Players in 3 straight finals after 1985

Megahab

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Apr 30, 2009
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This will be Fleury's 3rd straight final.

Hossa was in 3 straight from 2008-2010.

Any other players accomplish this after 1985? Starting there because a lot of Oilers would have done it from 1983-1985.
 

McGarnagle

Yes.
Aug 5, 2017
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I just spent like 20 minutes looking for guys who fit this, and I can't find any.

Closest I got was Tomas Kopecky, who was a member of the 2008 and 2009 Wings and 2010 Blackhawks, but he did not appear in the playoffs all three years.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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dave reid is a very close one.

he left for colorado one year too early. cups with dallas in 99 and colorado in 01. reid’s avs were just short of the finals in 00 though, losing to his old team by one goal in game seven of the western finals.
 

Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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Kunitz, quite possibly within a few hours will accomplish this as already mentioned.

Claude Lemieux was one goal away in 1994 from making that happen as well.

There has to be others than just Hossa, no? I guess not.
 
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K Fleur

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Mar 28, 2014
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How many players (if any) in NHL history besides Marian Hossa have appeared in 3 consecutive Stanley Cup finals with 3 different teams?

I feel like I remember the NBC broadcast making a big deal out of Hossa being the first player to do this(no one has done it since) Though my memory could just be bad.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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How many players (if any) in NHL history besides Marian Hossa have appeared in 3 consecutive Stanley Cup finals with 3 different teams?
Indeed, I doubt there are very many players who have appeared in three Finals with three different teams at all, never mind consecutively.

Seriously, that's got to be a short list. Even in the 40s/50s, you'd basically have to have played for Toronto, Montreal, and Detroit to make it.
 

Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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How many players (if any) in NHL history besides Marian Hossa have appeared in 3 consecutive Stanley Cup finals with 3 different teams?

Very, very close was Al Arbour, but not with 3 different teams. Played in the Cup final with Chicago in 1961, the Leafs in 1962 and the Leafs in 1964. In 1963 he was in the minors the whole year, other than that he's got 4 in a row.
 

Sanf

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Sep 8, 2012
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Ty Conklin was close. 2006 with Oilers. Then 2008 and 2009 both times as backup on losing side of the Red Wings Penquins serieses. In 2007 he was backup in Sabres which won President trophy, but lost in Conference finals IIRC.
 

ShelbyZ

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Apr 8, 2015
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Closest I got was Tomas Kopecky, who was a member of the 2008 and 2009 Wings and 2010 Blackhawks, but he did not appear in the playoffs all three years.

I always forget that guy was a Red Wing... Probably because his body was literally allergic to the playoffs...

06-07: Goes down with a broken collarbone in December. Misses the rest or the regular season and rounds 1 and 2 before returning for game 3 of the WCF and averaging 3.5 minutes on the 4th line for the rest of the series
07/08: Holds a regular spot for the Red Wings missing only 4 RS games. Then in game #81 he tears his MCL and misses the entire 2008 playoffs.
08/09: Plays another near full RS. Then suffers an eye injury in round 2 that causes him to miss the rest of the playoffs.
09/10: Now with the Hawks, finally stayed healthy for the entire playoffs, but sat for the entire WCF.
10/11: Gets hurt in game 1 and misses the rest of the playoffs as the Hawks face a 7 game round 1 exit.
11/12: Finally plays all of his teams playoff games at 30YO in his 6th full season.

So I guess in a way, he counts. Had he not gotten hurt in 2008, he likely would've been a regular in the playoffs and we would've seen none or much less of Helm, McCarty or Hartigan. He likely would've played every playoff game in 2009 as well.
 
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vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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more close calls:

cory stillman: went to ottawa one year too late. made back-to-back finals with tampa ('04) and carolina ('06). ottawa went to the finals in '07, while stillman was still on the canes. he was traded to ottawa as a rental in '08, when they would go on to be swept by the penguins in the first round.

claude lemieux: was a 2OT stephane matteau goal away from the finals in '94, won the cup with new jersey in '95 and colorado in '96, then made it to game six of the WCF in '97. within earshot of four finals in four years.

john tonelli: not in the timeframe of the thread, but he played in six finals over seven years, from 1980 to 1986, the last one with the flames. 1985, ironically his 40 goal/100 point career year, was the only year in seven that he didn't make it to the finals.

i can't honestly even think of that many guys who played in back-to-back finals with different teams, let alone three like hossa. claude lemieux and stillman, brad richards with the rangers than chicago in 2014 and 2015, joe juneau with buffalo in '98 and washington in '99, and as mentioned upthread conklin and kopecky.

the next closest guy i can think of to three finals with three different teams in three years is brian propp. lost to the habs in six in the wales finals in '89 (the series chelios cheapshotted him and hextall... defended his honour), with the bruins in '90, and north stars in '91.
 
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vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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well i guess no kunitz three-peat.

but speaking of anaheim/tampa players, another name for this thread: vinny prospal, who is the anti-cory stillman. he signed with anaheim right after their '03 cup run, so he missed out on that run, then tampa's '04 cup run, and, two seasons later, after being traded back to tampa also missed out on anaheim's '07 cup.

this sequence of events has always fascinated me. just incredible luck for stillman and terrible luck for prospal. the timeline--

2003 season: basically the entire tampa core has breakthrough years at the same time. MSL, richards, lecavalier, and prospal all clear 70 points, led by prospal's 79 (good for 15th in the league in points, tied for 4th in assists with richards). out of nowhere, dan boyle puts up 50 points. prospal, richards, and boyle all need new contracts (richards and boyle both eventually get huge raises though not until august). meanwhile, anaheim goes on a cinderella run en route to game seven of the stanley cup finals. in the aftermath, paul kariya bolts for colorado, freeing up $10 million in salary on a team that was expected to remain a contender with the newly emergent giguere/babcock combo, who would go on to respectiely win back-to-back cups in 2007 and 2008.

june 21, 2003: the blues trade cory stillman to tampa for a 2nd round pick (david backes). after an especially disappointing playoffs where they gave up a 3-1 series lead to lose to the canucks in the first round, the blues salary dump stillman to tampa at the draft. in addition to picking up another playmaking winger for their own second round pick in the loaded 2003 draft (#62), they also pick up two much earlier second round picks (#s 34 and 41, both nobodies, it turns out) from florida for their first (#25, anthony stewart).

july 17, 2003: prospal signs a five year UFA contract with anaheim. tampa tried to bring him back, because he and lecavalier had crazy chemistry, and lecavalier basically begged feaster to keep him. but already before the draft it looked like they weren't going to come to an agreement with richards and boyle also needing new deals. once they got stillman, who even though he was a salary dump on the blues' end was still a lot cheaper than what prospal wanted, the writing was on the wall. prospal qualified for early unrestricted free agency as a seven year vet making less than the league minimum (i think?) and was in a special position to cash in, as what was at the time a young UFA (28 years old) coming off a career year. anaheim also signs fedorov in their summer spending spree.

2004 season: tampa wins the cup. MSL makes another jump and wins the hart/ross, and teams up with richards who also makes a jump (9th in the league in points) and wins the conn smythe. stillman replaces prospal's production and them some (80 points, 7th in the league in points, 3rd in assists and only one behind co-leaders MSL and scott gomez), but lecavalier regresses.

august 16, 2004: anaheim trades prospal back to tampa for a 2nd round pick (#31 in the 2005 snake draft, netting eventual depth defenseman brendan mikkelson), as part of the process of salary dumping bryan murray's post-cinderella run spending spree guys (later also traded fedorov away for what seemed like nothing at the time, as well as veterans petr sykora for almost literally nothing and steve rucchin for futures). lecavalier is ecstatic.

august 2, 2005: stillman signs a three year UFA contract with carolina. a year earlier, tampa had already walked away from stillman during arbitration, because now he was coming off a career year and had become too expensive for them. instead, they elected to bring back prospal, whose contract with the ducks was front loaded with a signing bonus so the remaining four years were actually lower than tampa's initial offer in the summer of 2003, and within the neighbourhood of what stillman was making.

2006 season: stillman wins the cup with carolina. meanwhile, all is forgiven as prospal puts up 80 points in stillman's place and helps lecavalier rebound to the 70 point plateau.

2007 season: anaheim wins the cup. it would have been just the third year of prospal's five year UFA deal. dumping prospal before the lockout ended up clearing the cap space to sign scott niedermayer in the summer of 2005, while clearing out fedorov, sykora, and rucchin during the '06 season created the flexibility that eventually enabled the pronger trade that offseason.
 
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