By Jack Sponagle, The Hockey News Intern
Jeff Skinner’s streak of 1,078 games without making the
post-season is over, as he has played one playoff game with the Edmonton Oilers this spring. Ron Hainsey used to have the record of 907 games before he finally got
into the 2016-17 playoffs with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then went all the
way to a Stanley Cup victory.
While both of those droughts were long, at least they
came to an end. That wasn’t the case for Guy Charron, who saw action in 734 NHL
games in the 1970s and early 1980s with the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red
Wings, Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals and never once made it into
the post-season.
Here are the 10 active NHL players with the most games
played without ever making the playoffs.
1. Rasmus
Ristolainen – 776 games
With Skinner’s 1,000-plus game drought over, the
hard-hitting Philadelphia Flyers blueliner is now the league leader in this
unfortunate stat. He has played in the NHL for 12
seasons, eight with the Buffalo Sabres and four with the Flyers.
2. Rasmus Dahlin
– 509 games
The Buffalo Sabres defenseman – and No. 1 overall draft
pick in 2018 – made the jump to the NHL at age 18. He’s now 25 and still
waiting to see post-season play. The Sabres last
made the playoffs in 2010-11, when Dahlin was 11.
3. Tage Thompson
– 448 games
The third consecutive player to have ties with the
Sabres, Thompson was traded to Buffalo by the St. Louis Blues in the deal that
sent Ryan O’Reilly the other way. O’Reilly helped lead the Blues to the
franchise’s first Cup. Thompson, meanwhile, hasn’t played in the first round
yet.
4. Troy Terry –
427 games
The 27-year old University of Denver product is 73 games
away from his 500th outing without his chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup ever really
starting. Terry has been with the Anaheim Ducks for all eight of his seasons in
the NHL, but has yet to appear in the post-season.
5. Mario Ferraro
– 408 games
Ferraro is another veteran player on another struggling
California team. The San Jose Sharks haven’t made the playoffs since 2018-19,
and Ferraro played his first game with the Sharks the following season.
6. Henri
Jokiharju – 407 games
The final player on this list to have spent time in
Buffalo is Jokiharju, who’s now with the Boston Bruins. The defenseman spent
six seasons with the Sabres after one year with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was
dealt to the Bruins at this year’s trade deadline, and the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2015-16.
7. Michael
Rasmussen – 390 games
The ninth-overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft is a member
of a Red Wings team that has missed out on the playoffs for the ninth-straight
year. Rasmussen has been with the team for six of those seasons.
8. Isac
Lundestrom – 337 games
The 25-year-old Swede is still relatively early in his
career, which has been entirely spent with the Ducks. His teammates, Trevor
Zegras (268 games) and Mason McTavish (229 games) are both headed for spots on
this list if Anaheim can’t turn in some positive results.
9. Lucas Raymond
– 320 games
Lundestrom’s countryman Raymond is another young,
promising forward who has yet to get a crack at the playoffs. He’s an important
cog in the Red Wings’ machine, as one of many promising young players that Detroit
has picked up in the last nine years of being in the draft lottery.
10. Philipp Kurashev – 317 games
The final player to crack the top 10 is the 25-year-old Blackhawks center. A fourth-round choice in 2018, the Swiss native has featured in over
300 matches with the Hawks, none coming after the regular season’s 82nd game.
He edges out Calgary’s Morgan Frost (310) and Blackhawks teammate Joe Veleno
(306). Perhaps not the honor he would most want to have.
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