HFAvs Ranks: The Worst Avalanche Player

Gruyeriev

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Apr 14, 2021
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I think it’s hard to separate players that were truly bad from the token whipping boys of those truly dark times for the Avs. For example I really hated Chris Gratton in his short stint here.

Some names that come to mind over the years.

Greg Zanon
Marc Andre Cliche
Ben Guite
Reto Berra
Ben Street
Wyatt Smith
Michael Sgarbossa
Kevin Porter
Brett McLean
Per Ledin
Andre Mironov
 

Bonzai12

Registered User
Nov 2, 2007
14,170
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Denver CO
My all time worst Avs line -

RW - Theo Fleury
C - Joey Hishon
LW - Brad May
D - Patrice Brisebois
D - Martin Skoula
G - Phillipe Sauve
 

Duchene2MacKinnon

In the hands of Genius
Aug 8, 2006
45,300
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My all time worst Avs line -

RW - Theo Fleury
C - Joey Hishon
LW - Brad May
D - Patrice Brisebois
D - Martin Skoula
G - Phillipe Sauve
Hishon?

Anyway the answer is Arnason. Sure there pluggers who had no where near his talent but given the role he played its him. The avs had to lean on him for a couple of seasons in a pathetic way.
 

Murzu

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Dec 23, 2013
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Hunter Miska was hilariously bad.

Cliche was the biggest offensive black hold I've ever seen. Didn't he have like one goal in 80 games which he scored by accident?
 

Pokecheque

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Brad May I just despised, but he wasn't a terrible player.

There are plenty better candidates on the list but the first 3 that popped in my mind,
(probably because they played enough games that I remember them, there were un-met expectations or they replaced someone I liked:
Nail Yakupov
Ryan Stoa
Face Punchers: (take your pick of David Koci, Brent Severyn, Jim Cummins, Peter Worrell)

Oh shit, Jim Cummins, dude reminded me so much of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, totally forgot about him.

I’m sure they’ve been mentioned but the following deserve to be somewhere on this list:

Francois Beauchemin
Brad Stuart
Greg Zanon

Aka, the Blueline Buyouts.

The Avs, who obviously HATE to pay money to make players go away, decide to do just that, you know the player sucked (and yes I know there were some extenuating circumstances with Beauchemin outside of his relative suckiness).

Stuart was possibly the biggest failure of the pro scouting staff, like, ever. Brought aboard to play the left side but they found out later he preferred to play on the right. Also quite possibly the worst passer I’ve ever seen on NHL ice. Whether he was clearing the puck, shooting it, or passing it, it was all with the same amount of force. He just chucked it everywhere.

Beauchemin was so bad that, like, Jarome
Iginla, his stint in Colorado kinda ruined my previous admiration of the player.
 
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Pokecheque

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Oh I totally forgot about Daniel Tjarnqvist! So unbelievably bad, I went to an Avs/Ducks game during the famed Granato era, he got shoved out there for two shifts and got scored on both times, even nice guy Tony benched his ass. He left for Sweden not long after that and never returned IIRC.

I got a puppy that night so it wasn’t a huge loss. That dog lasted me over 13 years.
 

UncleRisto

Not Great, Bob!
Jul 7, 2012
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Oh shit, Jim Cummins, dude reminded me so much of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, totally forgot about him.

I’m sure they’ve been mentioned but the following deserve to be somewhere on this list:

Francois Beauchemin
Brad Stuart
Greg Zanon

Aka, the Blueline Buyouts.

The Avs, who obviously HATE to pay money to make players go away, decide to do just that, you know the player sucked (and yes I know there were some extenuating circumstances with Beauchemin outside of his relative suckiness).

Stuart was possibly the biggest failure of the pro scouting staff, like, ever. Brought aboard to play the left side but they found out later he preferred to play on the right. Also quite possibly the worst passer I’ve ever seen on NHL ice. Whether he was clearing the puck, shooting it, or passing it, it was all with the same amount of force. He just chucked it everywhere.

Beauchemin was so bad that, like, Jarome
Iginla, his stint in Colorado kinda ruined my previous admiration of the player.
Iginla wasn't even bad, the team just wasn't ready.
 
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shadow1

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Nov 29, 2008
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# SeasonsGPGAP+/-ATOI
233011-211:47

Eric Gelinas was terrible at almost everything. Abysmal skater, couldn't defend, couldn't pass.

The one thing Gelinas had was a massive slap shot, but couldn't hit the net with it.

Colorado traded the eventual 63rd overall pick for Gelinas, which the Devils used to select Fabian Zetterlund.
 

ASmileyFace

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Feb 13, 2014
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# SeasonsGPGAP+/-ATOI
233011-211:47

Eric Gelinas was terrible at almost everything. Abysmal skater, couldn't defend, couldn't pass.

The one thing Gelinas had was a massive slap shot, but couldn't hit the net with it.

Colorado traded the eventual 63rd overall pick for Gelinas, which the Devils used to select Fabian Zetterlund.
This is a good choice. He was putrid.
 
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Heyduke

Registered User
Oct 31, 2019
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It’s gotta be Brad May. He got boo’ed the first time he hit the ice and none of us could understand why we signed him at all. In fact I think he got booed all the time until at least 20 games in when people just got tired of booing.

He was booed even before hitting the ice at the Pepsi Center. I went to the Burgundy and White game at Magness that season, and I (and many others) vociferously boo'ed him when he was announced and whenever he touched the puck.
 
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Murzu

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Again, he's someone I don't blame. He's just trying to live his childhood dream, but he shouldn't have ever been close to the parent club. That's on the FO.

Doesn't change the fact that he was the worst player to wear the uniform. Miska could not stop the puck to save his life. I was legit scared everytime the opponent had the puck in our d zone.

I also agree that it wasn't his fault. He just wasn't good enough and should had never put on the Avs jersey. That's on the FO.
 

missionAvs

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Doesn't change the fact that he was the worst player to wear the uniform. Miska could not stop the puck to save his life. I was legit scared everytime the opponent had the puck in our d zone.

I also agree that it wasn't his fault. He just wasn't good enough and should had never put on the Avs jersey. That's on the FO.

Miska was terrible and the fact we saw him multiple times still haunts me.
 

Pokecheque

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Iginla wasn't even bad, the team just wasn't ready.

Well, the second year he was, first year he was surprisingly productive. The problem was that Iggy was a support player by that time, just a depth guy and power play specialist. Management at the time made the horrendous mistake of thinking he could still be a top six guy.

Despite all that, he hung on basically one year too long. That final season of his was really tough to watch. Slow as f***, couldn't win a board battle to save his life, etc.
 
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S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
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Doesn't change the fact that he was the worst player to wear the uniform. Miska could not stop the puck to save his life. I was legit scared everytime the opponent had the puck in our d zone.

I also agree that it wasn't his fault. He just wasn't good enough and should had never put on the Avs jersey. That's on the FO.
I'll agree with that in terms of talent he was clearly the worst, but even then he was a backup who got very few games. Cliche was a recurring nightmare due to the amount of ice time he got, I argue that he's worse because of how prominent he was in the game on average.
 
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