Most disappointing player so far?

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

I'm starting to accept that time is catching crosby so 13 points in 15 games with a solid two way game i won't necessarily complain

 

[7even]

Perhaps this thread should indicate that this season is too much of a damn outlier for people to keep clinging to their awful takes. When you see elite talent like Eichel, Zibanejad, Malkin, EK, Pettersson and Josi struggling this much, it should be an indication that we can only put so much stock into this wild year.

Or you could just keep saying that Lafreniere is a bust, Zibanejad is washed up and Hughes is so bad defensively that he should go down to the AHL. I'm sure those takes will age well...

There are players who take a backwards step every year. It's hardly remarkable.

 

[LOFIN]

Anyone voting Lafreniere over Zibanejad should have their head checked. I mean I'm sure everyone is dissapointed with Lafreniere, but look at Mika. He's on pace for less than 17 points on a normal season. 17!

 

[lawrence]

Petterson not an option? He's season has been disgraceful

Jack Eichel too. There are many players that could be on this list.

 

[OKR]

Jack Eichel too. There are many players that could be on this list.

Eichel has 12 points in 13 games playing trough shoulder injury in a god awful Sabres team, sure he doesn’t look as good as usual but he clearly isn’t in the same category as options like Zibanejad, Lafreniere, Dahlin, Korpisalo and Jarry etc.

 

[BlueBaron]

I went with Hall because I was always suspicious of Zibanejad. Hall, Eichel and Dahlin should be able to do a lot more than they are. I see they have promising powerplay numbers.

 

[Fandlauer]

Anyone voting Lafreniere over Zibanejad should have their head checked. I mean I'm sure everyone is dissapointed with Lafreniere, but look at Mika. He's on pace for less than 17 points on a normal season. 17!

DJ Zbad checking out for months at a time has been a pretty regular occurrence throughout his career, it's more expected than disappointing.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Zibanejad. He was a sleeper monster pick on HFB for goalscoring. Like a bad stock pick (or really could be one materially, if you play in one of those high buy-in ones) for a fantasy pool. I haven't watched him at all but you take this guy for potential to hit at least 30 goals in this shortened season and he looks nowhere close. He hit 41 goals last season playing 1 game more than this season would be.

Laf is completely dogshit awful this season and it's funny watching his defenders here explain it away with line mates, TOI, other whatif metrics. But look at the massive amounts of hockey prognosticators with huge eggs on their faces when they trashed Hughes as a bust after one season.

There are few useful indicators so far that can point to where Laf's career would go with such a small sample. It hardly matters if he's PPG or 1 point in 15 games so far, so early in one's career his trajectory could change on a dime. He's still 1OA and will deserve to me in my mind until years later when you can properly assess, so hard to be "disappointed" in this performance when the expectations really should be very low.

So you haven’t watched Lafreniere play, but have a very strong opinion?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

This poll needs more John Marino. Right answer is Laf.

Has Marino been that bad? What’s happening there?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

DJ Zbad checking out for months at a time has been a pretty regular occurrence throughout his career, it's more expected than disappointing.

He hasn’t done that the last two seasons. And this isn’t checking out. He’s struggling with COVID after-effects.

 

[Boud]

I wasn't expecting Lafreniere to have a Matthews-level impact because he isn't a Matthews-level prospect, but I don't think that 15-20-35 would have been putting too much pressure on him.

That's a 51-point pace, which is about in line with what you expect a 1st overall forward to put up.

I'm sure he'll get it eventually, but 15-1-0-1 is very bad.

What does Matthews have to do with Lafreniere?

Must be a Leafs fan.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

DJ Zbad checking out for months at a time has been a pretty regular occurrence throughout his career, it's more expected than disappointing.

This guy hasn't watched Mika play hockey in 2 years.

 

[volcom92886]

Karlsson, he cannot stay healthy and has a meager 4 pts in 13 games. Injuries and age have slowed him. This has proven a lot of critics right that he is a one dimensional player and only excelled at the offensive aspect of the game.

 

[Ignite111]

If you are looking strictly at the scoresheet at the end of the game or just expecting big points from Laf that is why you are voting for him. If you watch him play you can see he's playing good hockey for a rookie and could very well break out soon and have a great second half of the season. Zib should be the winner here and no one should be voting for Laf over him.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I’d go with Lafreniere, was expecting more, Zbad had Covid, so maybe some lingering effects that long haulers have. Other NHL players are suffering from that like Risto.

 

[MrOT]

Why are there no Finns on this list? Hm... I bet there was a Finnish spy poisoning a good part of the Swedish top 6 and top 4 for the next year's olympics.

I mean: Zibanejad - awful, Karlsson - awful, Dahlin - bad, Pettersson - bad but getting better

 

[slobbergob]

It's not just luck though, also his xGF is down significantly. And with a very high PDO one could argue that he has actually been quite lucky this season, even if more in the defensive end.

His xG% is 59.30 at 5v5, which is very good. You might be looking at his xGF, which seems to be cumulative. Because most of his rates are in the same ballpark as last year, minus his own sh%. Also he's technically had a "really high PDO" for the last 3 seasons, but elite talent can do that, especially over a 13 game sample.

That said he's definitely not been his dominate self at times. Last night was definitely a step in the right direction though.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Must be EK and Dahlin.

The former most were hoping to see rebound for Norris calibre after such a long rest and layoff and he's playing this terribly. Dahlin because people forget he was viewed as franchise potential player and his start has been so underwhelming it isnt even funny

 

[Grantham]

This doesn't make any sense. Unless the players are facing health concerns, covid related or not, this season is just as meaningful as any other.

I'd have to disagree. The Bubble Playoffs were remarkable, because the players literally gave 110% every shift, and sacrificed so much. I give that equal stock to any other playoffs because of what the players endured, and the way they played.

But this year is weird. There is a "let down", depressed kind of body language in a lot of players, and even entire teams. The lack of fans was okay for a bit in The Bubble, but this year its wearing thin. Players seem to have a real hard time getting motivated, and there seems to be more internal disputes and fights.

Don't get me wrong, I love hockey, and I'll take anything I get. But there is nothing normal about this season.

 

[The Turtle]

Clearly it's tkachuk the turtle.

The clown hasn't scored a goal in 9 games and only has 11 points on the season.

 

[Machinehead]

Lafreniere isn't scoring but he can take a shift without murdering the team.

Zibanejad hasn't been able to do that most of the year.

Laf is like having a random 4th liner on the ice. Zibanejad has been like being shorthanded.

 

[Machinehead]

This guy hasn't watched Mika play hockey in 2 years.

He hasn't watched Mika play hockey ever.

He had one camp with Ottawa when he was like 19 where he was out of shape and -God forbid- has an interest outside of the rink, so now we have to read this garbage every year.

 

[Buck Naked]

This is Dahlin. Many of the other players on this list should be trending down because of age, injuries etc. so it's not necessarily a surprise that a guy like Karlsson i struggling. Dahlin, on the other hand. is in his third year and should be taking massive steps to live up to the hype. He's playing for his next contract now and it's really not looking good. While Makar is playing like a huge 8 year extension is waiting Dahlin is looking like he's aiming for 2 x 2. I mean, Colin Miller and Jake McCabe looks better.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Or.... Zibanejad way overperformed in a relatively small sample and Hughes isn't as good as people expected?

I think it's somewhere in between.

I get not putting too much stock into this season, but you seem to suggest we put all our stock into last (shortened) season? Huh?

Hughes is in his second year, in. strange year, on a mediocre team, is 21, and is leading the NHL in scoring by a Dman. At 21.

But you think he 'isn't as good as people thought'. God I wish you were in my keeper league.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

While Makar is playing like a huge 8 year extension is waiting Dahlin is looking like he's aiming for 2 x 2. I mean, Colin Miller and Jake McCabe looks better.

No, they don't, and thats exactly the big issue. People like you make excuses for this inept coach who misuses Dahlin. Makar was lucky enough that he has a coach who uses him like his talent indicates he should be used. Excuses are made of why fringe NHL'ers should be playing over one of the two cornerstone players on the Sabres roster. They are only going to have success with Dahlin's continued success. That the coach doesn't seem to understand that is an issue that needs to be addressed.