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Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:33 pm EST

The best NHL player who won't win the Stanley Cup

By Greg Wyshynski

After Alex Rodriguez helped some team in some sport Leahy cares about win a world title, A-Rod evidently stopped being "the best player in all of American sports who will never win a championship." At least in the eyes of Dan Levy of The Sporting Blog.

Levy, a lapsed puckhead from The Great Lockout Purge of 2005, called us today to ask if there were any players in the NHL that would fit that description: A star player who will "will end his career with utter disappointment" by not hoisting the Stanley Cup.

We tried to talk him out of this first one. It didn't work:

For nothing other than cheap heat, I'll say Alexander Ovechkin. Sure he's the most exciting player in the league and he's transcended the sport to become a, gulp, household name, but that doesn't mean he's going to win anything. His team is good, but he has a guy named Crosby playing in his conference, and that guy has a guy named Malkin playing with him. Of course, Greg Wyshynski from Yahoo's Puck Daddy thinks I'm nuts, but what have the Caps ever won? Can they afford to keep this team of budding stars around Ovechkin?

The last point was a fair one, but odds are that Ovechkin gets his Cup before his contract expires in 2021. After all, it's on Ted Leonsis's to-do list.

The other names we mentioned to Levy were Joe Thornton(notes) of the San Jose Sharks, an underwhelming playoff performer on an underwhelming playoff team; Daniel Alfredsson(notes) of the Ottawa Senators; Roberto Luongo(notes) of the Vancouver Canucks, in yet another attempt to reverse-karma our way to a correct Stanley Cup prediction; and Henrik Lundqvist(notes) of the New York Rangers, because he's going to retire before 2048. 

Writer Jeff Hale on Twitter suggested Jarome Iginla(notes), who's only 32 but locked into a team with a very top-heavy cap. Any other stars that you think will fall short of the ultimate prize, before inevitably Mike Gartner'ing their way into the Hall of Fame? (*cough*Mats Sundin(notes)*cough*).

Related: Daniel Alfredsson, Mats Sundin, Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo, Joe Thornton, Jarome Iginla, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks

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123 Comments

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  1. Ron
    1. Posted by Ron Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:44 pm EST

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    Kovalchuk anyone?
  2. HotStacey
    2. Posted by HotStacey Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:44 pm EST

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    why would someone like a "sport" that's more boring than hockey and golf, has no salary cap which makes the yankees "championship" worthless and lets everyone use steroids?
    i hadn't even read this yet and i immediately thought of OV. he's not a team player, he has a huge contract and he doesn't play good defense. caps have a poorly structured team right now and Pens have a PERfectly structured team. he won't win because everyone knows to key on him when the game is important. "gee, i wonder how the caps are going to try to win this game?? perhaps have OV take 35 shots on net??" crosby won because his team filled in when the wings keyed on him. OV would never allow this as his game is as much about spectacle and what HE can do for his team rather than the other way around.
  3. HotStacey
    3. Posted by HotStacey Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:46 pm EST

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    yeah, kovy is another good one. i'd pick him second as he definitely doesn't care about winning the cup and will definitely never win one.
  4. Arik K
    4. Posted by Arik K Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:49 pm EST

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    Rick DiPie...oh, wait.
  5. FinFan
    5. Posted by FinFan Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:02 pm EST

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    Could you have picked an odder pic of Joe? It looks like his lower legs are gone (Scuderi-ed?) and his facial expression smacks of an angry Donkey Kong. Maybe the Sharks could inspire him to play better hockey if they pair him on a line with a couple short Italians. Can we get Cammaleri?
  6. Matthew J
    6. Posted by Matthew J Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:04 pm EST

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    Ryan Getz.....oh, wait.
  7. James Mirtle
    7. Posted by James Mirtle Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:05 pm EST

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    He does kind of look like Donkey Kong.
  8. emily h
    8. Posted by emily h Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:06 pm EST

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    I can't believe I just wasted 2 minute reading this!
  9. Zamboni's Dad
    9. Posted by Zamboni's Dad Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:11 pm EST

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    Who's the best player currently in the NHL who has never won a cup? Ovechkin, No question, if that was the question.
    Or is the question "Who is the best player currently in the NHL who will never win a cup before he retires?" (answer: Kopitar) or "Who was the best player at some point in time and is currently playing and never will win a cup?" (answer: Thornton) or (my favorite) "Who will have been the best player among all currently active players when all current player careers are over who never won a cup?" (answer: Del Zotto - asuming he's a Ranger for life)
  10. Marcus W
    10. Posted by Marcus W Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:19 pm EST

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    Wow, I love Puck Daddy, but is there ANY other team you hate on more for playoff failures? Jarome Iginla has not gotten his team past the first round since the lockout, but he is great because he is the captain of a Canadian hockey franchise. Typical bias.
  11. John S
    11. Posted by John S Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:28 pm EST

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    Anze Kopitar. The Kings have no depth.
  12. madd dogg
    12. Posted by madd dogg Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:31 pm EST

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    Kovalchuk, Thornton, and Nash will all have great, yet disappointing careers. Then again, that was Crosby's biggest criticism...
  13. Court
    13. Posted by Court Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:36 pm EST

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    How is Hossa not being considered? If anyone parallels A-Rod as a weapon for hire with no loyalty except himself and to a championship, it is him.
  14. Das Schutzenfest
    14. Posted by Das Schutzenfest Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:52 pm EST

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    Kovalchuk is a pretty safe bet, so long as he stays with Atlanta. But, supposing things stay pretty much the same in the NHL for the next fifteen years, my money's on Ovechkin. His exuberance is eventually going to fade, until his massive ego sucks the morale out of Washington's locker room entirely. He will do to Washington what Jagr did to Pittsburgh... except Ovechkin is both the LeMieux and the Jagr of the Caps, so no Cup. Plus, the psychological hole the Caps are in vis-a-vis beating the Pens in the playoffs is unbelievable. The best chance they've ever had was last season, and when it was most on the line--at home--they got embarrassed. It's going to be like scaling Everest for Washington to snag that Cup.
  15. SC
    15. Posted by SC Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:01 pm EST

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    It's hard for Lundqvist to win when he gives up crap goals in the playoffs and lets his team down. I am a huge Rangers fan and i think he will never win because he is not a playoff caliber goaltender. If he gives up 1 crap goal he lets it effect him 4 the rest of the series and it ultimately leads to the Rangers doom, take last year against the Caps 4 example. Henrik is a great guy but he simply cannot handle the pressure.
  16. habs1rule
    16. Posted by habs1rule Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:08 pm EST

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    @2.. If you're a Yankees Hater, I can sure forget your score comments...Go Spacey,..Go Spacey!!
  17. habs1rule
    17. Posted by habs1rule Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:12 pm EST

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    PS..Have you ever of heard something called a trade or free agency, some of these players can actually win it with another teamone day...IE..Ovechkin with Montreal.. In the name of the Father,......
  18. Buck N
    18. Posted by Buck N Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:39 pm EST

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    No Canadian based team will ever win the cup as long as Bettman is the Commisioner.
  19. Tom
    19. Posted by Tom Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:50 pm EST

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    excuse me Wysh... you owe me 5 minutes that I will never get back.
    garbage...
  20. N.Y. NIGHTMARE
    20. Posted by N.Y. NIGHTMARE Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:04 pm EST

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    2048 thats so lame, i got one for you Parise!
  21. Das Schutzenfest
    21. Posted by Das Schutzenfest Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:06 pm EST

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    I love these guys that sh!t all over these posts... If you don't like Puck Daddy, go write your own blog for f@ck's sake. No one cares about your worthless opinion about the quality of the writing or originality of the blog. Let's talk some hockey. If you have a red herring to throw, at least make it funny, or interesting, please.
  22. Fox
    22. Posted by Fox Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:13 pm EST

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    "Levy, a lapsed puckhead from The Great Lockout Purge of 2005" who will remain so until a team in his geographic vicinity is favored to reach the Finals, at which time he will have been a fan since back in the day of [insert Levy favorite here].
    It's a good thing something like that missed-Cup lockout would never happen in baseball. I was just remeniscing about Matt Williams' assault on the single season home run record back in 1994, and how he, getting a steady diet of fastballs hitting after Barry Bonds, similar to those Roger Maris was getting hitting behind Mickey Mantle, put up 62 before Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire made 'roids all the rage ... oh, wait....
  23. jeff c
    23. Posted by jeff c Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:13 pm EST

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    This douchebag should be fired for writing such pointless articles.
  24. Steven W
    24. Posted by Steven W Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:14 pm EST

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    what about Ilya Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Kovalchuks?

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Puck Daddy is an NHL blog edited by Greg Wyshynski. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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Sean Leahy, Ross McKeon, Matt Romig, Dmitry Chesnokov, Ryan Lambert, Dobber, Scott Pianowski,

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