biggest mistake by an organization on a prospect

[Zine]

OTHERS:

Dainius Zubrus
Patrick Marleau (good player...could be/have been way better)
Chris Gratton

 

[paul99]

Lindros?

 

[Liquidrage*]

Wrong. Blackburn could play in the NHL. Rangers just won't allow him to because they're the Rag$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

You're are not living in reality.

Sure, Blackburn can play in the NHL. Anyone can stand in goal and get toarched like he has. But why would you want to? He's not playing in the NHL rihgt now because he was lit up when he did play.

He was thrown onto the ice before he was even close to being ready and he struggled. He'd make one great save and let in two bad ones. Allmost any goalie prospect could have played and looked as poorly as he did.

He was lit up in the NHL. End of story. Dunham's stats playing behind the same sorry team were infinitely better then Blackburns. The year before Blackburn's stats sucked as well but appeared better then they were since they weren't that far behind Richter's stats. Well, now we know Ritcher was only a shell of his former self then and falling just short of Richter's stats for that year is nothing to be proud of.

The only reason anyone should think Blackburn is going to be a good NHL goalie is because he was a 1st Rnd draft pick and got hype from being thrown on the ice at a young age. Nothing in his NHL performace suggest he is going to be a good NHL goalie. Although that may still happen.

 

[CREW99AW]

OTHERS:

Patrick Marleau (good player...could be/have been way better)

I thought young Marleau had a big yr last yr(60+ pts).

Is he an inconsistent scorer,doesn't play physical?

 

[PanthersRule96]

Florida-two of the biggest ever

Rob Niedermeyer
Ed Jovanovski

 

[Douggy]

Toronto...

Luca Cereda

Disagreed. It's not Toronto's fault the guy had a heart condition.

 

[KingPurpleDinosaur]

kings with jamie storr. pulle dhim up too fast and never got enough playing time. looked at him to be the goalie of the future, but ended up being weak mentally. a few years in the minors woulda helped him greatly

 

[MOOSE55]

kings with jamie storr. pulle dhim up too fast and never got enough playing time. looked at him to be the goalie of the future, but ended up being weak mentally. a few years in the minors woulda helped him greatly

Also Aki Berg at #3 overall(I think).......Storr at least stoled a few games for the kings(Dallas, Vancouver last year), Aki Berg didn't do much of anything for the kings

 

[Ruckus007]

The Sabres basically completely dropped the ball on handling the Biron/Noronen situation and they're well on their way to screwing up Ryan Miller's development too.


Also I thought they brought Erik Rasmussen out of college too early back then and I still think so now.

 

[sveiglar]

It's still very early, but I think we're seeing a big mistake right now with Jiri Hudler. Why Ken Holland and Dave Lewis are giving this kid 5-8 minutes of ice every other game as opposed to a full year of top line ice-time in Grand Rapids is beyond me.

 

[sveiglar]

And then there's guys like Craig Hillier who just flat out flopped without the help of the team.

I remember being at a friends house the summer that Hillier was drafted, and his cousin was visiting from Ottawa where he was (or had been the year before, can't quite remember) a classmate of Hillier. He said all he did was sit in the back and pull childish stunts, saying "I don't have to learn this crap; I'm gonna be an NHL goalie!" Pretty funny given how things turned out.

 

[BlackJack21]

Give up on Jokinen and decide that DiPietro is better that Luongo on the same trade has been a very bad mistake...

BJ21

 

[Slats432]

I don't like how the Oilers have handled Rita....and in the same token, I thought that the Leafs last year handled Colaiacovo poorly.

 

[Absolut]

Though he's still relatively young (23 I think), Patrik Stefan.

What did the Thrashers do to "ruin" Stefan? He got injured early on, and then got overshadowed by two much better players. Now he has no confidence; he's stuck in a situation where he is compared daily to Kovalchuk & Heatley. There is nothing the Thrashers can do about that.

You can make an argument that Atlanta should have brought him along slower -- but it's not unusual for a first rounder on an expansion team to be expected to contribute right away.

 

[Evilo]

What did the Thrashers do to "ruin" Stefan? He got injured early on, and then got overshadowed by two much better players. Now he has no confidence; he's stuck in a situation where he is compared daily to Kovalchuk & Heatley. There is nothing the Thrashers can do about that.

You can make an argument that Atlanta should have brought him along slower -- but it's not unusual for a first rounder on an expansion team to be expected to contribute right away.

At 18, he wasn't ready to take a dreadful team on his back...
I think that's his point.

 

[Absolut]

At 18, he wasn't ready to take a dreadful team on his back...
I think that's his point.

I agree -- Stefan wasn't ready. In retrospect, he'd be better off playing in Europe for a couple years. But it's hard to judge a prospect's mental toughness until he plays in the NHL. Stefan was picked high enough to warrant high expectations.

You can look at his situation and say: he'll get plenty of ice time with no pressure to win. Or, you can look at it from a different perspective: he'll be expected to lead a bad team, with no veteran leadership, at a tender age of 18. I dunno. You just can't predict how people will react to pressure. Who could know that Kovalchuk, at 20, was ready to take Atlanta on his back? If he crumbled under pressure, would we say the Thrashers were to blame?

 

[Frenzy31]

Lindros?

Your joking, Right...

I think a player that has finally lived up to billing but was almost scrapped by a poor organization is:

Vinie LeCavalier was almost destroyed in Tampa due to pressure and getting the C his 1st season...

In truth, I am not sure if an organization is the only party responsible for a failure in development of a player. The media and fans (with a win now) mentality and placing high expectations on 18-23 yrs. may also play a huge roll in what happens to young kids. Getting on rookies for not living up to expectations (even in Jrs.) doesn't help in the development process..

 

[HughJass*]

You can look at his situation and say: he'll get plenty of ice time with no pressure to win. Or, you can look at it from a different perspective: he'll be expected to lead a bad team, with no veteran leadership, at a tender age of 18. I dunno. You just can't predict how people will react to pressure. Who know that Kovalchuk, at 20, was ready to take Atlanta on his back? If he crumbled under pressure, would we say the Thrashers were to blame?

Even with the second excuse, he can't use that excuse either. Atlanta had Ray Ferraro, Darryl Shannon, and Kelly Buchberger. No one looked to Stefan to lead Stefan has no excuse for his lack of impact, Waddell did everything right. Patrik just didn't, and probably won't ever, make a 1st rounders impact.

Btw, I thought Lecavalier got the 'C' in his 3rd season? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Olorin]

Over the last 10 years or so I would have to say Manny Malhotra by the New York Rangers. I have no problem with bringing a kid up at 18 if he is ready, but the Rangers were touting their plans him as NHL ready as soon as they drafted him. Then he was given 8 minutes in a game or left in the pressbox. No way can a player develop like that.

Exactly what I was thinking. It's a shame, I think Manny could have been a good player and he's a class act as well.

 

[paul99]

Your joking, Right...

I think a player that has finally lived up to billing but was almost scrapped by a poor organization is:

Vinie LeCavalier was almost destroyed in Tampa due to pressure and getting the C his 1st season...

In truth, I am not sure if an organization is the only party responsible for a failure in development of a player. The media and fans (with a win now) mentality and placing high expectations on 18-23 yrs. may also play a huge roll in what happens to young kids. Getting on rookies for not living up to expectations (even in Jrs.) doesn't help in the development process..

Joking? Nope. Ask Bobby Clark if he would get Lindros again in these circumptances. He sent, what, six players to get him. Including Peter Forsberg! And what, 15 000 millions or something like that. An enormous amount in that time.

Lindros played with Team Canada before having played one game in NHL, when he was 18. And I remember he played good games, hitting everybody on the ice. This guy coudl have been the Next One, as a CBC documentary profiled him with Gretzky and Turgeon along an ice pond 6 or 7 years ago.

 

[J F M]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the numerous picks from the Habs from around 1985- the present.... more or less. The one that bugs me the most, although he is not a bust... is Jason Ward, when the next pick was Marian Hossa!

 

[Evilo]

Joking? Nope. Ask Bobby Clark if he would get Lindros again in these circumptances. He sent, what, six players to get him. Including Peter Forsberg! And what, 15 000 millions or something like that. An enormous amount in that time.

Lindros played with Team Canada before having played one game in NHL, when he was 18. And I remember he played good games, hitting everybody on the ice. This guy coudl have been the Next One, as a CBC documentary profiled him with Gretzky and Turgeon along an ice pond 6 or 7 years ago.

Clarke didn't do that deal.

 

[Liquidrage*]

Joking? Nope. Ask Bobby Clark if he would get Lindros again in these circumptances. He sent, what, six players to get him. Including Peter Forsberg! And what, 15 000 millions or something like that. An enormous amount in that time.

Lindros played with Team Canada before having played one game in NHL, when he was 18. And I remember he played good games, hitting everybody on the ice. This guy coudl have been the Next One, as a CBC documentary profiled him with Gretzky and Turgeon along an ice pond 6 or 7 years ago.

You're off topic.

Lindros lived up the the hype he got. He was the league's MVP in only his 3rd year. He ranked in the Top 5 all time in PPG until he started getting hurt. And even though he was a dominant scorer and assist man, he was one of if not the most physical player in the league.

Lindros graduated from "prospect" with flying colors. He was the best player in the league for several years.

What did him in was health. And although it could be argued that the Flyers didn't do everything right with him medical wise, Lindros needs to take some of the blame. He was popping aspring after asprin to hide constant headaches and didn't tell anyone on the staff. Keith Jones had to blow the whistle on the problems Lindros was having when he had a collapsed lung even.

But none of that has to do with being a "prospect". If Lindros never got hurt the trade (which as pointed out wasn't under Clarke anyways) probably would be seen as even up and the Flyers might have had a cup by now. But alas, players don't get their name on the cup for speculation.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I think the poster child for this discussion is Chad Kilger. Here's a guy that was drafted mainly because of his size and the position he played. His potential was long-term but he was immediately inserted onto the NHL roster and just died there. Traded several times, never lived up to his promise...heck, he's still a work in progress, really. Just another example of a player with size making the NHL before he's ready, while smaller players that are ready don't get a chance because of their size.

As for a team that totally misread a player's potential, how about San Jose taking Andrei Nazarov 10th overall in 1992??? What was that!

 

[King of Stankonia]

Robert Dome has/had an awful work ethic too but the team really mishandled him regardless. Rushed him in, never gave him a chance after his initial suckitude, did nothing to help him in personal times of crisis(parent deaths in a short span), etc.

From what I remember, his stock was already dropping like a rock by the time he was drafted. Wasn't he a projected 1st overall the year before and then dropped all the way to 18th? I think that the mis-handling was drafting him in the first place.