Reds4Life
Registered User
- Dec 24, 2007
- 3,896
- 223
Best player to play less than 100 NHL games
- Thread starter SauceHockey
- Start date
I agree here had a great playoff for a 20 year old in his only season too.
I'm not including guys that played professionally overseas or early players when there were different leagues and shorter schedules.
Preisst*
Registered User
Yea whatever. I suspect there are players who would actually make the NHL that are better then Brendl. I watched him play in junior and I have never seen such a floater in my life, he can score goals but can do literally nothing else and to me that doesn't make him much of a hockey player. Certainly not anywhere in the class of those that the OP is looking for.
saskganesh
Registered User
I don't think he necessarily would have been a top NHL player. The numbers you list were possible due to him playing in the Swedish Elite League rather than in the NHL. Many of the guys with the best alltime stats in the SEL are guys who were "very good but not really good enough to be make it in the NHL". Jorgen probably would have done it, but I think you get my point. Like Rundqvist, piling up huge numbers (wasn't he the guy with most games for the Swedish national team).
If looking at players with zero NHL games, I think Lennart Svedberg is the best Swede.
Preisst*
Registered User
Heres what I consider a strong candidate. Dale Derkatch. Was only 5" 5" but tore up the WHL. Played a complete game unlike a guy like Pavel Brendl. Was tough, could and did forecheck and backcheck. Was a wizard with the puck. Passing was well above average. Could shoot like the dickens.
Despite his size there was even talk of him getting a shot with an NHL team when he finished junior which was absolutely unheard of back in those days when there was basically a pre-requisite minimum size requirement.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid[]=1332
Despite his size there was even talk of him getting a shot with an NHL team when he finished junior which was absolutely unheard of back in those days when there was basically a pre-requisite minimum size requirement.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid[]=1332
Very interesting.
http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1983/83140.html
http://www.alloffence.ca/About_Dale_Derkatch.html
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=19605
Regarding his length, he's listed sometimes as 168 cm and sometimes as 165 cm or even less than 165 cm.
Does anyone have more information on him?
Canadiens1958
Registered User
Bobby Lalonde
Same size as Bobby Lalonde who had a nice run in the NHL:
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/l/lalonbo01.html
Patrice Lefebvre who was a junior and minor league star was an inch taller. had three NHL games:
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/l/lefebpa01.html
Steve Tsujiura was another WHL product similar to Dale Derkatch.
Derkatch was drafted by the Oilers, 7th round in 1983.
Same size as Bobby Lalonde who had a nice run in the NHL:
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/l/lalonbo01.html
Patrice Lefebvre who was a junior and minor league star was an inch taller. had three NHL games:
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/l/lefebpa01.html
Steve Tsujiura was another WHL product similar to Dale Derkatch.
Derkatch was drafted by the Oilers, 7th round in 1983.
Preisst*
Registered User
I remember Lalonde and he was a good player but in fairness to Derkatch he played in an era when the small size bigotry was no where near as strong. I'm sure if we thought a bit more and researched it a bit we would find similar small players during his era. While I think I appreciate the comparison you are implying I don't know that I agree.
The other two are good examples. I remember Lefebvre but didn't see him play a lot if at all. Tsujiura was a good player who I did have the privelege of seeing play and without dissing him I can confidently say he was not as good as Derkatch.
Canadiens1958
Registered User
Small Size Favouritism
Once the NHL Entry Draft or whatever it was called at any time, dropped to 18 one QMJHL team went the other way practicing small size favouritism.
Realizing that small players were being ignored at the QMJHL entry draft or being drafted lower than their talent they would draft such players below slot knowing that they would have a talented player for three to four seasons without the risk of losing him at 18 to the NHL.
Shawinigan got Patrice Lefebvre, Stephan and Patrick Lebeau plus a few others using this approach.
Interesting to see if junior teams in the WHL and OHL did likewise.
Once the NHL Entry Draft or whatever it was called at any time, dropped to 18 one QMJHL team went the other way practicing small size favouritism.
Realizing that small players were being ignored at the QMJHL entry draft or being drafted lower than their talent they would draft such players below slot knowing that they would have a talented player for three to four seasons without the risk of losing him at 18 to the NHL.
Shawinigan got Patrice Lefebvre, Stephan and Patrick Lebeau plus a few others using this approach.
Interesting to see if junior teams in the WHL and OHL did likewise.
Looking at modern times, and players still active Magnus Johansson comes to mind. He had a short unsucessful stint with Chicago Blackhawks, otherwise he spent his entire career in SEL (except for a sucessful season in KHL and one in NLA). He holds the record for most points scored all-time by a d-man in SEL with 340 points in 547 games.
He might deserve a mention since he managed to be so good for so many seasons, his best statistical years have actually been the two last seasons, he is in his prime now as a 38-year old which is a bit funny.
He has played 201 national team games for sweden and scored 86 points(26+60). He has played 8 world championships and one olympic (2010).
I can't help to think that given he chance with the right team at the right moment of his career, he could have been a very good PP-quarterback in NHL. His Power play skills was and still is really great.
He probably doesn't qualify as one of the best with less than 100 NHL-games, but he still is kind of a still active legend in swedish hockey.
He might deserve a mention since he managed to be so good for so many seasons, his best statistical years have actually been the two last seasons, he is in his prime now as a 38-year old which is a bit funny.
He has played 201 national team games for sweden and scored 86 points(26+60). He has played 8 world championships and one olympic (2010).
I can't help to think that given he chance with the right team at the right moment of his career, he could have been a very good PP-quarterback in NHL. His Power play skills was and still is really great.
He probably doesn't qualify as one of the best with less than 100 NHL-games, but he still is kind of a still active legend in swedish hockey.
Pear Juice
Registered User
Thomas Rundqvist is 3rd all-time in international caps. Jonas Bergqvist is 2nd.
I get what you're saying. However I do feel that there is a difference between Jönsson and the other top scorers in the SEL. He actually did give the NHL life a try, and he showed some potential. He's been saying numerous times that he would be staying if not for his family hacing a hard time.
The best Swede to not play in the NHL at all has to be Sven Tumba. Usually ranked top 4 (with Lidström, Forsberg and Sundin) when it comes to top Swedish players all-time. It's pointless to bring him up here though as we'd just get a discussion of whether Swedish hockey was good enough or not back in the 50s/60s. It's about as uninteresting as comparing modern NHLers to PCHA players to me.
On Pavel Brendl. Sure he scored like crazy the two seasons he spent here (at Mora and Brynäs) but the talk was constantly about how he was lazy and didn't care to work in the defensive part of the game. A very good scorer in the SEL but probably one of the most one-dimensional players I have ever seen. It's a mircale he was able to score playing under Brynäs coach Leif Boork, who is known to be a hard-nosed coach.
I meant he was no 1 alltime, until Bergqvist broke his record, and then Jorgen Jonsson broke Bergqvist's record.
I agree Jorgen Jonsson definitely would have been a NHL regular, perhaps even above average.
How close were Boston Bruins to give Tumba an NHL contract?
Anyway, I think Svedberg and Salming were great too, but let's just say all three were great hockey players.
Erich Kühnhackl was mentioned in the thread, and he surely could be dominant during World Championships, once winning the scoring race (although Germany played bottom 4 teams more often). I'm surprised he only were the "German player of the year" three times. He was, however, elected Germany's best hockey player of the century.
Pear Juice
Registered User
According to Tumba himself he was offered a contract worth a huge amount of money. He didn't feel that his game was a good fit with the rough and tumble hockey played in North America back then though, so he decided to turn back to Sweden.
Before doing so, he decided to play a prank on his teammates. Being alone in the dressing room, he saw that the players false teeth were lying in glasses on a shelf. Tumba jumbled them all around and had a great laugh seeing all the players try to fit their lower jaw dentures into their upper jaw. Tumba: "I was afraid they were going to kill me afterwards, but it turned out they all broke out into a great laughter!".
edit: Curiously I found a source quoting the exact opposite. Brian MacFarlane reportedly suggests in his book on the original six Bruins that this incident is what actually caused Tumba to get "sent home to Sweden". The quote from Tumba himself is: "I don't think the Bruins accepted me and I'm sure it was because of a practical joke I played on them one day. I saw that they all joked around with each other in the dressing room and I liked that. I wanted very much to be a part of it. I noticed they all put their false teeth in little cups before a game or practice When they went on the ice I sneaked back into the room and switched all the teeth around. Did they laugh at my little prank? No, were they ever mad. From then on it was very cool between us. A few days later the manager took me aside and told me he was sending me back to Sweden."
Interesting. I guess the NHL at the time simply was no place for a character like Tumba.
Pic of Tumba in a Bruins Jersey:
Last edited:
crobro
Registered User
- Aug 8, 2008
- 3,873
- 720
QuadrupleDeke
33% more deke
He was also leading scorer at the 84 Olympics in Sarajevo. Apparently the Rangers offered him a contract sometime in the 70's but I don't believe he ever attended a NHL training camp.
In terms of European players who played at least a bit in the NHL, Dusan Pasek also comes to mind.
