best core to never to win a cup?

[Kaners Bald Spot]

I probably would say the Hawks of the 80s and early 90s. Like a lot of good teams in that era they could have had a least one Stanley Cup, but ran into the Wayne Gretzky Oilers.

This.
From 1990-93, the Blackhawks had the following core:
Chelios
Belfour
Roenick
Larmer
Goulet

and walked away with nada.
3 of these guys are in the HOF and another should be.

 

[sr edler]

Goulet was hardly a core player with the early 90s Blackhawks, but an elderly complementary player. Goulet had his last Michel Goulet season in 87–88 with the Nordiques. With the Blackhawks he was a 60 point player, and this was in a very high scoring era. The core player you're not listing there is Dirk Graham.

 

[sharkhawk]

Early 70s hawks

Mikita and Bobby had won a cup but I would argue that is part of a different core

Lost finals in 71 and 73

Esposito in net
White and Stapleton on D
Mph line
Mikita and hull

 

[Tarantula]

Over the 6-year span (seasons ending 1969-1974), the following core was intact:

Brad Park
Jean Ratelle
Rod Gilbert
Vic Hadfield (captain)
Jim "Chief" Neilson
Rod Seiling
Walt Tkaczuk
Ed Giacomin

At the tail end of that stretch: Four consecutive trips to the semifinals, one of them to the Stanley Cup Finals, after 40 or more wins in all four regular seasons.

Not too mention Park and Ratelle going to Boston during the late 70's and losing there to the Habs.

 

[GMR]

How about the Red Wings core from 1961-1966, which lost four Stanley Cup Finals?

They may have won the Cup four times a decade prior, but there was enough turnover there to count in the spirit of this thread. Not many teams lose four Finals in six years to begin with.

 

[The Panther]

How about the Red Wings core from 1961-1966, which lost four Stanley Cup Finals?

They may have won the Cup four times a decade prior, but there was enough turnover there to count in the spirit of this thread. Not many teams lose four Finals in six years to begin with.

Well, every time they lost they had finished in 4th place out of 6 teams. They only played around .500 hockey in those four seasons.

 

[GMR]

Well, every time they lost they had finished in 4th place out of 6 teams. They only played around .500 hockey in those four seasons.

Built for the playoffs they were. They weren't one of the top teams I thought of for this thread, but some consideration should be received. Most of these other cores mentioned (in fact probably all) didn't lose as many Finals in as short a period as this team did. I guess playing in the original 6 devalues this team, because it's perceived as being easier to make the Finals back then. Still, they knocked on the door many times and lost. Not the strongest core of players in their prime, but worthy of consideration.