With Henrik Lundqvist having reached career win No. 400, we examine where he ranks in New York sports history among non-championship players.

February 11, 2017 — Henrik Lundqvist picked up career win No. 400. With the milestone win, The King creeps up a spot on our list of the 10 best New York athletes without a professional championship to their name.

NY sports fans love a winner but, unfortunately, circumstances don’t always work out for the athletes fans adore. Sometimes the teams they played for just weren’t any good. Other times, legendary dynasties blocked their teams’ paths to a title. Whatever the reason, they were never able to win it all.

The following list consists of Hall of Famers, potential Hall of Famers and, in the case of a certain Yankee, a should-be Hall of Famer. Many of them have their numbers retired and the ones still playing will likely be the last to wear their’ digits.

The following 10 New York area athletes thrilled and amazed us over the course of their careers, but were never able to finish with the ultimate prize.

No. 10 – David Wright

Drafted by the New York Mets in the first round in 2001, David Wright was always expected to do great things on the diamond, and he has not disappointed. A fantastic third baseman and heart-of-the-order hitter for the majority of his career, Wright has only one thing left to do in NY – win a World Series.

Wright is a seven-time NL All-Star and a NY fan favorite. He burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2004, swatting 14 homers and 32 extra base hits in just 69 games. He’s been the face of the Mets franchise ever since.

Wright’s best statistical year was in 2007 when he joined Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry as the only Mets in baseball’s exclusive 30/30 club. Injuries the past two seasons have limited him to just 75 games combined, bringing his career average down to .296. Despite the lost years, Wright still has a chance to finish his career with 250+ homers (242), 1000 Runs (949) and 1000 RBIs (970).

Wright’s playoff resume, however, is pretty limited. The Mets have made the postseason only twice since his rookie year. In 2006, Wright was in the hole when Carlos Beltran struck out looking in the ninth inning of a Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.  In 2015, Wright underwhelmed with a .208 average in the Mets’ five-game World Series loss to the Royals. In both playoff years, Wright struggled to deliver, batting just .198 with two home runs in 24 total games.

A possible move to first base in 2017 may help extend his career a bit. Though, in all likelihood, at 34-years-old and coming off major neck surgery in 2016, Wright will likely have only one more chance to win a championship. Luckily, the 2017 Mets just may be the team to help him do it.

No. 9 – Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran is a switch-hitting outfielder who has played 10 of his 19 seasons in NY with both the New York Yankees and Mets.

Beltran exploded onto the baseball scene in 1999, receiving the AL Rookie of the Year award as a Kansas City Royal. The accolades have continued throughout his career, as he’s been an All-Star nine times. He’s also won three Gold Gloves and is a member of the 30/30 club, having hit 38 homers and stealing 42 bags for the Royals and Astros combined in 2004.

As good as he’s been in the regular season, Beltran has been even better in the postseason. In 55 games for five teams, Beltran has a .323 batting average. Despite the statistical success, the enduring image of his playoff career will likely be of him staring at Adam Wainwright‘s ridiculous curveball for strike three in Game 7 of the Mets’ NLCS loss to the Cards in 2006.

As a 40-year-old, Beltran will continue to build on his potential Hall of Fame resume in 2017 as a member of the Astros. In 2,457 career games, Beltran has hit 421 home runs, scored 1,521 runs, stole 312 bases and has 1,536 RBIs. These are all numbers worthy of the Hall, but still the one thing that’s missing is a championship.

Beltran is in incredible shape and was an All-Star in 2016, so it’s hard to guess how much longer he’ll continue to play. Here’s hoping that he can keep it going long enough to get himself off this list!

No. 8 – Henrik Lundqvist

Henrik Lundqvist is the New York Rangers franchise leader in both games and wins.

Nicknamed “The King” by the Garden faithful during his 2005 rookie year, Lundqvist has had an incredible relationship with New York.  The “Henrik! Henrik! Henrik!” chant has become a regular part of Rangers’ home games at Madison Square Garden for over a decade now.

In his time here, Lundqvist has proven to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, joining legends Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur as the only keepers with at least 30 wins in 10 different seasons. He’s also been an All-Star in every single year he’s played, while simultaneously having often been a finalist for year-end awards.

Lundqvist has a career record of 400-242 for an astounding 62 percent winning percentage. His career .920 save percentage is even more impressive when you consider that he hasn’t had a mark under that since 2008. Over that same span, no other goalie has beaten that mark more than three times.

Lundqvist’s biggest individual accomplishment in the NHL is winning the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie in 2012. Unfortunately for the Rangers, so far his best team accomplishment is his Gold Medal win with Team Sweden in the 2006 Olympic Games.

Hank’s playoff resume is incredible as well. He has allowed only five total goals in six Game 7 wins. The other two to accomplish the feat are – remember these names from earlier – Roy and Brodeur.

Lundqvist’s issue is that his team is only 55-59 in the playoffs since he’s been here. That losing record is the one stain on an otherwise pristine resume. The King will turn 35 in a few weeks and is having a down season by his ridiculous standards.

The 2017 Rangers have the best offense they’ve ever had playing in front of Lundqvist. Goalies win championships, though, so if the Rangers are going to make another run at the Stanley Cup, they’re going to need Lundqvist to be live up to his name as The King a few more times.

No. 7 – Don Mattingly

It’s hard to believe that Don Mattingly, a Yankee captain for five years and player for 14, never won a World Series title – yet it’s true.

Mattingly was one of the best players in the game from his first full season in pinstripes in 1984. That is until 1989 when back issues began to sap him of all his power. In those six exceptional seasons, the guy that NY named Donnie Baseball was a six-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner and the 1985 AL MVP.

Mattingly’s career stats are very good, if not great. In 1,785 games played, Mattingly hit 222 home runs, scored 1,007 runs and had 1,099 RBIs. His most impressive numbers are his lifetime .307 batting average and his 5.8 strikeout percentage. To put Mattingly’s incredible K-percentage in perspective, according to FanGraphs.com, in 2016, shortstop Andrelton Simmons led all major leaguers with at least 100 at-bats with a strikeout rate of 7.9 percent, and the major league average was 21.1 percent.

Unfortunately for Mattingly, he played the majority of his career during the longest playoff drought in modern Yankees history. While the Yankees teams of the ’80s had some pretty great offenses, their pitching was often sub-par. In an era with no wild-card, the Yankees MLB-best overall winning percentage for the decade was not ever good enough to win a division title or get them to the postseason.

The 1994 Yanks were probably the best team that Mattingly ever played on. Unfortunately on August 12, 1994, with the Yankees in first place in the AL East, the players went on strike. The work stoppage resulted in the cancellation of the playoffs and World Series. Mattingly’s Yankees never had a chance and the ’94 team will remain a what-might-have-been story.

1995 was the inaugural season for the Wild-Card format, and the Yankees were the AL’s first WC team, so Mattingly finally got his shot. In an unforgettable five-game series against the Seattle Mariners, Mattingly batted .417 with a homer and six RBIs. Unfortunately for Mattingly and the Yankees, in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 5, Mariner All-Star Ken Griffey Jr. scored from first base on an Edgar Martinez double. The Mariners celebrated the walk-off as Mattingly and his teammates watched in stunned silence.

Donnie Baseball retired after the ’95 season. Tino Martinez moved from the Mariners to the Yankees in 1996 to man the hole Mattingly left at first base, and the rest is history.

Today, Mattingly is managing the Miami Marlins. There is a possibility that one day he’ll return to NY in that capacity and win his World Series. But until then, Mattingly will remain on this list of NY athletes that came up a little short.

No. 6 – Bernard King

Although Bernard King played for five NBA teams in his 14-year career, he is most fondly remembered for his four remarkable seasons with the New York Knicks.

From 1982-’87, King was one of the best small forwards in the game.

The only player at the time to ever post back-to-back 50-point outings, King was a basketball legend on the playgrounds of NY. For the better part of a decade, he was a hero to a generation of NY basketball fans.

In 1984-’85, King led the NBA in scoring average with 32.9 PPG. That same season he gave fans a Christmas present they’d never forget as he rained in 60 points against the Nets.

After the ’84-’85 season, King injured his ACL. At the time, ligament injuries were almost always career ending. King proved the world wrong, returning in ’86 to play in six more games with the Knicks before parting ways with them that offseason.

King went on to have four more successful years in the league with Washington before finishing up where he started with the Nets. When it was all said and done, he had scored 19,655 points over 14 seasons in The Association.

King was eventually elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. He’s spent a lot of time lately sitting courtside at the Garden watching the latest non-championship contending Knicks team flounder away.

No. 5 – Joe Klecko

Joe Klecko played three different defensive positions in his 11-year career with the New York Jets. From 1977 through 1987, Klecko made four Pro Bowls, was an All-Pro twice and was named the AFC defensive player of the year in 1981.

Klecko was the heart of the formidable New York Sack Exchange, a group that tormented opposing offenses and quarterbacks throughout the 1980s. Perhaps their best season was in 1982 when Gang Green defense led the Jets all the way to the conference finals where they fell to the Miami Dolphins in a 14-0 heartbreaker.

Although the NFL did not begin officially recording defensive statistics until very recently, Klecko is widely believed to have had 20.5 sacks in 1981.

He is one of only five Jets to have his number, 73, retired, and he’s also a member of the Jets’ Ring of Honor.

Though not a member himself, Hall of Fame offensive linemen including Dwight Stephenson, Anthony Munoz and Joe DeLamielleure have all publicly sung praises for Klecko. He was a great player for the Jets for a decade, and fans only wish he could have helped them win a Super Bowl during his time there.

No. 4 – Rod Gilbert

Rod Gilbert played 1065 regular season games for the Rangers in the ’60s and ’70s, tallying 406 goals, 615 assists and 1,021 points. He subsequently added 34 goals and 67 points in 79 playoff games.

Gilbert is the Rangers All-Time leader in goals, points, power-play goals, regular strength goals and game-winning goals. As a result, he is near the top of every greatest Ranger list.

Gilbert was the right-wing on one of the greatest forward lines in NHL history. The GAG – ‘Goal A Game’ — line of Gilbert, Jean Ratelle and Vic Hadfield resurrected the struggling Rangers franchise in the early ’70s, leading them to multiple playoff runs.

Unfortunately, Gilbert played during the Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito era as the Bruins regularly ended the Rangers’ seasons prematurely.

The Rangers raised Gilbert’s #7 to the rafters in 1979, making it the first time that honor had been bestowed on a Ranger.

In 1982, Gilbert was the elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, solidifying his position as one of the greatest athletes in NY sports history. But despite never hoisting the Stanley Cup, Gilbert was a World Champion as a member of Team Canada when they defeated the Russians 4-3-1 in the 1972 Summit Series.

No. 3 – Curtis Martin

Curtis Martin is one of only three running backs in the history of the NFL to run for over 14,000 yards – the others are Barry Sanders, Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith. Yeah, that’s pretty good company.

Martin’s unlikely ascent to the top of professional football started in 1995 when he was selected by the New England Patriots with 74th pick of the draft. On his first run from scrimmage the following year, Martin ran for 30 yards. He didn’t slow down at all that season and wound up taking Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.

Following three successful seasons in New England, Martin followed Coach Bill Parcells to the Jets after ’97. In NY, he played eight incredible years with the Jets from 1998-2005, cementing himself as an all-time NY great.

Martin’s legendary work ethic is perhaps the biggest reason for his on-field success. In 10 straight seasons, Martin rushed for over 1,094 yards on at least 260 carries. He is one of only two backs to rush for over 1,000 yards in 10 straight seasons, while his 3,518 attempts are also the third most carries in history. In 2004, at the age of 31, Martin became the oldest back in NFL history to lead the league in rushing.

Martin had one shot at the Super Bowl with the ’96 Pats, but they came up just short against the Green Bay Packers. Martin has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame since his induction in 2012, and his #28 was retired by the Jets that same year.

No. 2 – Mike Piazza

In 1988, with pick 1,390 in the MLB amateur draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers selected Mike Piazza. And so started the most unlikely Hall of Fame career of them all.

Piazza won the NL Rookie of the Year honors in 1993, playing another five full seasons with the Dodgers, and was an All-Star in all of them.

He was traded to the Mets in May of 1998 for three prospects in perhaps the greatest trade in NY history since Babe Ruth. Once in NY, Piazza played eight seasons from ’98-’05 and was an All-Star in six of them.

Piazza is widely considered to be the greatest offensive catcher in MLB history as his career numbers are completely mind-boggling.

Over 16 seasons, Piazza posted a career .308 batting average. More impressive than that though was that Piazza had nine seasons in which he hit 30 homers and batted .300. In the history of baseball, only seven other catchers have combined to accomplish the feat nine times.

Besides statistics, Piazza had one of the most heartwarming moments in the history of baseball when he hit a walk-off homer in the first game at Shea Stadium after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Piazza’s teams made it to the playoffs several times, albeit with not much success. His best shot at a World Series title was in 2000 against the crosstown rival Yankees. Though the Mets came up a bit short, Piazza hit two homers in the five games and got into a famous bat throwing incident with Roger Clemens.

No. 1 – Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing is the Knicks all-time leader in games, points, rebounds, steals and blocks. In other words, he’s the greatest New York Knickerbocker of all time.

Ewing was selected by the Knicks first overall in the first NBA draft lottery prior to the ’85-’86 season. He lived up to the hype by winning Rookie of the Year honors the following year.

From ’86-’97, Ewing would make 11 All-Star teams. He never won an MVP playing in the Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan years, but Ewing was considered by most to be the best center in the league throughout his career.

During his 15 spectacular seasons with the team, the Knicks would make the playoffs an incredible 13 times. Ewing played in 139 playoff games as a Knick and made it to the Finals twice.

Despite Ewing’s yearly championship predictions, the Knicks would ultimately fall short every time. The most heartbreaking ending to a season was certainly the Game 7 Finals loss to the Rockets in 1994.

Ewing has long been beloved in NY despite never winning an NBA championship. His greatest achievement in basketball was the ’92 Olympic Gold Medal win with the best basketball team of all time – the original USA ‘Dream Team.’ That team would do more for basketball than any amount of championships ever could.