Yea the Kings were absolutely jobbed by injuries. They were a darkhorse for me, especially since that LAPD line was just so dominant.
that entire line was cursed. they were one of the top three lines in the league and were all coming into their primes at the fall of '02. allison and deadmarsh didn't finish the year, and none of them would play a full season again, even though palffy averaged at least a point per game for the rest of his career and allison was pretty close too.
Bob Baun in the '64 playoffs. What a shame to have your foot break in Game #6 of the Cup finals..............oh wait
Seriously though, if we're talking about teams I think the Flames of '90-96 had nothing but rotten luck in almost every playoff. Still dont know why that goal was called off in Game #6 of the '90 series against LA. But if they score there's a 7th game in Calgary. '91 they lose Game #7 in overtime after coughing up an impossible lead. '92 they trade Gilmour and he has two seasons of 110+ points for the Leafs. '94 they lose three straight OTs to the Canucks and cant even manage to win Game #7 in overtime with Reichel being robbed blind. '95 one of the weakest overtime goals you'll ever see ends the season against the Sharks in Game #7. '96 while they wouldnt have beaten Chicago anyways what a brutal way to lose a series in overtime. Trent Yawney coughs up the puck right in front of the net to the always conceded Joe Murphy. Flames are swept.
As for players. Tommy Salo. This goes beyond the '02 Olympics. He was always so close to beating the Stars in the playoffs year after year. But they always had that one extra gamebreaker to seal it. Usually Hull or Modano. Then there was the Belarus game and he couldnt catch a break after that, he just wasnt the same
Anyone remember Adrian Foster? A highly touted prospect until he missed two years prior to his draft year. The Devils still took him high though. Also Tim Connolly comes to mind in recent terms.
What are the most ridiculous stretches of bad luck you can remember any team ever going through? In 1980 the Winnipeg Jets had a horrible stretch of bad luck at the beginning of their NHL-record 30-game winless streak. In the first game of the streak they lost after being ahead by two with a minute left. In the first 12 games of the streak they also blew two-goal leads with two, 15, and 20 minutes left, blew a one-goal lead with four minutes left, and a three-goal lead with 10 minutes left.
Not really so much a team as any team that has had Eric Lindros on their roster
As for players. Tommy Salo. This goes beyond the '02 Olympics. He was always so close to beating the Stars in the playoffs year after year. But they always had that one extra gamebreaker to seal it. Usually Hull or Modano. Then there was the Belarus game and he couldnt catch a break after that, he just wasnt the same.
I remember his first game back in the NHL after the Belarus debacle he let in a floater from the blue line late in the third period to give Nashville a 2-1 win over the Oilers. He actually played pretty good down the stretch afterwards, but was toast after that. Even his personal life couldn't catch a break, as he divorced from his wife shortly afterwards. (Reportedly that ended up leading to the Mike Comrie fiasco/holdout/trade...)
That gets me thinking though. Salo must be one of the better goaltenders never to win a playoff series. He was probably in the top-five to top-ten range from 1999-2003. Outside of 2003, he was very good in the playoffs too, but just wasn't ever able to steal that one game Edmonton needed to turn the tide in their favour. 2003 should have been the year though, if he'd played like he did in '99-'01 playoffs, that series would have been Edmonton's. They had Dallas on the ropes, but bad goals at bad times just killed them.
I completely forgot about that ... I still remember him running down the tunnel to the locker room, and faceplanting into the locked door. That was just salt in the wound..
Don't remind me...the memory of this has haunted me every since watching it live.
Oh how can I forget. The WJC team for Canada from about '98-04. Lots of weird things happened those years. You know, every year they had a team capable of winning the Gold but bad hops and bounces never went their way at all.
'99 OT loss to Russia at home
'00 Semifinal loss to Russia, Ouellet let in an awful goal that game
'01 Semifinal loss to Finland, Ouellet again let in a terrible blueline goal
'02 in the Gold against the Russians, coughed up a two-goal lead twice and probably should have had a penalty shot in their favour after the Russian goalie deliberately knocks the net off. Never forget the goalie's reaction when the buzzer sounded. How often do teams look at the ref first before celebrating?
'03 Gold Medal game, coughed up another lead, Fleury let in two 3rd period goals
'04 Gold Medal game, Fleury looked woeful in the 3rd period and shot the puck in his own net
IIRC, the 02 Gold Medal game the Canadians shot themselves in the foot by not simply clearing the zone (ie shoot it off the glass). Too many times the d-men tried to skate it out of the zone only to have the Russians pick them off. It kept happening over and over again until it cost them a goal or two. Thats not bad luck, thats just bad coaching/on-ice decision making.
I can't remember which year it was, I think was Spezza's last year in WJC and that team couldn't buy a goal. Spezza deked out the Russian goalie and had a wide open net but hit the post.
The Winnipeg Jets playoff record 2 series wins / 11 series loses.
-Beating the Calgary Flames twice only to be left for dead for the Edmonton Oilers
-Getting outscored 21-5 against Vancouver in the 1992 playoffs in the last 3 playoff games.
-Watching the Oilers steamroll over you towards another Cup Final appearance.
-Bad Defence
-Bad Offence
And that hasn't changed since they moved to Phoenix.
Physical and/or big defensemen playing for the Wings are cursed.
- Limousine crash that ended Konstantinov's career and tore up Fetisov's leg.
- Chelios, Fischer, Hatcher, and Kronwall have all had their knees blow out since then.
- Krupp's dogsled fiasco.
- Fischer's heart problems that ended his career.
- Kronwall's litany of injuries including a broken sacrum, broken leg due to a rut in the ice, and nearly having his nose sliced off by a skate after he completely derailed Marek Svatos.
Hell, Stuart broke his finger in his first or second game as a Wing. Lilja has been
remarkably durable, though he did have an emergency appendectomy last week.
Tuomo Ruutu really had some bad luck. As far as I know, he's never injured the same place twice, but he's constantly out. Of course, the king of all these freak injuries was when a tendon in his ankle was severed from the blade that they put on the bottom of the nets to keep them in place.
"Ruutu, dressed in a black team sweatsuit and black cap, told police he was out for a short jog after team practice at Edge Ice Arena, Johnson said.
Authorities said an armed man, wearing a black jacket, black pants and black hat had entered an apartment complex near the arena before noon and demanded cash from the office manager. After the man discovered the manager and office safe didn't have any money, he fled on foot.
He was released after indulging an officer's request for an autograph."
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As if things weren't bad enough for the Seals in 73-74, they first lost starting goalie Gilles Meloche when Reggie Leach skated over his hand in practice, cutting a tendon. Then aging backup goalie Marv Edwards was injured and the Seals went for a stretch with minor league goalies Bob Champoux and Ted Tucker.
I did get to see Champoux play against the Isles at Nassau Coliseum. It was shortly after Tucker was called up and I knew he was on the team as a result of reading the Hockey News from cover to cover; I knew all the players on the minor league affiliate Salt Lake City Golden Eagles.
As the Seals were coming out the ramp at the start of the game, I was leaning over the railing and called out Tucker's name and he looked startled that anyone knew who he was.
Saku Koivu, Brian Savage for sure. I think the poster is also referring to Trent McCleary (which wasn't a top-Hab, I mean, they weren't that bad...)... The other one, I dunno, maybe Zednik?
the other was Audette, but you are right, McLeary wasn't a top Hab.
how about gilmour getting injured in his first shift on his first game back when he was traded back to the leafs a couple years ago. Well at least i think it was his first shift.
how about gilmour getting injured in his first shift on his first game back when he was traded back to the leafs a couple years ago. Well at least i think it was his first shift.
An estimated 34 injuries over 10 years in the NHL. A total of 202 games lost.
Helping this out is one of the strangest injuries. He was bitten by a poisonous snake in Finland back in the early part of the decade. I personally didn't know Finland even had poisonous snakes available to bite people.
