NHL History: 30 best teams to not win the Stanley Cup

NHL History: 30 best teams to not win the Stanley Cup: 29. 2003 Ducks

The 2003 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are different than a lot of the teams on this list. They weren’t the traditionally dominant team in the regular season. They finished the year with a +10 goal differential, which doesn’t compare to the Dallas Stars who had a ridiculous +76 goal differential. However, once they hit the postseason, a different Ducks team took the ice.

They went into the postseason as a seven seed. Again, this isn’t the “traditional” team that will make this list, but this Ducks squad was exhilarating once the playoffs began. Jean-Sebastian Giguere took over the postseason, and he helped the Ducks go all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. He was masterful. Only one goalie played more than a dozen playoff games in one season and had a (slightly) better save percentage than Giguere in 2003. Jonathan Quick was percentage points better in 2012.

The Ducks ran right over the second-seeded Detroit Red Wings, took out the top-seeded Stars in six games, and swept the Minnesota Wild before preparing for a matchup with the New Jersey Devils. It was a playoff newbie against a team that was a powerhouse for close to a decade with two Stanley Cups to its name already.

This was a postseason with lots of great storylines. Paul Kariya looked like he was on his way to stardom. Adam Oates led the team in playoff scoring late in his career. However, it was all Giguere. He went on the greatest heater in playoff history, and only one of the best goalies of all time in Martin Brodeur could stop him.