Most Underrated Players

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ProctorSilex

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Location: Edmonton.

I've heard Craig Janney's name come up more often than Hawerchuk in the hockey talks I've had with random people.
 

NYR94

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Mar 31, 2005
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I agree with Coffey77 who said Steve Larmer. Great combination of offensive skill, defensive awareness, grit, effort, clutch scoring and leadership. His stay on the Rangers was way too short.
 

egger66

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ProctorSilex said:
^^ Well put, but if you were talking to the average fan and were talking about the greatest players of the last quarter decade, how long do you think it would take for Hawerchuk's name to come up (if you didn't mention it)?

It would come up long before Marcel Dionne. Now there's a guy who never gets much respect.
 

egger66

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pei fan said:
IMO, Bathgate is the most underrated player of all-time.He was highly respected
in his time but history has seemed to leave him behind somewhat.He played
in the era of Howe and Richard and Geoffrion as right wingers and yet managed
to be selected ahead of them some years to the 1st and 2nd all star teams and he won a Hart when Howe was in his prime.This guy was considered Howes main
rival for quite a few years.his downside was he played on weak teams.Montreal
and Detroit suited some of the greatest and deepest teams in history during his career.

Bathgate isn't so much underrated as forgotten. He was probably the smartest and most innovative players of all time. He single handedly invented the powerplay. Most people use the term "power play" in correctly. A power play is a man advantage situation where a forward plays the point. This had never been done before Bathgate, but he was such a good 2 way player that he became the first. He also wrote the best book on how to play hockey.

Other underrated older players would include Mark Howe, Stan Mikita and Harry Howell.
 

brianscot

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Jan 1, 2003
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My nod for an underrated player would go to Alex Delvecchio.

He scored 456 goals while playing the bulk of his career during the original six, pre expansion, pre scoring explosion era.

He had only one 30 goal season, but racked up 12 other plus 20 goal seasons and averaged more than 40 assists per year.
 

BM67

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Mar 5, 2002
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egger66 said:
Bathgate isn't so much underrated as forgotten. He was probably the smartest and most innovative players of all time. He single handedly invented the powerplay. Most people use the term "power play" in correctly. A power play is a man advantage situation where a forward plays the point. This had never been done before Bathgate, but he was such a good 2 way player that he became the first. He also wrote the best book on how to play hockey.

Other underrated older players would include Mark Howe, Stan Mikita and Harry Howell.
I guess you've never heard of Max Bentley. Max was manning the point on the PP well before Bathgate came around. I wouldn't say Max was the first either, although he was one of the best.
 

egger66

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BM67 said:
I guess you've never heard of Max Bentley. Max was manning the point on the PP well before Bathgate came around. I wouldn't say Max was the first either, although he was one of the best.

I can't say you are incorrect, only that every acount thaI read stated that Bathgate was the first. However, the term "power play" in fact originated to describe the trend started by Bathgate.
 

egger66

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ProctorSilex said:
Location: Edmonton.

I've heard Craig Janney's name come up more often than Hawerchuk in the hockey talks I've had with random people.

You have to be kidding. He was one of the softest players ever to skate in the NHL. His distaste for contact eventually drove him out of the league, despite his good offensive skill.
 
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