Good/Very Good Players Who Weren't Quite Stars...

Tarantula

Hanging around the web
Aug 31, 2017
4,451
2,863
GTA
Stan Smyl, good mention. Flourished on that run to finals in 81(?) but was more then a scorer if I remember right, big part of those Vancouver teams.

How about the human highlight reel, or they called him something to that effect, Kent Nilson, he played with the North Stars then Calgary during the 80's so he wasn't on TV in Ontario, except the odd playoff. HNIC ran a highlight segment of him, dekeing and stickhandling some real beauties close in.
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
19,114
15,573
Tokyo, Japan
I feel like Bobby Smith, Kent Nilsson, Ziggy-stardust Palffy, and Zetterberg were all stars...? Especially Palffy and (even more so) Zetterberg, who were quite consistently productive and good.

Bobby Smith maybe didn't quite live up to his billing, but he did have a 114-point season, 2 Finals' appearances, a Stanley Cup, six or seven superb playoff showings, seven PPG+ seasons, and he's always be "the guy who outscored Gretzky in Wayne's only season in Junior".

Kent Nilsson had five NHL seasons in a row at 100-point+ pace, including that crazy 131-point year in 1980-81, the first season of the Calgary Flames. He's generally thought of as one of the more skilled players in history, albeit one of the laziest.
 
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crobro

Registered User
Aug 8, 2008
3,873
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Blaine Stoughton
Mike Rogers
Kevin Dineen
Ray Ferraro
Thomas Gradin
Craig Hartsburg
Wilf paimont
 

DannyGallivan

Your world frightens and confuses me
Aug 25, 2017
7,562
10,110
Melonville
Hey, remember Chris Gratton? Picked third overall in '93 by the Lightening.

250px-Chris_Gratton_2007.jpg
 

brachyrynchos

Registered User
Apr 10, 2017
1,472
997
Vinny Prospal was pretty good.
Steve Sullivan
Nelson Emerson

What goalies, if any, would apply?
Dunham, DaFoe?
 

DannyGallivan

Your world frightens and confuses me
Aug 25, 2017
7,562
10,110
Melonville
These are the players that you go "Oh... yeah I forgot about Nelson Emerson. He was a good player. Had him in my hockey pool one year."
 

Iron Mike Sharpe

Registered User
Dec 6, 2017
945
1,118
Stan Smyl was my favorite player in the 80s, just like Iron Mike Sharpe was my favorite wrestler: a couple of hard-working, blue collar lovable losers.

The Canucks didn't really have anything but "almost star" after "almost star" - practically everybody who was ever a top line forward or top pairing D until Bure came along fell into this category: Dale Tallon, Andre Boudrias, Bobby Schmautz, Dennis Kearns, Harold Snepsts, Gary Smith, Don Lever, Smyl, Gradin, Patrick Sundstrom, Tony Tanti, Petri Skriko, Doug Lidster, Dan Quinn, Greg Adams, Cliff Ronning, etc. When we actually got legit stars during this time period, like Barry Pederson, Paul Reinhart, Igor Larionov or Vladimir Krutov, they mysteriously went from being bonafide elite players to being "almost stars" on the level of every other Canuck player.

Other "almost stars" from them days:
Mike Bullard
Keith Acton
Bobby Carpenter
Bill Derlago
Ryan Walter
Brent Sutter
Dave Poulin
Al Secord
Guy Chouinard
Tom Lysiak
Gerard Gallant
Terry Ruskowski
John Anderson
Walt Poddubny
Brian Sutter
Dave Ellet
Brian Engblom
Jorgen Pettersson
Brian Mullen

etc etc etc
we could do this all day long....
 
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GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
9,712
6,432
Brampton, ON
Really, Wendel Clark was this level of player even though he was treated like a superstar in Toronto.
Craig Conroy
Adam Graves
Shawn McEachern
Erik Cole
 

Filthy Dangles

Registered User*
Oct 23, 2014
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Milan Hejduk
Alex Tanguay
Patrick Sharp
Ales Hemsky
Sergei Samsonov
Brad Marchand
Marty Straka
Jason Arnott
 

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