Hurricanes, Avalanche showing age not issue in playoffs

Legendary reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL. com. Also known as "The Hockey Maven," he blends insight and humor for readers every Wednesday. This week examines the past and present success of older teams like the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche. Punch Imlach's 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs also are recalled with Toronto's last Cup triumph 59 years ago.

Is a team ever too old to win the Stanley Cup?

Not if you follow the aging but eminently successful Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche, two of the oldest teams in the NHL that have dominated their first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Hurricanes moved to 8-0 and advanced to the Eastern Conference Final with a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Avalanche are 7-1 and can advance to the Western Conference Final with a victory against the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 at home on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). 

Carolina's average age is 29.92. Colorado (30.77) is the oldest team in the League. 

"These two oldies, the Canes and Avs, are the best bet for the (Stanley Cup Final)," former NHL and Canada men's national team coach Tom Renney told me on the "Bottle Rocket" podcast May 9. "Each club is very good throughout. They may be older, but in this case the quality level wins. Age should not be an issue."

Nor was it an issue in the playoffs 59 years ago when Punch Imlach's aging Toronto Maple Leafs upset the heavily favored Chicago Black Hawks and then defeated the reigning Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final for their fourth title in six seasons.

The Hurricanes' immaculate record so far suggests they could go all the way.

"Carolina employs 'a steamroller effect,'" New York Rangers radio analyst David Starman said via email. "The Canes methodically just roll over you, slowly and steadily."

Although the Hurricanes lack a top-10 scorer, they have a thriving core of Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis. Goalie Frederik Andersen is 8-0-0 with a 1.12 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and two shutouts. The 36-year-old is the sixth goalie in NHL history to begin a postseason with at least eight games of allowing two goals or fewer, joining Jacques Plante (nine in 1969), Clint Benedict (nine in 1928), Jean-Sebastien Giguere (eight in 2007), Ed Belfour (eight in 1990) and Terry Sawchuk (eight in 1952).

Andersen leads the playoffs with a .925 save percentage on high-danger shots on goal, stopping 49 of 53, according to NHL EDGE stats. He gave up just one goal on 24 high-danger shots (.958 save percentage) in the second round.

"We're getting huge performances," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said after sweeping the Flyers, "and Andersen has been terrific for us."

Carolina's elder statesman, 37-year-old captain Jordan Staal, still leads by example.

"Jordan does everything for this team," Brind'Amour after Staal had a power-play goal and an assist in 15:26 of a 4-1 victory in Game 3.

Age also was an asset for the Avalanche during the 2001 playoffs, when 40-year-old defenseman Ray Bourque averaged 28:32 of ice time in 21 games and 26:13 in a 3-1 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of the Final that won the future Hockey Hall of Famer his first Stanley Cup championship in the finale of a 22-season NHL career. Colorado's current "old man," Brent Burns, is 41 and has played 1,579 NHL games and has yet to win the Cup. Burns averaged 18:12 per game in a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. 

When the Maple Leafs won their last Cup title in 1967, they Sawchuk, then 37, in Game 6 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Leading by a goal with less than a minute to go in the third period and the face-off deep in the Toronto zone, Imlach went against all odds and sent an all-veteran lineup out for the draw: Red Kelly, George Armstrong, Allan Stanley, Tim Horton and Bob Pulford.

Armstrong scored into an empty net at 19:13.

"We needed to keep those Montreal guys from scoring," Imlach said. "Where better to turn than to my old guard? They won the draw and we won another Cup. It capped the most satisfying Stanley Cup I ever won."

After eight seasons as Hurricanes coach, Brind'Amour has been given more say and many observers believe that it shows in the results, which has given Carolia hope for its first NHL championship since 2006.

"Rod is so good with his players that he could coach a fire hydrant," Renney said.