SUNRISE, Fla. — Kyle Okposo does not see himself as “the previous man with no Stanley Cup.”
Even when everybody else does.
“I do not take a look at myself like I am Joe Pavelski or all of those different guys which were round for a very long time. I simply do not see myself like that,” the 36-year-old Florida Panthers ahead mentioned, citing the lately retired 39-year-old Dallas Stars middle. “I simply see myself on the group. I’m going to go decide up pucks after apply if there is a puck standing there. That is simply type of how I reside my life.”
However in each playoff collection the Panthers have gained this postseason, Okposo has gotten the questions. About taking part in 17 seasons and 1,051 video games within the NHL with out profitable the Cup. About becoming a member of Florida on the commerce deadline from the Buffalo Sabres, going from a group that by no means made the playoffs with Okposo on the roster to 1 returning to the Stanley Cup Ultimate for the second straight season.
About being nearer than he is ever been earlier than to being an previous man with a Stanley Cup.
Okposo understands how others see him. He simply does not vibe with it.
“When I haven’t got a notion of myself, however different folks do of me, that is the place I simply … I do not actually get it,” he mentioned. “I simply type of shyly put my head down and stroll away. Nevertheless it’s been a ton of enjoyable for the fellows to embrace that side of it. I am simply making an attempt to win for them.”
So is it OK if his Panthers teammates deliver it up? To make use of it for motivation?
“Yeah, no, it is … I imply, it’s a little bit bizarre,” Okposo mentioned. “Like I mentioned, I do not see myself like that, however I do know that the fellows do, so I admire it. However on the similar time, if any individual says one thing, I am in all probability simply going to go skate the opposite means.”
Whereas he is uncomfortable with having the deal with him, he is fairly candid about how thrilling it’s to be this near profitable a championship. Even when others aren’t.
“I will speak about it,” Okposo mentioned. “I am too previous for these superstitions like, ‘Oh my gosh, we won’t speak about profitable the Cup.’ It is like, ‘No, it is our objective. Why would not we speak about it?’ It is a ton of enjoyable to be this shut. And I really feel like we’re right here for a cause as a result of we have achieved the appropriate factor. So yeah, we will speak about it.”
However as soon as the sport begins, Okposo mentioned, that is the place ideas of the Stanley Cup are outdated by the second at hand.
“You devour the second,” he mentioned. “You do not let it devour you. I believe that that is extraordinarily essential. The second that you simply begin trying round and going, ‘Oh my God, we’re a couple of wins away from profitable the Stanley Cup!’ you then begin to do issues that you have not achieved all 12 months. So you must just remember to are staying within the second. However you additionally perceive the place you are at and you do not let that lavatory you down.”
Okposo is one in all many people on the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers which can be in search of their first Stanley Cup wins. Some are younger. Some are stars of their primes. Some have waited a few years, many video games and lots of groups to earn the possibility to hoist the chalice.
Listed here are a few of the most outstanding “previous guys with no Cup” within the Ultimate, with the caveat that “previous” is a matter of content material and notion.
At 37 years previous, Ryan is the oldest participant on the Oilers’ roster. But he is performed fewer profession NHL video games (570) than Connor McDavid (645).
Ryan is without doubt one of the NHL’s quintessential late bloomers. After 4 seasons in Canadian juniors with the Spokane Chiefs, Ryan then performed one other 4 years on the College of Alberta. He launched into a professional profession in Austria in 2011 earlier than shifting on to Sweden in 2014, the place he was MVP of the Swedish Hockey League.
That season caught the eye of NHL groups, who sought him out as an unrestricted free agent. Toronto, Colorado, St. Louis and Washington had been all . Ryan signed with the Carolina Hurricanes, reuniting him with Invoice Peters, who coached him in Spokane.
(Peters would later resign from the Calgary Flames in 2019, after acknowledging he used a racial slur throughout a earlier teaching stint within the AHL.)
Ryan spent three seasons with Carolina, three with Calgary and is now in his third season with Edmonton, having tallied 12 factors in 70 video games this season. He is appeared in 14 video games for the Oilers within the postseason, with one help and a minus-6 score. Whereas he performed in Recreation 6 of the Western Convention finals, Ryan was changed in Recreation 1 in opposition to Florida by a returning Warren Foegele.
After the Oilers misplaced within the playoffs final season, the Spokane native instructed the Spokesman-Evaluation he was assured they weren’t achieved.
“Most significantly now at this level in my profession, I need to win,” Ryan mentioned. “I really feel like Edmonton is constructing towards one thing particular.”
Ryan mentioned taking part in playoff hockey as an Oiler is a singular expertise.
“It is wonderful. This time of 12 months, it is a tremendous place to play,” he mentioned. “Everybody on our group is aware of that and everybody that performs in opposition to us is aware of that. You see the folks exterior as you are getting warmed up. You drive across the metropolis and the flags are all over the place. I’m going to the grocery retailer and individuals are coming as much as me and thanking me.”
Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch mentioned Ryan is the kind of supporting participant a profitable group wants.
“He does all these little issues,” he mentioned. “He is not flashy. He is not the quickest man on the market, however a really good hockey participant and a participant that coaches actually admire.”
One does not want a Stanley Cup ring to be a Hockey Corridor of Famer. That is as true for goalies as it’s for skaters. Only recently, Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist entered the Corridor as all-time netminders who by no means hoisted the Cup.
Bobrovsky, 35, has constructed a profession that can obtain Corridor of Fame consideration. He is second in wins amongst lively goalies (396) behind Marc-Andre Fleury (561). He is gained the Vezina Trophy twice. He is earned a popularity as a clutch postseason goalie, knocking off three completely different Presidents’ Trophy-winning opponents with performances just like the one the Oilers noticed in Recreation 1.
For all of the speak about legacies on this Stanley Cup Ultimate, has Bobrovsky thought a lot about profitable one?
“I do not know. You do not assume a lot in regards to the Cup when you find yourself in your routines,” he mentioned. “You strategy it at some point at a time and see what the following second will deliver you. And the place you are going to get with that second.”
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Henrique was a postseason legend by his twenty second birthday.
In Recreation 6 of the 2012 Jap Convention finals, Henrique’s New Jersey Devils had been making an attempt to get rid of their archrivals the New York Rangers. The sport went to time beyond regulation, however for just one minute and three seconds: Henrique tucked residence an Ilya Kovalchuk rebound to ship the Devils to the Stanley Cup Ultimate, the place they’d finally lose to the Los Angeles Kings.
“It has been a very long time in between runs, I assume,” Henrique mentioned.
The Oilers acquired him from the Anaheim Geese on the commerce deadline. As a pending unrestricted free agent, Henrique was pretty sure he would end out the season with a Stanley Cup contender. He simply wasn’t certain if the group that acquired him might go so far as the Oilers have gotten.
“To have the ability to come again, you do not take it as a right, clearly,” he mentioned. “You may have a significantly better understanding of how a lot it takes to get right here, and the way a lot you’ll want to go your means and the way the group must be constructed to go on a run like this.”
Henrique, 34, performed simply 4 playoff video games between his run with the Devils and his present one with the Oilers. He is performed 912 video games over 14 seasons, nearly all of them on rebuilding groups in New Jersey and Anaheim.
What motivated Henrique to play in addition to doable for a Geese group that wasn’t a contender? Figuring out that precise contenders had been watching.
“You have to discover motivation someplace to have groups like this need you,” he mentioned. “There’s at all times any individual coming after your job and you must proceed to carry out in a means that groups need you.
“Happily for me, coming to Edmonton has been a number of enjoyable. With the group desirous to win now, it is definitely been completely different for me. Nevertheless it’s been refreshing It places that leap again in your step for the love of the sport, actually.”
It isn’t simply gamers. Coaches can chase the Cup for many years, too.
Maurice, 57, bought his begin within the NHL watching and cataloguing VHS tapes for the Hartford Whalers. He turned an assistant coach in 1995-96 after which changed Paul Holmgren as head coach that season, remaining behind the bench through the franchise’s relocation to North Carolina earlier than being fired within the 2003-04 season.
Maurice has coached 26 seasons. He is second all-time in video games coached (1,849) behind the legendary Scotty Bowman (2,141), however seventeenth all-time in playoff video games coached (130). He is additionally the all-time chief in profession losses (736).
At one level, it appeared Maurice is likely to be achieved with teaching. He stepped away from the Winnipeg Jets after 29 video games in 2021-22, citing partially an absence of ardour for doing the job. He took a while to clear his thoughts, get some fishing in after which made a reference to Florida GM Invoice Zito, who was desirous about hiring him.
“I had given all that I believed I needed to give and had definitely been lucky. I obtained way over I gave [the game],” he mentioned. “However there’s simply these unusual little issues that meant Florida was proper. That that is the place I used to be alleged to be subsequent.”
He is been within the Stanley Cup Ultimate twice earlier than: dropping 4-1 to the Detroit Pink Wings in 2002 with Carolina, after which dropping 4-1 to Vegas final season with Florida.
The three coaches forward of Maurice on the all-time wins checklist — Bowman, Joel Quenneville and Barry Trotz — have Stanley Cup wins. Does he really feel he wants one to validate his legacy?
“I have to win one,” he mentioned. “That is simply the reality. That is how I really feel. I am thirty years into this factor. I would not thoughts profitable one.”
That mentioned, Maurice reached some extent of understanding together with his profession when he thought it is likely to be over after Winnipeg, and that it might finish with no Cup. He would not describe it as being “at peace” with not profitable; extra like a realization of the impression that he is had because the Hartford days.
“I will know, when this factor’s throughout, both how good I bought or how good I used to be,” he mentioned. “I will not want any individual else to inform me that or how one can worth my profession. I am not saying I will worth it actually excessive. However I’ve a fairly good thought of the job I’ve achieved.”
“However yeah,” Maurice mentioned, stretching his arms. “I might wish to win one.”
Like a couple of different Oilers, Kane entered the NHL fairly younger. He was drafted No. 4 general by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009, after which hit the ice for them the next season. He performed 15 seasons and 930 video games with the Thrashers, relocating with them to Winnipeg, adopted by stints with the Sabres, San Jose Sharks after which the Oilers.
To say Kane’s NHL profession has been turbulent could be an understatement. His time within the NHL has been outlined by scandals on and off the ice. Kane ended up signing with the Oilers in 2022 after the Sharks terminated Kane’s contract, for what the group indicated was a breach of his contract and for violating COVID-19 protocols.
Recreation 1 was his first look in a Stanley Cup Ultimate.
“Clearly you need to get there as quickly as doable, however I needed to wait 15 years,” mentioned Kane, 32. “You hear guys speak about getting right here of their first two years after which by no means seeing it once more. So I need to benefit from it.”
Kane has been restricted by a sports activities hernia harm this season and has just one help in his previous eight playoff video games. However Knoblauch gave Kane credit score for serving to the group.
“Evander has been good for our group,” Knoblauch mentioned. “He is possibly not exhibiting up on the rating sheet as a lot as has up to now, however nonetheless contributing to our group and I do not assume we might be the place we’re as we speak if Evander hadn’t been taking part in all through the playoffs.”
Stated Kane: “The Stanley Cup is a motivator. Particularly when you have not gained one.”
For 769 video games, Ekman-Larsson was typically thought of the very best factor a few dangerous franchise.
The defenseman was drafted No. 6 general in 2009 by the Phoenix Coyotes, and spent the following 11 seasons as one of many NHL’s greatest “what if” gamers — as in, “what if Ekman-Larsson’s puck-moving recreation and power-play prowess was put to make use of on a greater contending group?”
By the point Ekman-Larsson waived his no-movement clause and left the Coyotes in 2021, his manufacturing had slipped on account of accidents. He had develop into the very last thing a veteran participant desires to develop into: somebody higher identified for the scale of their contract than their achievements on the ice.
When Vancouver swung a blockbuster commerce for him in 2021, it was apparent it was finally going to purchase out some years of his eight-year, $66 million contract. That it occurred in 2023, after simply two years in Vancouver, underscored how dangerous the match was for each events.
Florida began the season with defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour recovering from surgical procedures. They wanted veteran assist. Ekman-Larsson, flush with buyout cash, agreed to a one-year, $2.25 million cope with the Panthers. And now they’re three wins away from a Stanley Cup.
“That is why I wished to play right here,” he mentioned. “I am tremendous enthusiastic about this opportunity and clearly tremendous completely satisfied about the way in which we have been taking part in.”
The 32-year-old defenseman performed in 25 postseason video games with the Coyotes in two journeys to the postseason. He is appeared in 18 video games for the Panthers of their run to the Cup Ultimate.
“Not a number of playoff video games, however a number of video games within the league,” he mentioned. “A number of arduous work to get up to now. A number of ups and a number of downs. However you must undergo that to understand this chance, the place you’re in life. I have been on this league for a very long time. To get this chance means the world for myself and my household.”
There are few gamers extra beloved in Edmonton than 34-year-old Gagner.
He was drafted No. 6 general in 2007, embarking on a 17-year profession of 1,043 regular-season video games. He is been a Coyote, a Flyer, a Blue Jacket, a Canuck, a Pink Wing and a Jet. However he is at all times had a dedication to Edmonton, as evidenced by his three completely different stints with the franchise (2007-2014, 2018-2020, 2023-24).
“I really feel like he is been part of this group even when he went away,” mentioned Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who used to reside with Gagner. “He nonetheless at all times felt like an Oiler.”
Few NHL gamers have a regular-season recreation that stands the check of time, that lingers within the minds of followers years after it was performed. Gagner has one: Feb. 2, 2012, when he scored 4 targets and 4 assists in opposition to the Chicago Blackhawks.
His eight-point evening was the primary within the NHL since Mario Lemieux posted an 8-spot in 1989, and no participant has achieved it since. Followers in Edmonton and across the NHL watched him amass 5 of these factors within the third interval, questioning if Darryl Sittler’s 1976 document of 10 factors in a single recreation was being threatened.
Off the ice, Gagner’s relationship with Joey Moss crystallized the followers’ admiration for him. Born with Down syndrome, Moss was the Oilers’ dressing room attendant for over three many years. He handed away in 2020.
Gagner wrote a shifting piece referred to as “For Joey” in The Gamers’ Tribune in October 2020. “Once I bear in mind Joey, I will take into consideration how we believed all alongside that we had been doing all this stuff to counterpoint his life,” he wrote. “However the fact is that he was enriching ours. Joey made everybody who frolicked with him a greater particular person.”
Gagner joined the Oilers on this season’s coaching camp on knowledgeable tryout contract, after present process a pair of hip surgical procedures in March 2023. He earned a one-year deal value $775,000, and scored 10 factors in 28 video games, bouncing between the NHL and AHL. He is but to seem in a playoff recreation this postseason. Regardless of taking part in in over 1,000 regular-season video games, Gagner has solely 11 postseason video games to his credit score.
The Edmonton Journal notes that Gagner does not have the requisite variety of video games (41) for computerized engravement on the Stanley Cup if the Oilers win. He might earn that by taking part in in a single Stanley Cup Ultimate recreation, which is the opposite standards. After all, Edmonton might petition to have his identify added as nicely.
No matter occurs, Gagner is on this journey with the Oilers. His spouse, Rachel, added her voice to a shifting video created by the group through which family members gave encouragement to the gamers.
Go present them what Edmonton’s bought.#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/TeU3kS9ejD
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 8, 2024
“You’ve got been dreaming a few Stanley Cup because you had been our children’ age,” she mentioned. “And now they’re right here, watching you in it. Eager about you being 18 years previous. Drafted in Edmonton. Transferring right here on their own. Standing on the ice, trying up in any respect these banners, questioning when your Stanley Cup 12 months can be.
“They metropolis has given you a lot. It has been dreaming with you.”