Last chance? Vets eye shot at 1st Cup
Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns made the playoffs seven times together as teammates with the Sharks, reaching the conference finals and getting all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 under Peter DeBoer. Zach Parise captained the Devils to the final in 2012.
All those runs ended in defeat.
Pavelski and Ryan Suter are now teammates playing for DeBoer all over again, now with the Stars; Parise, after several years alongside Suter with the Wild, is now with the rival Avalanche; and Burns is the No. 1 defenseman for the Panthers.
They are among the oldest and most experienced veterans in the NHL playoffs this year who have never hoisted the Stanley Cup, a group that would love to join the likes of Ray Bourque and Lanny McDonald and win a championship as retirement nears.
Joe Pavelski
Pavelski has played over
1,500 regular-season and playoff games with the
Sharks and Stars since making his debut in the league in 2006. He was the postseason’s leading goal-scorer eight years ago, tied for the most games played in the 2020 playoff bubble and is one of the most admired forwards of his generation.
“Joe, he’s the ultimate pro,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said. “He just does everything right.”
Injuries have hampered the Wisconsin native along the way, including a concussion in the first-round opener last year. He turns 40 in July, when he will again be a free agent, so this may or may not be his last shot at the Cup.
“You still want it, and you still want an opportunity,” Pavelski said. “And we have a great opportunity here.”
Ryan Suter
No active player has played more games in this league without a championship than Suter, a dependable defenseman with the Predators, then the Wild and now the Stars. His 40th birthday is in January. Unlike Pavelski, he is signed through next season.
Maybe the difference for Suter, who averages about 19 minutes per game, will be DeBoer, who is looking to take a third organization to the final and win it for the first time. It doesn’t hurt to have young teammates like Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell leading the way on the blue line, and the addition of trade deadline pickup Chris Tanev, to allow Suter to play his best when the situations arise.
“Chris Tanev is a fantastic defenseman, and that allowed Suter to play less minutes and he’s more effective,” former player and current ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said.
Zach Parise
A late entrant in this category after signing with the Avalanche in late January just before the All-Star break, Parise could have walked away after not playing more than half the season, proud of a lengthy career that includes an Olympic silver medal in 2010.
Instead, Parise joined a contender that could again ride MVP front-runner Nathan MacKinnon and Norris Trophy candidate Cale Makar to a championship, which would be the franchise’s second in three years. The 39-year-old Parise understands how big a challenge that is 12 years after his trip to the final with the Devils.
“There’s a deeper appreciation for how hard it is,” said Parise, whose birthday is in July. “I always look back to my first few years in Jersey, we made it to the second round, I think, three years in a row. You’re like, ‘OK, natural progression, we’ll get to third round.’ And then all of a sudden, you get bounced a couple of times the first round. You just don’t know. It’s hard.”
Brent Burns
Larger than life with his massive beard, Burns remains an imposing force at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds with a cannon of a shot. He turned 39 last month and is in his second season with the Hurricanes, who were swept by the Panthers in the East final last year.
This may be his best shot at the title since 2016 with the Sharks, especially after the Hurricanes acquired Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov at the trade deadline to fill needs up front. Burns provides the firepower from the back and averages nearly 22 minutes a game.
“He knows he doesn’t have too many more kicks at it,” said coach Rod Brind’Amour, who won the Cup in his 16th season as Hurricanes captain in 2006. “But I think our whole group knows that. We appreciate that.”