Hegen perhaps, I don't see Draisaitl. Draisaitl was always good but never the standout player. But when we are talking about Germans, Gerd Truntschka would have been a goodie. Was drafted, but never played a game in NA. I don't know why. An absolute fantastic playmaker.
The Hiti Brithers from Yugoslavia
Doru Toreanu from Romania
Jiri Dudacek
Tretiak
Dale Derkatch
Miles Zaharko
Shane Driscoll
Taylor hall(80’s version)
Taro Tsujimoto - "The Pride of Tokyo" Once highly regarded by Punch Imlach, but never got his due. Drafted by Buffalo in 1974 (selected ahead of future cup winners Dave Lumley and Stefan Persson)
THE LEGEND OF TARO TSUJIMOTO
Derkatch is interesting one. Everybody considerd him too small to NHL. He did put impressive numbers in WHL. Oilers seemed to be the only one who believe in him. They offered him a contract atleast in 1984 and 1985. Derkatch considered the salary too small compared to similar players and left to Europe to get better paycheck. So in a way it was a case of Oilers giving him some sort of chance, but Derkatch didn´t believe that it was really a serious one.
Oksanen was offered a contract by the Canucks, but he was running his own gas-station in Tampere, and figured he makes more money with it than what the Canucks would had paid.Lasse Oksanen. Played almost 300 games for Finland. The trophy given annually to the outstanding regular season player in Finland is named after him. He made a very brief appearance at the first ever Vancouver Canucks training camp but went home.
Linus Klasen deserves a mention. Really small, but speedy and silky smooth hands. Would have been interesting to see if he was cut out for the NHL if he wasn't stuck on the fairly deep, Trotz-coached Preds while he was in North America.
Rob Hisey...
Rob Hisey (b.1984) Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com
Another small player with outstanding hands and vision that would thrive in today's NHL.
“Who am I gonna trade him for - Lee Trevino?"Todd Bergen, 85 flyers. He tore it up in limited regular season and I believe killed in the playoffs. Got in Keenans doghouse and pissed off Bobby Clarke. Does anyone remember seeing him play or have any Insight on how good he was?
Jonathan Hedström
CHL
| AHL
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Came here to say thisCorey Locke was one of those guys who seemingly produced everywhere he went but could never stick in the NHL for more than a couple of games.
Obviously he played for a number of different NHL organizations so you could argue he had his chances.
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
CHL
OHL
- First Team All-Star - 2004
- CHL Player of the Year - 2003
- CHL Top Scorer Award - 2003
- First Team All-Star - 2003
- Red Tilson Trophy - 2004
- Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy - 2004
- First Team All-Star - 2004
- Red Tilson Trophy - 2003
- Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy - 2003
- First Team All-Star - 2003
AHL
- Calder Cup Champion - 2007, 2011
- Second Team All-Star - 2010
- Hamilton Bulldogs career points leader (229)
- Hamilton Bulldogs career goals leader (85)
- Hamilton Bulldogs career assists leader (144)
- First All-Star Team - 2011
- Les Cunningham Award - MVP 2011
I don’t think it was that he didn’t get a chance, if I remember it correctly, it was his own decision to return to Sweden.
Hedström started suffering from eating disorders and depression during his year in the NHL, I think he himself opted back to Sweden to deal with his demons with some pressure lifted off his back. Though back in Luleå he had to play with the expectations of a former NHLer/go-to star on the team, and a GM that had zero understanding for his type of problems, so it didn’t get better just yet.
He wrote a book about his life.