Greatest one trick pony in Hockey History?

[Vector]

Zenon Konopka.

Win the face off. Get the f*** off the ice because you're awful at literally everything else.

The better example of this is David Steckel. He also once gave Crosby a concussion.

 

[Nyrtrublue1]

Zherdev - Dangles

Grabner - Speed

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Tim Kerr. The man who couldn't skate but couldn't be moved or stopped. The human slot machine. Get the puck to the slot and jackpot

Hey, he could fight a bit too.

 

[crobro]

Phil Espo

 

[lawrence]

Jim Carey. He won goalie of the year then vanished.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

Dany Heatley

 

[Big Phil]

Guys in all honesty, Al MacInnis does NOT belong on this thread. I mean, sure, we all know about the shot and the legendary things that came from it, but he was also +371 in his career. He didn't shy away from the physical game, he killed penalties his whole career, he won a Conn Smythe, he could move the puck up the ice well (eg. passes), he had great hockey sense and there are just 4 defensemen in NHL history with more playoff points.

The first name that comes to my mind is Peter Bondra. Led the NHL in goals twice in his career, once being the lockout shortened year. The combined 86 goals vs. 35 assists is probably all you need to know about what he was best at in his career. He had speed and he was a goal scorer. Played 17 years but has a really low assist total for that long. Wasn't good in the playoffs, never fought, wasn't good defensively, never hit anyone, but he scored goals. I have no idea why he had a high assist total in 1993 compared to his goals, but that was his only year.

 

[The Panther]

Phil Espo

I mean, he led the NHL in both goals and assists multiple times each. He's one of a tiny handful of players in history to do so.

 

[The Panther]

Brett Lindros.

He was good at being big.

 

[M88K]

Gretzky, his one trick was being good at everything. Yeah like that is impressive

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Brett Hull?

 

[overpass]

Scott Gomez was elite at carrying the puck through the neutral zone and gaining the zone, and average at best at everything else.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Brett Hull?

But what a trick it was

I was watching a highlight video of the 2002 wings and he literally one times an errant slapshot going wide. Not a slap pass mind you, a wide slap shot at 90 degrees to him, and he picks it out of the air no problem. The hand eye and reflexes youd need for that, just wow

 

[ESH]

Not a very well-known or successful player, but Matt Bartkowski fits this thread perfectly.

One of the best players in the league at skating the puck up the ice, but couldn’t do anything with it once he hit the blue line. He actually won the Flames’ fastest skater competition one year.

He didn’t do anything else at an NHL level, but his skating through the neutral zone was was legitimately top-notch.

 

[The Panther]

Getting back to the silly assertion that Al MacInnis was a one-trick pony, look how nicely he rubs out young Mark Messier in full flight in game 7 in 1984...

(albeit he takes a penalty at the end of this sequence... and his d-move here would be a penalty today, too... but er, it was good back then!)

 

[MadArcand]

The first name that comes to my mind is Peter Bondra. Led the NHL in goals twice in his career, once being the lockout shortened year. The combined 86 goals vs. 35 assists is probably all you need to know about what he was best at in his career. He had speed and he was a goal scorer. Played 17 years but has a really low assist total for that long. Wasn't good in the playoffs, never fought, wasn't good defensively, never hit anyone, but he scored goals. I have no idea why he had a high assist total in 1993 compared to his goals, but that was his only year.

Eh, Bondra was actually decent defensively and good on PK. What you've described would fit Rick Nash even better - he didn't even have Bondra's speed. Just a walking shot.

 

[ESH]

Eh, Bondra was actually decent defensively and good on PK. What you've described would fit Rick Nash even better - he didn't even have Bondra's speed. Just a walking shot.

Except Nash was also a great defensive player later in his career. Nash’s shot wasn’t even all that impressive, he had good hands and got quick, accurate shots off around the net.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Dave Andreychuk. Not a speed demon, not a playmaker, but he was reliable in front of the net for 20 years- esp. on the Power Play

For many years, you could chalk him up for no worse than 20 goals.

Similar to John Tavares.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Several 'goons' fit the criterion; probably the worst was John Kordic.

 

[authentic]

Similar to John Tavares.

John Tavares has actually been a great playmaker for most of his career.

 

[dr robbie]

Russ Tyler - outside of his knuckle puck, he had nothing

 

[hacksaw7]

Yea Bondra had some weirdly low assist totals

But also...who did he have to pass to on those Capitals teams? It was literally only him who seemingly could score anywhere between 30 to 50+ and everybody else was Steve Konowalchuk, Juneau, Pivonka types who struggled to hit 20. He was the only pure scorer they had

I'm exaggerating but every year their stats looked something like

1. Peter Bondra - 55 goals
2. Oates or Juneau - 13 goals
3. A bunch of plugs each scoring between 5-12 goals

 

[FerrisRox]

Al MacInnis lived off his hard slapshot. By comparison another defenseman of his era Brian Leetch did almost everything better than Al, yet MacInnis is thought of on the same level as Leetch when really he wasn't. The only edge he had over him was his hard slapshot. Goes to show how being great at one particular thing can elevate your career status when all is said and done. Not that Al wasn't great mind you. His hard shot was a blast to watch.

I don't agree with this at all.

It's a great under estimation of his abilities. He was much more than just a hard slap shot and to suggest Leetch "did almost everything better than Al" is far from being accurate.

MacInnis was clearly more physical and I personally prefer him defensively over Leetch.

 

[FerrisRox]

Perreault is truly a one trick pony personified.

What surprises me is that there has not yet been any dedicated shootout specialists in the League.

The guy led an NHL team in scoring... how is he a one trick pony personified when his best asset is face-off taking?

His only good skill was winning face offs... yet he led and NHL team in scoring? Something doesn't add up.

 

[Top Shelf Wrister]

Ryan spooner with that hip pivot move he would do on entry into the offensive zone. It would back defenders off a lot until it didn’t anymore lol