreal Canadiens center and has his name engraved a record 11 times on the Stanley Cup, according to the NHL. However, Jean Beliveau has the most appearances overall with 17 —10 as a hockey player and seven as an NHL executive with the Canadiens.

Meanwhile, the first woman to have her name on the Stanley Cup was Marguerite Norris, who was president of the Detroit Red Wings, in 1954 and 1955.