Great players you watched that won't be remembered much as time wears on

[pedis]

Ed Jovanovski was a great defenceman who I would have loved on the leafs. If he didn't go to pheonix I feel he would have been thought of more highly. For me he could be in the hall of very good.

 

[JaegerDice]

Marcel Dionne is hardly forgotten. His name is constantly brought up as "best to never win the Cup."

At this point he’s surely been replaced by Joe Thornton.

 

[JaegerDice]

Lots of guys from the Hawks core were very good to great but don’t have much formal recognition or individual hardware. Patrick Sharp, Niklas Hjlamarsson, and Corey Crawford in particular.

Corey Crawford is the anthesis of this thread. He was the extremely average goalie that was lucky enough to play for that wagon of a Hawks team. He'll be remembered far more for those cup wins than the other dozen or so middling starters of his era who didn't have the good fortune to be on the right team at the right time.

Are you high?

Between 2010 and 2020, the only goalie with more even-strength GSAx than Corey Crawford at even strength was Henrik Lundqvist.

From 2016-2020, when the Blackhawks were in steep decline and he was getting no help defensively, he was FIRST in GSAx at even strength.

In addition to the Conn Smythe worthy performance in 2013, and stoning the league-leading offense that chewed through the likes of Price and Lundqvist in 2015, Crawford is absolutely underrated.

He'll rightfully be remembered over middling starters of his era, cause he was much better than them.

 

[DFC]

probably mentioned"

doug gilmour
rod birndamour
kevin dineen
kevin hatcher
dale hunter
brad mcrimmon

...Have you never met a Leafs fan?

 

[JKG33]

Are you high?

Between 2010 and 2020, the only goalie with more even-strength GSAx than Corey Crawford at even strength was Henrik Lundqvist.

From 2016-2020, when the Blackhawks were in steep decline and he was getting no help defensively, he was FIRST in GSAx at even strength.

In addition to the Conn Smythe worthy performance in 2013, and stoning the league-leading offense that chewed through the likes of Price and Lundqvist in 2015, Crawford is absolutely underrated.

He'll rightfully be remembered over middling starters of his era, cause he was much better than them.

Henrik Lunqvist is also incredibly overrated, the comparison checks out

 

[Stammertime91]

Kucherov because he only scored empty net goals and got secondary assists his entire career.

 

[majormajor]

So many of the players folks mention seem very memorable to me - guys who played on great teams or were iconic for whatever reason.

Who was Norm Ullman? What about Jean Ratelle? Those guys have 1200+ career points and I can barely remember a thing about them, some vague association with the Rangers. That's it.

But that could just be because they're from fifty years ago.

Players who aren't that old that might fit the category - Bobby Smith, Brian Propp, Brian Bellows, Dave Taylor.

I could see Patrick Marleau being somewhat forgettable. He has 1197 career points.

Vincent Damphousse played in the big markets and I watched a ton of him as a kid but I had no idea he scored 1200 career points. I can't remember much about how he played.

Among the top scorers in league history, Ron Francis stands out as a guy who might be somewhat forgotten. He was either scoring for smaller market teams (Hartford and Carolina) or was a secondary piece on Mario's Penguins.

 

[authentic]

Johan Franzen, Detroit Red Wings

Nicknamed the mule by Steve Yzerman, scored 81 pts in 107 playoff games, elevating his career regular season PPG of 0.61 to 0.76 in postseason play. As a Ducks fan, those postseasons had great battles between two very different teams, Franzen was a star player overshadowed mostly by Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Hossa, maybe even Holmström.

I remember he scored 9 goals in a 4 game sweep once, forget who they played against but he was a beast on the playoffs on many occasions.

 

[cptjeff]

...Have you never met a Leafs fan?

I mean, they're somehow bringing up Mats Sundin in this thread, of all f***ing people. Anyone who ever played for the Leafs has to be automatically disqualified, because any mediocre player who played for the Leafs is somehow remembered for all time as an all time great.

 

[StLewis11]

Garry Unger......yeah, I'm old fart.

 

[DFC]

I mean, they're somehow bringing up Mats Sundin in this thread, of all f***ing people. Anyone who ever played for the Leafs has to be automatically disqualified, because any mediocre player who played for the Leafs is somehow remembered for all time as an all time great.

new hockey fans probably dont realize the Leafs havent won a cup in almost 60 years because they talk about Doug Gilmour like he ushered in a dynasty.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Tim Kerr
Mark Howe

 

[Eye of Ra]

Oduya

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Vincent LeCavalier.

 

[Riseonfire]

Max Afinogenov
Alex Semin (best wrist shot i've ever seen)

Those two come to mind immediately

 

[Brent Burns]

For those old enough, basically shuffle your opeechee trading cards and pick one

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I feel like this is true of most great players. Only the best of the best get remembered decades later. I bet in 20 years even a guy like Panarin won't be talked about that much by non-Rangers fans.

 

[crump]

Ian Turnbull. Holds the stand alone record for most goals in a game by a defenseman (5). 35 point rookie season. Short 10 year career, he hit 20 goals x2 (19 in another season)
5 x over 50 points seasons with 3 60 point seasons and one 79 point season. Injury problems towards the end of his career, but after his rookie year only scored under 56 points once (39) in a healthy season. Tough as nails as well.

Overshadowed by his D partner the great BJ Salming, but elevated his play even more when BJ was injured.

 

[JaegerDice]

Henrik Lunqvist is also incredibly overrated, the comparison checks out

Ok, well now I know I was attempting to debate a crazy person

 

[gritdash60]

Joel Otto was probably the only dude who bullied Lindros, i remember a faceoff where Otto headbutted Lindros and Eric was so f surprised that anyone would do that. And not many people could do that to Lindros and back it up. Joel Otto was such a badass.

 

[amikaro]

Johan Franzen, Detroit Red Wings

Nicknamed the mule by Steve Yzerman, scored 81 pts in 107 playoff games, elevating his career regular season PPG of 0.61 to 0.76 in postseason play. As a Ducks fan, those postseasons had great battles between two very different teams, Franzen was a star player overshadowed mostly by Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Hossa, maybe even Holmström.

First name which came up in my string of thoughts. The mule. Loved his scoring and grit. One of the greates front net precenses I remember.

 

[Gaud]

Andrei Markov; guy has stats that puts him in a list of legends, but he will never be one.

 

[thegazelle]

I know a fair number of people would debate this one but how about PK Subban? He had a meteoric rise, lots of promise, a short window of promising achievements and then his career seemed to have petered out quickly.

As with some others, I think Shea Weber would be on that list. He was a perennial all star for a time, but seemed like all that short front-end performance ended up costing the back end with albatross contracts and mediocre to sub-par performance.

I would perhaps add a current player to that list - Tyler Seguin. I think he was the #2 draft pick or something, had flashes of brilliance and had a decent career, but not sure if long term people will remember him as such.

 

[JaegerDice]

He didnt play for my team, but I think Voracek is destined to be a footnote in hockey history despite unreal talent.