Most disappointing hockey careers?

[Frightened Inmate #2]

I saw Krutov mentioned here, and that is the first name that came to mind based on an NHL career. However I really think of a disappointing career is a heck of a lot different than what happened to Konstantinov, that would be a tragic career just because of the way in which it ended of course.

A real disappointing career would in my opinion be Fleury, just because of the way in which it ended, he obviously wasn't a bust or anything along those lines and was a great player for many years, but the way in which he carried himself, and seeing his off-ice demons eventually destroy his career and leave a stain on his legacy - that is true disappointment in my opinion.

Then there always the careers which were cut short due to suicide or something along those lines - not really a disappointing career, but more of a disappointing end to a life in general.

However there is a huge difference between a bust and someone who didn't develop as planned and a disappointment.

 

[rmp]

2. Pavel Bure: Bure was an electifying hockey player who scored more goals in his first three seasons in the NHL than Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky. With two 60 goal seasons and a Stanley Cup appearance in the first three years of his career, Bure looked like he was going to be one of the greats of this era. While three more 50 goal seasons and two seasons of 58 and 59 goals are nothing to scoff at, Bure's career is disappointing in the fact that he missed so much time and experienced so little in terms of team success.

Correction needed here - You're right about Lemieux, but no one has come close to Gretzky for most goals scored in their first three seasons.

51 55 92 Gretzky (198)
34 60 60 Bure (154)
43 48 54 Lemieux (148)

 

[Injektilo]

Definitely Brian Fogarty. The way people talk about him, he could have been up there as one of the best of all time, but we'll never know.

Maybe people hype him more now to make the story seem more tragic, but if the hype was true, then i don't see how anyone could take this title from him.

 

[reckoning]

Have to agree about Bryan Fogarty. His talent in his last year of junior was scary at times. What a tragic waste; especially since his end result was far worse than a failed hockey career.

A name nobody`s mentioned yet : Jacques Richard

Leading scorer in the QMJHL in `72, later the #2 overall pick in the NHL draft by the Atlanta Flames (their first ever pick). Unfortunately, like Fogarty, he allowed drugs and alcohol to control his life and with the exception of one season in Quebec when he temporarily got his act together his NHL career was a write-off. His off-ice story after hockey was just as sad as Fogarty`s.

 

[ResidentAlien*]

Wetcoasters..just ask him

 

[Duster]

Definitely Brian Fogarty. The way people talk about him, he could have been up there as one of the best of all time, but we'll never know.

Maybe people hype him more now to make the story seem more tragic, but if the hype was true, then i don't see how anyone could take this title from him.

The hype is entirely deserved. I saw him play in the OHL, for Quebec and for the Habs. A comparison to Bobby Orr is not far off. He really had it all and dominated the OHL completely. No one was surprised when he was picked first by Quebec.

When Fogarty arrived in Montreal, he had been clean and sober for some time. You could see this guy could play. In fact, he was quite impressive some nights. I'm not sure what happened. Jacques Demers, who was coaching the Habs at the time, suddenly had him kicked off the team.

The rest is history.

 

[Tb0ne]

From what I recall reading about Brian Fogarty he had an extreme form of social anxiety disorder that went untreated except for with booze. It's a damn shame no one was aware enough to notice the signs.

 

[HABitual]

Sebastien Bordeleau

I kept hearing he was the second coming of Guy Carbonneau. He never did reach that potential and now, as far as I can tell, he plays in Switzerland.

 

[LastChancePrice]

For me it is no contest. No one else is even close. So much promise, so much skill and a helluva a nice guy.

When you look at the talent and the waste - dead at 32 of cardiac arrest in Myrtle Beach, Florida. Maybe the greatest junior defenceman all-time and he was big - 6'2" and 210 lbs. Many who saw him at his peak consider him the best skater ever - at any position. And that includes Bobby Orr.

Drugs and alcohol turned out to be the downfall for him personally and his hockey career.

Bryan Fogarty

He had everything. He could skate like the wind. He could see anybody on the ice. He could make the perfect pass. He was as talented as anybody I've seen in junior hockey. He broke all of Bobby Orr's records. Everybody was telling me you can't go wrong with him. - Maurice Filion, former Quebec GM, who drafted Bryan Fogarty with the Nordiques' first pick in 1987, six picks ahead of Quebec's second selection, Joe Sakic

Have a look at the company he kept in the OHL record book:


Alcohol was his undoing. As Mats Sundin said of Fogarty when he played with him in Quebec:
"Bryan Fogarty could skate faster, shoot harder and pass crisper drunk than the rest of us could sober."

"I never saw a better kid defenceman," Craig Patrick once said of Fogarty. "If only he could have straightened out his life ... "

His stats in the NHL with Quebec, Pittsburgh and Montreal were:
156GP 22G 52A 74Pts

As I said no one comes close IMHO. Others have crashed and burned but not with that level of raw talent.

This is some impressive research you put there, and i have to agree with you.If that guy was as good as he was supposed to be, he would have break some NHL records.

 

[LastChancePrice]

Have to agree about Bryan Fogarty. His talent in his last year of junior was scary at times. What a tragic waste; especially since his end result was far worse than a failed hockey career.

A name nobody`s mentioned yet : Jacques Richard

Leading scorer in the QMJHL in `72, later the #2 overall pick in the NHL draft by the Atlanta Flames (their first ever pick). Unfortunately, like Fogarty, he allowed drugs and alcohol to control his life and with the exception of one season in Quebec when he temporarily got his act together his NHL career was a write-off. His off-ice story after hockey was just as sad as Fogarty`s.

Was this Jacques family related to Maurice and Henri Richard??

 

[Lionel Hutz]

pat falloon

Fat balloon.

 

[interminded]

Fat balloon.

Wet Racoon

 

[Pens75]

Rob Brown

- season - team - league - GP - G - A - PTS
1985-86 Kamloops Blazers WHL 69 58 115 173
1986-87 Kamloops Blazers WHL 63 76 136 212
1987-88 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 51 24 20 44
1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 68 49 66 115

Scary

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

pat falloon

Dammit, I was going to say Pat Falloon!

I was not going to say Fat Racoon, though.

 

[Habsfan 32]

I wish I could of see Fogarty play.

 

[interminded]

Rob Brown

- season - team - league - GP - G - A - PTS
1985-86 Kamloops Blazers WHL 69 58 115 173
1986-87 Kamloops Blazers WHL 63 76 136 212
1987-88 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 51 24 20 44
1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 68 49 66 115

Scary

Jeezz.. that´s quiet impressive !
Then what happened to him after 89 ?

 

[Pens75]

He stopped playing with Mario

Mario can make a cardboard cutout a 100 point producer

 

[Ogopogo*]

Jeezz.. that´s quiet impressive !
Then what happened to him after 89 ?

Brown was a poor skater so, when he stopped playing with Mario, he couldn't keep up to the NHL pace. He did go on to have a great career in the minors, leading the IHL/AHL in scoring several times.

 

[MS]

Brown was a poor skater so, when he stopped playing with Mario, he couldn't keep up to the NHL pace. He did go on to have a great career in the minors, leading the IHL/AHL in scoring several times.

Brown is the same story as Carson, Daniel Marois, Pat Elynuik, etc. Mediocre/poor skaters with quick hands who all had great starts to their careers, and then crashed and burned around 1990, to varying degrees. The game just got faster and passed this sort of player by.

 

[Steelhead16]

Dammit, I was going to say Pat Falloon!

I was not going to say Fat Racoon, though.

Me too!!

 

[ktownhockey]

Fogarty was definately the biggest waste of talent from all accounts that I've heard of. It's a shame, alot of NHLers drink alot though but I guess it was excessive for him.

The scary thing was me and my friends went down to Myrtle Beach in March of 2002 for our Canadian March break. When we got there we told that the room beside us was the one that someone had passed away in (Bryan Forgarty) The clerks were like " Do you liek hockey?" we were like, "yeah" and there like some Fogarty hockey player guy died here last week. I knew all about his career and disappointments but it seemed sureal being there realizing that his life came to an end at this place that I was staying.
odd story eh?

anyways I wanted to get some clarification on another story I heard about him. I heard that he never made the World Junior Teams because he would get drunk every night at the Camp? Is this true or is this just a rumour beause I dont think i saw him on any WJHC roster.

thanks alot

RIP BF

 

[Jo]

Alexander Daigle!!!!!

 

[Petey21]

To me a disappointing career is the ones that start as a bust once they make it to the NHL after having been among the top draft picks, such as Pat Falloon, Alexandre Daigle and Jason Bonsignore. Also guys like Vladimir Krutov, who was considered one of the best forwards in the world, busts once he gets a chance to play in the NHL and a couple years later plays in a Swedish Tier-3 league.

I don't consider it a "disappointing career" if a player actually accomplishes great numbers in the NHL but for one reason or another gets in trouble (accidents, injuries, personal problems etc), like Fleury, Lindros and Konstantinov. If it hadn't been for those circumstances these players would probably still deliver. But a bust who goes from being the best scoring junior in history into barely making it to the farm team once he becomes a pro is a HUGE disappointment.

 

[PACaptain]

Mine.

I had it all planned out, I was going to be great and be the successor to Gretzky in Edmonton. I was going to lead the team to Stanley Cup glory while winning the Art Ross Trophy.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way.

You stole my answer except I as going to skate with Lemieux during his last season to win the Stanley Cup, but same basic premise.


Actually, I would go with Bryan Fogarty. Very sad story.

 

[Malefic74]

Jiri Dopita

Big hype coming out of the Czech league and nothing but flashes in the NHL.