Most disappointing hockey careers?

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Higgy4

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Mothra said:
Pat Peake gets a nod from me....certainly not the most disappointing.....but deserves mention. He was really starting to come around after fighting through a slew of injuries when he shattered his heel

also...in a way Bobby Orr.....not only was his career cut short, he played most of it on one knee. Its scary to think how good he would have been had he remained reasonably healthy

Bobby Orr, absolutely. Imagine that guy playing a healthy 20 year career??? Wow.
 

Sens Rule

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Daniel Marois. He was the only jersey with a number and name on the back I ever bought. In middle school before then Sens. Whatever happened to him. He was great for 2 years on a line with Damphousse.
 

Sens Rule

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Higgy4 said:
Bobby Orr, absolutely. Imagine that guy playing a healthy 20 year career??? Wow.

Bobby Orr was far from diappointing. Though it would have been great to see him play until he was 40. Imagine 22 seasons from Orr. Gretzky would not be considered the best player ever if Orr had had a reall long careeer IMO. I wish I could have seen Orr play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Mothra

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cup2006sensrule said:
Bobby Orr was far from diappointing. Though it would have been great to see him play until he was 40. Imagine 22 seasons from Orr. Gretzky would not be considered the best player ever if Orr had had a reall long careeer IMO. I wish I could have seen Orr play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im not even saying "what if he played longer"....what I am saying is disappointing is what would we have seen if he had been healthy during his short career

what he did, he did on one good knee
 

Transported Upstater

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When Fogarty came with the Nordiques, coach Pierre Pagé knowing his problems, decided to put him with a roommate that had similar problems in the "past": John Kordic.


...Seriously?...
 

RSBPC

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Mothra said:
also...in a way Bobby Orr.....not only was his career cut short, he played most of it on one knee. Its scary to think how good he would have been had he remained reasonably healthy


You could say the same thing about Cam Neely. Forced to retire at the age of 31, never played a full season after the age of 26, and he still ended up with 395 career goals.
 

Higgy4

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cup2006sensrule said:
Bobby Orr was far from diappointing. Though it would have been great to see him play until he was 40. Imagine 22 seasons from Orr. Gretzky would not be considered the best player ever if Orr had had a reall long careeer IMO. I wish I could have seen Orr play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yeah, thats exactly what I meant. Imagine him healthy for 20 years.
 

salty justice

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Even with his accomplishments, few things in hockey have disappointed me more than Pavel Bure's short career. Had he been able to hold up for a 15+ year career (and played most of the games) his name would be spoken among Lemieux and Gretzky. IMO he is the most naturally talented and creative player of all time.
 

Sens Rule

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salty justice said:
Even with his accomplishments, few things in hockey have disappointed me more than Pavel Bure's short career. Had he been able to hold up for a 15+ year career (and played most of the games) his name would be spoken among Lemieux and Gretzky. IMO he is the most naturally talented and creative player of all time.

Sorry even if Bure played for 20 years he is not on any list with Gretzky and Lemieux. Maybe he is on a list with Bobby and Brett Hull and Mike Bossy for goal scoring but he is not in the same league as Orr, Howe, Gretzky etc and would never have been even if completely healthy.

I agree he is one of the most talented and creative players ever. Thing is Lemieux and Gretz made everyone on the ice better around them while Bure was mainly a one-man show.
 
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Higgy4 said:
Seasons of 47, 51 and 52 goals. 2 more 100+ point seasons. Consistent 30 goal scorer for most of his career. Almost 1000 points in just under 900 games.

I dont know...you tell us? What ever happened to this guy? :dunno:

I believe he injured his achilles or something like that shortly afterwards.
 

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John Slaney - He probably would have been a star in the 80's or the "new NHL" with all his offensive talent. But wasn't built to be in the clutch and grab era.
 

RingWraith

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The thread creator made it pretty apparent off the bat that the context of this topic was pretty broad. Opening things up for all kinds of responses. So I can't understand why so many people are slagging everyone else's viewpoints on the matter of disappointment.

With that said, the first two names that came to mind for me were Paul Kariya and Pavel Bure. Two stars from my childhood that dazzled me like very few other players of their generation, and yet saw sharp career declines because of injury. Perhaps my outlook on Bure would not have been so bleak had the Canucks actually won the Stanley Cup in 1994. Kariya was my favourite player for the majority of my hockey viewing life. It was absolutely crushing not being able to watch him in the Nagano Olympics. I can't express enough how much I want him to see outstanding success in Nashville and hopefully the Torino Olympics as well.
 

SML

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Wetcoaster said:
For me it is no contest. No one else is even close. So much promise, so much skill and a helluva a nice guy.

When you look at the talent and the waste - dead at 32 of cardiac arrest in Myrtle Beach, Florida. Maybe the greatest junior defenceman all-time and he was big - 6'2" and 210 lbs. Many who saw him at his peak consider him the best skater ever - at any position. And that includes Bobby Orr.

Drugs and alcohol turned out to be the downfall for him personally and his hockey career.

Bryan Fogarty

He had everything. He could skate like the wind. He could see anybody on the ice. He could make the perfect pass. He was as talented as anybody I've seen in junior hockey. He broke all of Bobby Orr's records. Everybody was telling me you can't go wrong with him. - Maurice Filion, former Quebec GM, who drafted Bryan Fogarty with the Nordiques' first pick in 1987, six picks ahead of Quebec's second selection, Joe Sakic

Have a look at the company he kept in the OHL record book:


Alcohol was his undoing. As Mats Sundin said of Fogarty when he played with him in Quebec:
"Bryan Fogarty could skate faster, shoot harder and pass crisper drunk than the rest of us could sober."

"I never saw a better kid defenceman," Craig Patrick once said of Fogarty. "If only he could have straightened out his life ... "

His stats in the NHL with Quebec, Pittsburgh and Montreal were:
156GP 22G 52A 74Pts

As I said no one comes close IMHO. Others have crashed and burned but not with that level of raw talent.

He would have been my pick. What a career this kid could have had. I actually worked at the hotel he was found dead in, from what I have heard. Of course, I had moved on before that happened.
 

Squirrel in the Hole

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Bob Probert. He started out as a tough guy that could play well, but the Stolie and coke ate away the talent. Long, slow slide downhill, with a lot of uglyness in his personal life, that continues to this day.
 

weaponomega

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Neely's career was disappointing in way. We never really got a look at a healthy Neely. If he could have been healthy throughout his career, he'd be top 5 in all time goals.
 

spymoose

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I'm not sure how you can call some people's careers disappointing because of injuries. Guys like Bure, Neely and even Orr were great players that just didn't have the time to shine. I wouln't say they had disappointing careers, just unfinished.

The OP mentioned Bure and I have no idea how anyone could call him a disappointment. With Vancouver he was everything they expected and when he moved to the weaker Florida/NYR teams he produced amazing numbers playing with much less talent. Sadly, like Orr and others, a great career was cut short for Bure because of knee injuries. If you look at his totals from his last few season, where he barely played any games, his points per game were still stellar considering his knees and the fact he couldn't get a consistent rate of games in.

So, to me I can't really call a guy who performed amazingly while he played a disappointment because of injuries. Now, a guy like Lindros who never lived up to the hype, or Diagle who has only now started to fill some of his hype, I will whole-heartedly label as a disappointing career.
 

Mogo

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Can't say there careers. As they never really got started. But decided to add these anyway

For the Panthers

Chris Wells

Bryan Murray was sure he'd be the next Eric Lindros (said that back in 97 or so)


Ivan Novoseltsev


Bryan Murray was quoted saying after the first Panthers practice with Novoseltsev on ice "There's our first 50 goal scorer"

Denis Svhidki
Jesse Belanger

There are many many Panthers to add. Those just come to mind at first
 

Michael Morbid

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Mogo said:
Can't say there careers. As they never really got started. But decided to add these anyway

For the Panthers

Chris Wells

Bryan Murray was sure he'd be the next Eric Lindros (said that back in 97 or so)


Ivan Novoseltsev


Bryan Murray was quoted saying after the first Panthers practice with Novoseltsev on ice "There's our first 50 goal scorer"

Denis Svhidki
Jesse Belanger

There are many many Panthers to add. Those just come to mind at first

Haha Bryan Murray's quotes are career killers.
 

Mothra

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spymoose said:
I'm not sure how you can call some people's careers disappointing because of injuries. Guys like Bure, Neely and even Orr were great players that just didn't have the time to shine. I wouln't say they had disappointing careers, just unfinished.

I think you are missing my point on Orr.....seeing how he played most of his career on torn up knees what I am saying is, how great would he have been had he been reasonably healthy during his career.....I am not even talking about longevity
 

spymoose

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No, what I was saying is that there are two different kinds of dissapointment. For instance the OP mentioned Diagle and others mentioned Orr.

Orr disappointment: He became a great defensemen and the disappoinment felt about him is sadness/regret that he was unable to perform to his full potential.

Daigle disappointment: Played bad and never lived up to expectations. Was a bust of a draft and played disappointingly.

What I was attempting to do with my post was point out that putting people who's careers were disappointing because of injuries alongside those who didn't perform to expectations is kind of unfair.

The OP's list was basically all people who didn't live up to their hype, except Bure who's reason for being on the list was injuries cutting his career short.

That was my point.
 

Mothra

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spymoose said:
No, what I was saying is that there are two different kinds of dissapointment. For instance the OP mentioned Diagle and others mentioned Orr.

Orr disappointment: He became a great defensemen and the disappoinment felt about him is sadness/regret that he was unable to perform to his full potential.

Daigle disappointment: Played bad and never lived up to expectations. Was a bust of a draft and played disappointingly.

What I was attempting to do with my post was point out that putting people who's careers were disappointing because of injuries alongside those who didn't perform to expectations is kind of unfair.

The OP's list was basically all people who didn't live up to their hype, except Bure who's reason for being on the list was injuries cutting his career short.

That was my point.

The OP said "for one reason of another" and not only mentioned Bure but mentioned Lindros as well.....not sure what you are getting at but to me it seems like the OP was pretty clear and wanted to hear what others thought......Orr might be an odd choice but an addition nonetheless
 

Stephen

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I just want to hear names and reasons of players who have disappointed for one reason or another. They could be huge busts who never made the NHL on a regular basis despite having an abundance of skill, they could be the victims of severe injuries, they could be guys who failed to live up to their hype and ended up as lesser players that they were projected to be, or they could be players who just had careers that tailed off. I just picked guys who broke in after 1990, because that's the time frame I'm most familiar with. It's been great reading this thread so far.
 
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