Tony Hand

[Kershaw]

TSN is going to be airing a special on Tony Hand during draft day. He is famously known for his earth shattering scoring record in England. I recall that Glen Sather said he was the most talented player at Oilers camp when he came over from the British league and offered him a contract. What could've been?

Click to read more...

 

[Benedict Kovalchuk]

British hockey would be entirely different, in a good way.

 

[Darth Bangkok]

what do you mean?

 

[Team_Spirit]

TSN is going to be airing a special on Tony Hand during draft day. He is famously known for his earth shattering scoring record in England. I recall that Glen Sather said he was the most talented player at Oilers camp when he came over from the British league and offered him a contract. What could've been?

Even Patrick Stefan could light up this league.



LOL

 

[pdd]

Does anyone else find it amusing that the video caption is of him scoring, but the net is knocked off before the puck goes in?

 

[LT]

That was a brilliant goal?

 

[uncleben]

Even Patrick Stefan could light up this league.



LOL

to be fair, Stefan was talented, just not NHL talented

but yeah, EIHL scoring is not the hardest in the world, but anyone who scores over 4000 points in their professional career... thats just ridiculous in my eyes.

this guy was good, and turned down the fame, glory and money in the NHL simply because he missed home (essentially)

i always wished more people knew about this guy. he was special


(EDIT: I was using past tense, but forgot he's still technically playing, as player-coach)

 

[Frank the Tank]

Actually Sather said:

"At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."

http://internationalhockeylegends.blogspot.com/2008/01/tony-hand.html

Being considered a real prospect is different than being considered a competitive NHL player. Also, how much of his dominance was from playing against a lower level of competition? I see that he played in the top level of WHC once and there he scored 0 points in 6 games.

 

[Analyzer*]

He played 4 games in the WHL and had 4g 4a iirc.

That league is terrible, though.

Seriously, I would say it might be on par, or slightly ahead of a common beer league around here.

 

[El Cohiba]

I think at best he could have found a niche somewhere in the NHL. However, I don't think he would have been anything substantial.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Even Patrick Stefan could light up this league.



LOL

I love the defensive attempt by the defender in yellow who slides into the net.

 

[Zine]

He played 4 games in the WHL and had 4g 4a iirc.

That league is terrible, though.

Seriously, I would say it might be on par, or slightly ahead of a common beer league around here.

The EIHL is about ECHL level....maybe slightly lower. Tons of ex-NCAA, major junior, ECHL guys play there.

 

[El Cohiba]

The EIHL is about ECHL level....maybe slightly lower. Tons of ex-NCAA, major junior, ECHL guys play there.

True, but in the era that Hand played in the league was significantly worse.

"Even Patrick Stefan could light up this league."

I'm fairly confident that anyone who has ever put on an NHL sweater would have lit up that league

 

[Mr Atoz*]

The real question is could Glen Sather have gone over there and won Twit of the Year?

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Tony Hand very rarely lead the BHL in goals/assists/points.

I just verified 1993-94, the year when he had the most points in his career.

The highest scoring team had 485 goals in 44 games, an average of 11 goals a game.

The worst defensive team had 743 goals scored against them, an average of almost 17 goals per game.

That's the league where Gary Unger finished his career.

At the age of 39, he finished with an average of almost 8 points a game for the season: 30 games - 95 goals - 143 assists - 238 points.

Source: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5518

 

[Hardyvan123]

Actually Sather said:

"At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."

http://internationalhockeylegends.blogspot.com/2008/01/tony-hand.html

Being considered a real prospect is different than being considered a competitive NHL player. Also, how much of his dominance was from playing against a lower level of competition? I see that he played in the top level of WHC once and there he scored 0 points in 6 games.

We also have to remember that Britain had a really lousy team and it would have been literally Tony and then a huge step down.

Don't take too much into that zero stat line.

He played 4 games in the WHL and had 4g 4a iirc.

That league is terrible, though.

Seriously, I would say it might be on par, or slightly ahead of a common beer league around here.

Actually it was a 3-4-4-8 line and the WHL wasn't terrible, a step below the OHL at that time but above the Q still.

Taking that pace, and it was his first taste of NA hockey, it would be easy to see him among the league leaders in scoring in the WHL that year.


I think Tony would have had some success in the NHL in the late 80's and early 90's until the clutch and grab era then his game would have gone the way of Rob Brown IMO.

 

[Halpysback*]

The real question is what kind of numbers Wayne Gretzky could have put up in the BHL. What could've been?

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Actually it was a 3-4-4-8 line and the WHL wasn't terrible, a step below the OHL at that time but above the Q still.

I read it that way, too, but I think that he was saying that the British league was terrible (not the WHL).

 

[Hardyvan123]

The BHL was very horrible, no doubt about that but Hand had lots of skill.

At the end of the day, it sounds like he preferred being the Big fish in a small pond rather than trying to get better and play with better opponents in North America.

I'm not saying his skill was as high as Rob Brown's but his drive was also lower than Brown's too.

 

[Killion]

Great Britain won the Gold Medal at the 1936 Olympics, the World Championships in 37 & 38. None other than Bunny Ahearne the Manager of the club.... believe Tony Hand (Scottish born) is now the Coach of the British National Team and was until recently a Playing-Coach of the Manchester Phoenix in the EIHL as the leagues now called.

 

[stevecanuck16]

He obviously had talent, but the quality of the league he played in would have required him to undergo a ton of development to ever play in the NHL.

Development can go either way, so it's tough to say. He didn't show a great desire to put in the development time, at least.

 

[allan5oh]

"How did he squeeze through there?"

LOLOLOLOLOL

 

[pluppe]

Tony Hand very rarely lead the BHL in goals/assists/points.

I just verified 1993-94, the year when he had the most points in his career.

The highest scoring team had 485 goals in 44 games, an average of 11 goals a game.

The worst defensive team had 743 goals scored against them, an average of almost 17 goals per game.

That's the league where Gary Unger finished his career.

At the age of 39, he finished with an average of almost 8 points a game for the season: 30 games - 95 goals - 143 assists - 238 points.

Source: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5518

So a 39 year old Gary Unger produced a better statistical season than Tony ever did.

And Ken Priestlay scored 33-43-39-82 the season Tony scored 3-4-4-8 in the WHL on the same team being a week younger. Adam Morrison 65-55-70-125.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0011131987.html

Interestingly Tony and Ken reunited playing for the Sheffield Steelers 96-99 with quite similar results:

Tony Hand
1995-96 Sheffield Steelers BHL 35 46 77 123
1996-97 Sheffield Steelers BISL 41 13 32 45
1997-98 Sheffield Steelers BISL 44 14 44 58
1998-99 Sheffield Steelers BISL 36 11 27 38

Ken Priestlay
1995-96 Sheffield Steelers BHL 36 58 40 98
1996-97 Sheffield Steelers BISL 34 25 12 37
1997-98 Sheffield Steelers BISL 43 19 33 52
1998-99 Sheffield Steelers BISL 41 19 24 43

I guess the most reasonable answer is that Tony was worse than a player who was no longer able to play in the NHL and similar to players who never made it or made it as a short term fringe player in the big league.

 

[HabsByTheBay]

The year after Hand had his WHL stint he went back to Oilers camp and they offered him a spot in the AHL with the Cape Breton Oilers. He actually turned them down for more guaranteed money in the UK.

I think the guy's a coward, personally. Unless I hear this guy is the Jesus Navas of hockey (Spanish soccer player from Seville that would get panic attacks if he spent too long away from home) then I think not testing himself against better opposition - he never even tried to play in Europe - was a gross waste of talent. That's not even getting into how his time in North America could expand interest in hockey in the UK.

 

[Pominville Knows]

The year after Hand had his WHL stint he went back to Oilers camp and they offered him a spot in the AHL with the Cape Breton Oilers. He actually turned them down for more guaranteed money in the UK.

I think the guy's a coward, personally. Unless I hear this guy is the Jesus Navas of hockey (Spanish soccer player from Seville that would get panic attacks if he spent too long away from home) then I think not testing himself against better opposition - he never even tried to play in Europe - was a gross waste of talent. That's not even getting into how his time in North America could expand interest in hockey in the UK.

He's much like Carl Söderberg in this way, only Calle now has at least given NA a try.