Brock Nelson Can Join Rare 7-Player Club With Avalanche Run

brock nelson already has one half of a rare double. The 33-year-old Avalanche center won gold with Team USA in February, and he now has a chance to add the Stanley Cup this postseason.

Only seven players have won Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup in the same calendar year. If Colorado finishes the job, Nelson would join a list that starts with Ken Morrow in 1980 and runs through Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty in 2014.

Nelson’s Cup path

Nelson reached Colorado with a clean, simple target: help the Avalanche contend for Lord Stanley’s Cup. The team is described as the favorite to hoist it, which gives him a direct shot at a feat that has stayed exclusive across generations of NHL players.

The timing is what makes the chase unusual. He earned Olympic gold in February, then shifted back to the Avalanche for the postseason, where one playoff run now separates him from a club with only seven members.

The seven-player list

Ken Morrow was the first to do it, winning Olympic gold at Lake Placid and later the Stanley Cup with the Islanders in 1980. Two more joined the group in 2002: Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan with Canada and the Red Wings.

The next wave came in 2010, when Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews pulled it off with Canada and the Blackhawks. Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty completed the list in 2014 with Canada and the Kings.

Colorado’s postseason weight

Nelson is the only active player in this story with a live chance to move that count from seven to eight. For Colorado, the run is bigger than a personal marker; it places a veteran center in position to reach a career line few players ever touch.

That is the pressure and the opportunity rolled into one playoff chase. Win the Cup, and Nelson adds his name to one of hockey’s shortest lists.