With NHL playoffs set to start soon, Giordano among oldest players who hasn’t won a Stanley Cup

Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns made the playoffs seven occasions collectively as teammates in San Jose, reaching the convention finals and getting all the best way to the Stanley Cup Closing in 2016 below Peter DeBoer. Zach Parise captained New Jersey to the ultimate in 2012.

All these runs led to defeat.

Pavelski and Ryan Suter at the moment are teammates taking part in for DeBoer yet again, now with Dallas, Parise, after a number of years alongside Suter in Minnesota, is now with rival Colorado and Burns is the No. 1 defenceman for Carolina.

They’re among the many oldest and most skilled veterans within the NHL playoffs this yr who’ve by no means hoisted the Stanley Cup, a gaggle that may love to hitch the likes of Ray Bourque and Lanny McDonald and win a championship as retirement nears.

Joe Pavelski

Pavelski has performed over 1,500 regular-season and playoff video games with the Sharks and Stars since making his debut within the league in 2006. He was the postseason’s main goal-scorer eight years in the past, tied for probably the most video games performed within the 2020 playoff bubble and is among the most admired forwards of his technology.

“Joe, he’s the final word professional,” Dallas normal supervisor Jim Nill mentioned. “He simply does the whole lot proper. He’s executed that his entire profession.”

Accidents have hampered the Wisconsin native alongside the best way, together with a concussion within the first-round opener final yr. He turns 40 in July, when he’ll once more be a free agent, so this may increasingly or will not be his final shot on the Cup.

“You continue to need it, and you continue to need a chance,” Pavelski mentioned. “And we now have an ideal alternative right here, and guys are taking part in good. They’re guys which have that understanding this can be a nice probability.”

Ryan Suter

No energetic participant has performed extra video games on this league with out a championship than Suter, a reliable defenceman in Nashville, then Minnesota and now Dallas. His fortieth birthday is in January. In contrast to Pavelski, he’s signed by means of subsequent season.

Possibly the distinction for Suter, who averages about 19 minutes per sport, can be DeBoer, who’s trying to take a 3rd group to the ultimate and win it for the primary time. It doesn’t harm to have younger teammates like Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell main the best way on the blue line, and the addition of commerce deadline pickup Chris Tanev, to permit Suter to play his greatest when the conditions come up.

“Chris Tanev is a implausible defenceman, and that allowed Suter to play much less minutes the place he’s going to be more practical,” former player-turned-ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro mentioned.

Zach Parise

A late entrant on this class after signing with the Avalanche in late January simply earlier than the All-Star break, Parise may have walked away after not taking part in greater than half the season, pleased with a prolonged profession that features an Olympic silver medal in 2010.

As a substitute, Parise joined a contender that would once more journey MVP front-runner Nathan MacKinnon and Norris Trophy candidate Cale Makar to a championship, which might be the franchise’s second in three years. The 39-year-old Parise understands how huge a problem that’s 12 years after his journey to the ultimate with the Devils.

“There’s a deeper appreciation for the way laborious it’s,” mentioned Parise, whose birthday is in July. “I at all times look again to my first few years in Jersey, we made it to the second spherical, I feel, three years in a row. You’re like, ‘OK, pure development, we’ll get to 3rd spherical.’ After which unexpectedly, you get bounced a few occasions the primary spherical. You simply don’t know. It’s laborious.”

Brent Burns

Bigger than life along with his large beard, Burns stays an imposing power at 6-foot-5 and 230 kilos with a cannon of a shot. He turned 39 final month and is in his second season with the Hurricanes, who had been swept by Florida within the East closing final yr.

This can be his greatest shot on the title since 2016 with San Jose, particularly after Carolina acquired Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov on the commerce deadline to fill wants up entrance. Burns gives the firepower from the again and averages practically 22 minutes a sport.

“He is aware of he doesn’t have too many extra kicks at it,” mentioned coach Rod Brind’Amour, who received the Cup in his sixteenth season as Hurricanes captain in 2006. “However I feel our entire group is aware of that. We admire that. We’ve got for some time.”

Mark Giordano

The Toronto Maple Leafs have practically a full roster of gamers who haven’t received the Cup. The oldest is Mark Giordano, who will flip 41 in October and is sort of definitely in his closing season.

Giordano received the Norris Trophy because the NHL’s high defenceman in 2018-19 close to the top of his time in Calgary. He was the primary and (and nonetheless solely) captain in Seattle’s younger franchise historical past and, like Pavelski, is a hard-nosed competitor with nice respect across the league.

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