Playoff berth ends drought for Walker
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Charron played the most NHL games — 734 — without appearing in a postseason game before he retired in 1981. Walker had the second-longest active drought with 574 games.
That ends Wednesday when the Predators open the playoffs against top-seeded Detroit.
“I’m relieved it is over,” Walker said. “You always think you’ll be going to the playoffs from Day 1 of your rookie season, but (to) me it hasn’t happened. Until now.”
It wasn’t easy. The expansion Predators didn’t clinch the Western Conference’s final seed until Saturday night, with only one game left in the regular season.
“I’ve heard the comparisons to athletes who never got a chance to play in the playoffs,” Walker said. “I was worried it would never happen and am glad it’s over.”
Now, Florida captain Olli Jokinen takes over the longest active streak of not appearing in a playoff game at 477 games. Calgary captain Jarome Iginla had gone 627 NHL games between postseason appearances, but he started his career with two playoff games before his first regular-season game.
Walker had been close to the playoffs, playing 11 games with Vancouver at the end of the 1994-1995 season without getting into a game. He watched as the Canucks played St. Louis and Chicago, but never got on the ice.
The Predators picked up the 5-foot-10, 196-pound right wing from Vancouver in their 1998 expansion draft. But the new team’s playoff hopes were dead by the start of March in each of the first five seasons.
Walker’s playoff drought didn’t become a topic of conversation in the United States until recent weeks. Not so in Canada, where hockey fans know the game’s history well and the native of Cambridge, Ontario, heard about Charron more than he liked.
Walker tried to focus on helping build the Nashville franchise along with captain Greg Johnson and goaltender Tomas Vokoun — the team’s only remaining players from the expansion draft. Walker became both the top scorer in a season and all-time with two assists against the Rangers on March 25.
But the Predators struggled in March and slipped from fifth in the Western Conference and had to battle St. Louis and Edmonton for the final two playoff berths with a seven-game winless skid.
Nashville blew a chance to clinch its berth Saturday with a 4-1 loss to St. Louis. The Predators finally clinched when Edmonton lost to Vancouver, a game that Walker couldn’t watch because it was too nerve-racking.
“I only looked at the ticker and felt good when it got to be 4-1,” he said. “I got nervous when Edmonton made a comeback.”
Now, Walker is one of 14 Predators who have never played in the postseason, and he’ll be looking to Johnson and teammates Jim McKenzie, who won a Stanley Cup last season with New Jersey and defenseman Brad Bombardir, who won his with the 2000 Devils.
“We’re going to learn on the fly here,” Walker said.