StaTuesday: The rarity of Cannone's NHL debut with the Wild

By Dave Heller
Published

When Pat Cannone signed a two-way contract with Minnesota this past offseason he surely hoped he'd at some point be called up to the Wild.

However, after toiling in the minors for nearly six years and having turned 30, even Cannone probably had to think it was a long shot.

Yet, last week, there he was in a Minnesota uniform and playing in three games for the Wild.

How much against the odds was Cannone's long-awaited NHL debut? In the history of the league, Cannone is the 132nd non-goalie to make his debut in his 30s. However, 71 of those occurred before the first expansion in 1967-68. And that first expansion season saw 10 skaters debut at age 30 or older.

Since 1990-91, Cannone was just the 25th non-goalie to appear in his first NHL game at age 30-plus and since the Wild debuted in 2000-01 he's the 19th.






































































































































































































































































































































Player Age Team Season
Tomas Jelinek 30 Senators 1992-93
Gary Emmons 30 Sharks 1993-94
Ilja Byakin 30 Oilers 1993-94
Magnus Svensson 31 Panthers 1994-95
Pavel Torgaev 30 Flames 1995-96
Patrice Lefebvre 31 Capitals 1998-99
Lubomir Sekeras 32 Wild 2000-01
Jiri Dopita 33 Flyers 2001-02
Mel Angelstad 31 Capitals 2003-04
Eric Healey 31 Bruins 2005-06
Andy Roach 32 Blues 2006-07
Alex Brooks 30 Devils 2006-07
Patrck Fisher 31 Coyotes 2006-07
Peter Vandermeer 32 Coyotes 2007-08
Magnus Johansson* 34 Blackhawks 2007-08
Jaroslav Hlinka 31 Avalanche 2007-08
Per Ledin 30 Avalanche 2008-09
Greg Rallo 30 Panthers 2011-12
Bracken Kearns 30 Panthers 2011-12
Matt Anderson 30 Devils 2012-13
Mark Van Guilder 30 Predators 2013-14
Justin Johnson 32 Islanders 2013-14
Bobby Robins 33 Bruins 2014-15
Evgeny Medvedev 33 Flyers 2015-16
Pat Cannone 30 Wild 2016-17


* - Johansson debuted with Chicago but also played for the Panthers in his lone NHL season.

For various reasons, many of those who debuted at an advanced age in the NHL were Europeans.

Of those non-goalies aged 30-plus who made their NHL debuts since 1990-91, Cannone is the 12th North American.

Cannone, who was born in Bayport, N.Y., can say he was one of the rare American-born players to debut after age 30. He is just the 12th such player in NHL history.

Cannone was sent down to Iowa after his three games and who knows if he'll ever return to Minnesota or the NHL. Unfortunately, history is not on his side as only a handful of U.S.-born players who started in the league in their 30s even reached double figures in games.































































































































































































































Player Pos Age Team Season Career games
Johnny Matz F 33 Canadiens 1924-25 30
Vic Desjardins C 30 Blackhawks 1930-31 87
Rudy Zunich D 33 Red Wings 1943-44 2
Joe Bretto D 32 Blackhawks 1944-45 3
Joe Schaefer G 35 Rangers 1959-60 2
Eric Healey LW 31 Bruins 2005-06 2
Andy Roach D 32 Blues 2005-06 5
Alex Brooks D 30 Devils 2006-07 19
Greg Rallo C 30 Panthers 2011-12 11
Matt Anderson RW 30 Devils 2012-13 2
Bobby Robins C 33 Bruins 2014-15 3
Pat Cannone C 30 Wild 2016-17 3


(Note: The five Canadian-born non-goalies who debuted at age 30-plus since 1990-91 are Gary Emmons, Patrice Lefebvre, Mel Angelstad, Peter Vandermeer and Bracken Kearns. In addition, there were four goalies: Rick Knickle (1992-93), Mike Rosati (1998-99), Neil Little (2001-02) and Rob Zepp (2014-15))

Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns