How do mediocre players achieve lengthy careers in the NHL?

[Hackett]

Tom pyatt is one.

Coaches just have certain guys that they know and trust to get the job done. Boucher has had pyatt in Hamilton. I believe he had him in TB as well although I'm not so sure about that, and he brought him along in Ottawa now too. I haven't seen pyatt for a while until this year and now I'm wondering if he went to Europe and played for Boucher.

Vigneault had Craig Darby.
Keenan had Brian noonan
Therrien has known bouillon since junior, and I feel like he extended his career.

I think that comfort factor goes a long way. They just know what they are going to get, they have done tbe job before and there's virtually nothing unknown.

 

[Machinehead]

We're obviously smarter than some of the clowns who run the show, but we couldn't do what Babcock, coach Q or Yzerman do.
If you were the GM of a team and I was your head coach, we might not be dead last if we had a decent roster but I doubt we'd be able to elevate whatever we got to top contender status unless we started with a stacked team.

Agreed 100%

I know possession is good but I have no idea how to formulate tactics which achieve possession. So I'd do lousy.

But what I do know is not to play players who cannot achieve possession under any system because they're awful. A few coaches don't know that.

And if you look at the bad players still getting jobs, and look at their coaches, a lot of the coaches are the same 7-8 usual suspects.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Gary Bettman and his wild west expansion ideas.

 

[Team_Spirit]

by being good without the puck

a real tragedy

 

[PAZ]

Agreed 100%

I know possession is good but I have no idea how to formulate tactics which achieve possession. So I'd do lousy.

But what I do know is not to play players who cannot achieve possession under any system because they're awful. A few coaches don't know that.

And if you look at the bad players still getting jobs, and look at their coaches, a lot of the coaches are the same 7-8 usual suspects.

Even if you ignore tactics, what about practices? Drills? 1 on 1 with players? Managing relationship with players? etc.

Sure, some coaches can make ****** coaching decisions, but if you think hockey players are going to respect a random dude coming out of nowhere, you're out for lunch. GM you might be able to swindle your way by for a year or two, but again it's more than just calling Stevie Y up and asking if he wants to trade Drouin for a 1st.

 

[BobbyShehan]

This is a great and complex question! It transcends generations, coaches favorites or one dimensional talents. Dick Duff is in the HOF. Dominic Moore has played for about half the teams in the league and guys like Torrey Mitchell don't seem to have skills at anything specific. Economics certainly is a huge factor as you can't pay everybody on your team Crosby's $$$. Defensive awareness seems to be a common attribute as is work ethics but it doesn't explain everything... Luck?

 

[SnowblindNYR]

This is a great and complex question! It transcends generations, coaches favorites or one dimensional talents. Dick Duff is in the HOF. Dominic Moore has played for about half the teams in the league and guys like Torrey Mitchell don't seem to have skills at anything specific. Economics certainly is a huge factor as you can't pay everybody on your team Crosby's $$$. Defensive awareness seems to be a common attribute as is work ethics but it doesn't explain everything... Luck?

I don't think Dominic Moore is a good example of a mediocre player. He's a very good 4th line center.

 

[BobbyShehan]

"Mediocre": ordinary, average, middle-of-the-road. How is a 20 pts average player on a 4th line, being pretty ordinary at face-offs and not displaying any specific above average skills not mediocre? Moore is the definition of mediocre. Not bad, mediocre.

 

[cptjeff]

In order to win, teams need guys who can play defense, who can wear the other team down, who can get in the heads of opponents, who can reliably generate energy for their team when both teams fall into a lull. There are many, many aspects to the game that cannot be quantified easily or even at all, and people who watch games rather than watching scoresheets know that. Coaches and GMs know it too- and if you can deliver some of those skills night in and night out, and be good enough to get by on various other metrics? You're gonna find a role. For me, the example is Craig Adams. By all the standard metrics, a pretty terrible hockey player. 160 points in 951 games. But night in and night out, he was a model 4th liner. Made hits, limited the other team's chances, gave the team energy when they were slowing down, and never tried to be something he wasn't. You didn't see his name on the scoresheet much, but he helped teams win games.

There are many roles a player can play to help a team. For some, you're the star who scores goals. Some guys are the guys who take goals away from the other team. Other guys help the guys in those first two groups play better, or make the opposing team play worse. Hockey is played by humans, not robots, and just because an effect is hard to capture quantitatively doesn't mean that those guys don't have an effect on the game.

 

[Bank Shot]

This is a great and complex question! It transcends generations, coaches favorites or one dimensional talents. Dick Duff is in the HOF. Dominic Moore has played for about half the teams in the league and guys like Torrey Mitchell don't seem to have skills at anything specific. Economics certainly is a huge factor as you can't pay everybody on your team Crosby's $$$. Defensive awareness seems to be a common attribute as is work ethics but it doesn't explain everything... Luck?

Luck probably plays a big part. Guy breaks in on the 4th line when a team doesn't really have any better options.

After that he is "established" and coaches know he can at least survive at the NHL level so its less risky than breaking in a rookie.

I mean there are probably a thousand guys in the world on the level of an Anton Lander or a Chris Vande Velde. For whatever reason, they have NHL jobs and the other thousand guys don't.

Luck has to be a big factor in that as a lot of the other guys likely also try hard and are beauties in the room.

 

[bob27]

It takes incredible amount of talent and work to become a mediocre NHL player. Most players are simply not good enough to reach that level.

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

They get contract offer from Nonis.

 

[1mjp]

Staying injury-free may be the most important factor.