Making the playoffs in any league is never an easy task, but most players wind up playing in at least one playoff game or series during their professional career.
Some players get a taste of the postseason right off the bat, while others have to wait a few years. Then there are some players who go most of their career or their entire career without ever suiting up in the playoffs.
With most of the playoff spots locked in this year, here’s a list of active players who have played 400 regular season games or more but have yet to play in a playoff game.
Jeff Skinner
Jeff Skinner didn’t score his first goal of the season until his 20th game of the year on March 7 and only scored 14 goals last year - his lowest total since the 2012-13 shortened season - so all the focus has been on his lack of scoring. But with the Sabres missing the playoffs for the 10th straight season it means Skinner has still never played a playoff game in his career, and he’s been in the league since 2010-11 and has 771 games to his name with two games left in the season.
Rasmus Ristolainen
Alright, you might have guessed it already but this list is going to include a lot of former and current Sabres. Rasmus Ristolainen was selected 8th overall by the Sabres in 2013, which means he’s spent a lot of time in last place or around the bottom of the standings. If the Sabres don’t make the playoffs next season, Ristolainen will hit the 600-plus game mark without a playoff appearance to his name as he’s sitting at 540 career games without a playoff appearance as of now.
Zemgus Girgensons
The 2012 NHL Entry Draft will be remembered by most hockey fans as the Yakupov draft, but there were some good players picked in the draft. Unfortunately for the Sabres, they missed out on a bunch of them with the 14th overall pick. Buffalo selected Zemgus Girgensons with their pick, while Tom Wilson, Tomas Hertl, Andrei Vasievskiy and Scott Laughton were taken with four of the next five picks. Girgensons has been out all season with a hamstring injury and he’s failed to score more than 19 points in a season since 2014-15. If he had played this season he would have hit the 500-games played mark, but as of now he sits at 489 games played with zero playoff appearances.
Sam Reinhart
Sam Reinhart is the only Sabre to score 20 goals or more this season and he’s got a team-high 40 points in 52 games - which is incredibly impressive considering the team only has two other goal scorers in double-digit goals and how bad they’ve been all year. But as good as Reinhart has been for the lowly Sabres this season, the guy who went right after him in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft is sitting second in the league in points. Sure, Leon Draisaitl gets to play with Connor McDavid, and Reinhart wouldn’t even be on this list if he had gone 3rd overall instead of 2nd, but here he is at 452 regular season games played and zero playoff appearances.
Johan Larsson
Johan Larsson is living the dream in the NHL, but a lot of fans will most likely scroll through this list and double take when they see his name. Larsson was selected 56th overall by the Minnesota Wild in 2010 and only played one game in the NHL with the Wild before he was traded to Buffalo in the Jason Pominville deal. Larsson played the next 392 games and seven seasons with the Sabres before joining the Arizona Coyotes this past offseason, but with the Coyotes on the outside looking in with two games remaining, Larsson sits at 445 games played without a playoff appearance.
Nicolas Deslauriers
Nicolas Deslauriers wasn’t drafted by the Buffalo Sabres, but he did make his debut with them and spent his first four NHL seasons in Buffalo. After a stop in Montreal and now in Anaheim, Deslauriers is once again going to miss the postseason and sits at 424 games played without a playoff game with two games left on the Ducks’ schedule.
Honourable mentions
Victor Rask
Victor Rask has played a few more regular season games than Sam Reinhart, Johan Larsson and Nicolas Deslauriers, but he’s finally going to be getting a taste of playoff hockey this year. Rask has played 455 games without a playoff appearance, but with the Wild locked in to one of the spots in the West his slump is about to come to an end.
Jack Eichel
Would the Sabres have been better this year with Jack Eichel in the lineup? Absolutely. Would they have made the playoffs? No one knows. Since they failed to make the playoffs we’re going to include Eichel on this list. He hasn’t hit the 400-game mark yet, but he would have this season if he didn’t get injured as he’s sitting at 375 career games right now. He does have 355 points in those 375 games, but he has yet to taste the postseason.
Anthony Duclair
Anthony Duclair has played for more teams than any other player on this list, but he’s going to avoid the 400-game mark without a playoff appearance thanks to the Florida Panthers’ success this year. Duclair scored 23 goals and 40 points in 66 game with the Senators last year, and this year he’s up to 10 goals and 31 points through 41 games. Not only has his career been given some new life in Florida, but he’s also about to get his first taste of playoff hockey.
Zach Bogosian
Zach Bogosian entered the league as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers but didn't get his first taste of NHL playoff hockey until last season. That's right, he went more than 10 seasons before getting a taste of the postseason, but he broke his slump in the best possible way as he captured the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
