Greatest player to never get past the first round of playoffs?

[dalewood12]

I was unsure if I should post this in the By The Numbers thread or here, but let's give it a shot.

Ideally, this would be a player who played at least 500 games and had a solid/strong NHL career, but never made it past the first round of the playoffs.

Click to read more...

 

[MXD]

The first player I thought about was Roy Worters, but I had forgotten his team made the 2nd round in 1935-1936.

So... on top of my head, it's Harry Howell. HHOFer, Norris winner, mainstay on the Rangers defense, 1400 NHL games, all of them on the Rangers in the O6 and the expansion teams afterward.

 

[VanIslander]

... Harry Howell. HHOFer, Norris winner, mainstay on the Rangers defense, 1400 NHL games, all of them on the Rangers in the O6 and the expansion teams afterward.

In a 4-team, two-round playoff in the O6 league, yeah, his Rangers never made the Stanley Cup Finals (a one-game feat back then).

In the modern era (i mean, 28+ teams, 4 rounds of comp - the question is era biased, significantly) there are two greats in the weeds...

 

[MadLuke]

Olli Jokinen ?

 

[Michael Farkas]

According to @seventieslord it's Jeff Skinner (probably)...

 

[carjackmalone]

Tony Tanti

 

[The Panther]

Yeah, as far as post-1967 goes, Tony Tanti and Jeff Skinner (somewhat comparable players?) seem like good nominations so far.

Unbelievable that Skinner has had (almost) 14 full and healthy NHL seasons, for two franchises, and has never played a playoff game.

 

[Crosby2010]

Marcel Dionne did make the 2nd round of the playoff in 1976, 1977 and 1982. However, all of those first round wins were a best-of-5. Here is a shocker, Dionne never won a playoff series that was a best-of-7. Now how's that for a shock? But to be fair I guess he doesn't count here, he did win a playoff series.

Harry Howell is a good choice. If you want to count the WHA he made it past the 1st round in 1975. But the NHL he did not.

Olli Jokinen played in 1231 career games, and then just 6 playoff games, a first round exit. That's it. I would think he has to be the guy here isn't he? I know he probably could have done something to help his teams a bit more, but you have to admit that's pretty hard luck too.

Guy Charron should get a long look here. He never played in a playoff game in his career. 534 points in 734 NHL games. Played on some horrible teams, finished with a plus/minus of -210.

So is there anyone close to Charron, Jokinen or Howell?

 

[pnep]

Billy Burch?
Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player 1974

Billy Burch Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Salary, Title | Hockey-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats of Billy Burch. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, trade, draft, salary and more on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

 

[MadLuke]

Yeah, as far as post-1967 goes, Tony Tanti and Jeff Skinner (somewhat comparable players?) seem like good nominations so far.

Does Skinner has a good argument for > Jokinen

06-08 Jokinen was 15th in ponts, tie #10 in goals, in between Eric Staal and Martin St-Louis.

And in terms of greatness, you have top tier memes.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Yeah, as far as post-1967 goes, Tony Tanti and Jeff Skinner (somewhat comparable players?) seem like good nominations so far.

Unbelievable that Skinner has had (almost) 14 full and healthy NHL seasons, for two franchises, and has never played a playoff game.

Is there any actual indictment on skinner as a competitor, or has he pretty much just played on crap teams forever?

I recall good things said about him when he broke into the league forever ago

 

[The Panther]

Is there any actual indictment on skinner as a competitor, or has he pretty much just played on crap teams forever?

I recall good things said about him when he broke into the league forever ago

I know nothing about the guy. But, hey, he signed that massive contract, so he's going to retire (anytime) a very rich man despite never dressing for a playoff game, so I think he gets the last laugh...

 

[seventieslord]

According to @seventieslord it's Jeff Skinner (probably)...

I would take Olli Jokinen over Skinner for sure.

But not making the 2nd round of the playoffs is a pretty rare achievement. Almost anyone who plays 500 games does it at least once, eliminating them from the conversation. The fact that there's a guy with 350+ goals among them, probably puts him pretty high on the list. maybe even 2nd? Though, I haven't thought too hard about it.

 

[VanIslander]

Olli Jokinen in ATD depth drafts has been a bone of contention between 70slordy and I.

The guy belongs nowhere near any greats list imo.

And I cheered him on draft day (i believe 3rd overall - will go fact check after phoning this in, it being a quarter century agoish)

EDIT: He was drafted by the Kings, a team i never pay any attention to unless cheering against, hence no memory context clues, connections.

I recall vividly his "best" year for a nonplayoff Panthers. I have compared him to so-called #1 Sabres dman (based on TOI stat) Zhitnik (who couldnt hold Yushkevich"s jockstrap).

Ryan Fitzpatrick was a QB on 9 different teams in a 17-year NFL career but NEVER once played in the playoffs. Dumb luck meets bad play. It's chemistry.

 

[MadLuke]

The guy belongs nowhere near any greats list imo.

Who that never reached the second round in the 4 round era would ? Greatness will be quite relative here.

 

[seventieslord]

The guy belongs nowhere near any greats list imo.

We're talking about players to never win a round in the playoffs. Just how long a list do you think that is, exactly?

 

[MadLuke]

Kenny Johnson maybe ? He did eat minutes, but short nhl career.

 

[VanIslander]

Kenny Johnson maybe ? He did eat minutes, but short nhl career.

His twin brother was pretty good at hockey, too.
They had their priorities.
Kenny went back to raise his kids in Sweden.
A strong nation of a mere 5 million people is so cuz of a strong national identity.
Kenny was GREAT!

 

[Albatros]

Olli Jokinen played in 1231 career games, and then just 6 playoff games, a first round exit. That's it. I would think he has to be the guy here isn't he? I know he probably could have done something to help his teams a bit more, but you have to admit that's pretty hard luck too.

Mostly luck I'd argue. He did lead the Flames in playoff scoring over Iginla the only time he made it that far, with a team that had nothing more than Kiprusoff, or if you really stretch it Cammalleri and Phaneuf besides them. Everywhere else he had even less to work with. Their best years in Florida Jokinen and Luongo made a halfway respectable team out of what should have been a total disaster.

Though he was a bust in LA and no good with the Islanders, those teams weren't going anywhere anyway at the time.

 

[VanIslander]

Luongo was not a Jokinen.
Lu was a winner in losing situations.
Lu is a hall-of-fame talent, and it jumped off the screen nightly.
It was an insult to human intelligence (AI will rule the world) for OVER A DECADE that Vernon was a HHOFer but Luongo wasn't. When Lu went in, Vernon should have come out.

 

[MadLuke]

Kenny was GREAT!

He has 2 Olympic gold medal...

mere 5 million people

That was back in your school day maybe, at least double that now.

 

[VanIslander]

Thank you!
Yes, the nation of Sweden now has 10 million people: less than the city of Paris but more than the city of London (barely).
The point stands.

Note: i've been living an expat life overseas for 20+ years and repeated trips to the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul and Bangkok (each city with more people than the nation of Sweden) make me gasp at how small a country like Sweden is, given their great accomplishments in sports, science, survival, etc.

 

[authentic]

Marcel Dionne did make the 2nd round of the playoff in 1976, 1977 and 1982. However, all of those first round wins were a best-of-5. Here is a shocker, Dionne never won a playoff series that was a best-of-7. Now how's that for a shock? But to be fair I guess he doesn't count here, he did win a playoff series.

Harry Howell is a good choice. If you want to count the WHA he made it past the 1st round in 1975. But the NHL he did not.

Olli Jokinen played in 1231 career games, and then just 6 playoff games, a first round exit. That's it. I would think he has to be the guy here isn't he? I know he probably could have done something to help his teams a bit more, but you have to admit that's pretty hard luck too.

Guy Charron should get a long look here. He never played in a playoff game in his career. 534 points in 734 NHL games. Played on some horrible teams, finished with a plus/minus of -210.

So is there anyone close to Charron, Jokinen or Howell?

1st rounds were best of 5 back then? This is somehow the first I'm hearing of this...

 

[carjackmalone]

Jim Benning
Bill Derlago

 

[GlitchMarner]

Before Toronto beat Tampa in round one of last year's playoffs, the answer was Auston Matthews.