Most Underachieving Flyers
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Hurricane28
Angry Flyers STH/Weather Guy
Now it is probably Evgeny Medvedev. People had very high hopes for him and while he hasn't been awful, he has been disappointing. I do not believe Manning should be playing over him but Hakstol seems to know what he is doing.
From the recent past I would probably say Pavel Brendl. Dude lit up the WHL and when the Flyers got him I was certain he'd be a monster. Not to mention he was the centerpiece for the Lindros trade.
From the recent past I would probably say Pavel Brendl. Dude lit up the WHL and when the Flyers got him I was certain he'd be a monster. Not to mention he was the centerpiece for the Lindros trade.
- Sep 28, 2014
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Medvedev hasn't really gotten a fair shake here as far as i'm concerned. I think the language barrier was a bigger issue than any of us realize. It's hard to coach a player that doesn't understand what the hell you're saying. He would look really good for a couple of games, make a mistake trying to do too much, then get benched for Manning. His handling is one of my biggest gripes about Hakstol this season, because he has a lot more ability than Manning and is relegated to the bench.
Pavel Brendl is a great answer though. Everyone said he had 50/50 potential and he was content to just be a lazy slob on the ice.
Jiri Dopita also comes to mind. "Best player outside the NHL" looked no better than a 3rd liner most nights.
Either way, he's underachieving. Whether it is his fault or not is certainly an issue, but he's still not doing what we expected/wanted. I agree his handling has not been ideal, but whether that is because of the language barrier or something else doesn't change the fact that he's underachieved.
dats81
Registered User
1. Kevin Marshall should at least have turned into an NHL regular. They moved up in the draft to get him and it turned out he was a finished product already.
2. Maxim Ouellet ... the reason they will never draft a goalie in the first round again.
3. Steve Downie could have been so much better if he had the brains to avoid suspension.
HM: Stefan Ruzicka, Pavel Brendl... two talented Eastern European players with questionable work ethic.
2. Maxim Ouellet ... the reason they will never draft a goalie in the first round again.
3. Steve Downie could have been so much better if he had the brains to avoid suspension.
HM: Stefan Ruzicka, Pavel Brendl... two talented Eastern European players with questionable work ethic.
Curufinwe
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I'd vote for Rinaldo. His first season fooled some people into thinking he could be an effective NHL role player, but he was undisciplined garbage ever since and now languishes in the AHL.
I think that's harsh. He was a 15-20 point shutdown dman on some very good teams.
I think that's harsh. He was a 15-20 point shutdown dman on some very good teams.
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I thought Joni Pitkanen under-achieved to an extent as well.
He was supposed to be our #1 for a decade. Instead, we got 3 seasons (4 if you count lockout lost year of 04-05 where he was a Phantom) out of him before shipping him to Edmonton for Dan McGillis. He only lasted 1 season in Edmonton before being moved to Carolina. He did find consistency in Carolina but never became an elite #1 defensemen like he was projected.
He was supposed to be our #1 for a decade. Instead, we got 3 seasons (4 if you count lockout lost year of 04-05 where he was a Phantom) out of him before shipping him to Edmonton for Dan McGillis. He only lasted 1 season in Edmonton before being moved to Carolina. He did find consistency in Carolina but never became an elite #1 defensemen like he was projected.
Curufinwe
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This was the actual trade:
Joni Pitkanen , Geoff Sanderson & 2009 3rd rounder (transferred to Calgary - Ryan Howse) for Jason Smith & Joffrey Lupul.
http://www.flyershistory.com/cgi-bin/trade.cgi
YEM
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- Mar 7, 2010
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in the same trade, Jan Hlavac, scored something like 30 goals/60+ points with the NYR the season before we got him in the #88 trade and he basically never had a season anywhere near that again in the NHL...
Embiid
Off IR for now
Nice list....
Janne Niinimaa, Magnus Roupe, Gilbert Dionne, Jiri Latal are some others that come to mind for me
I guess Mark Pederson was another...oh and DOPITA!
I'm sure I will be adding more...
1865
Alpha Couturier
FlyerFaithful17
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- Feb 24, 2015
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It's so hard to call a Hart winner, potential Hall of Famer the biggest underachiever.
BackToTheBrierePatch
Nope not today.
- Sep 28, 2014
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Ahh thats right. It's been a while. Thanks for correcting me on that.
That trade wasn't terrible for us. Smith and Lupul helped us go on a nice run in 2008 and then Lupul helped us land Pronger.
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He did anything but underachieve on an individual level.
Winning a Cup is a team achievement.
It would have also helped had the NHL not allowed head shots at the time..
CanadianFlyer88
Knublin' PPs
Boucher's first stint with the Flyers is the first thing that came to mind for me.
Chris Gratton came in with some lofty expectations and made a swift exit after failing to meet them.
Chris Gratton came in with some lofty expectations and made a swift exit after failing to meet them.
Embiid
Off IR for now
I guess Bryz was such an obvious disaster that he wasn't worth mentioning 
Yeah Gratton was pretty bad.....Clarke really over valued that dude and that signing bonus of 10M or whatever it was really took the cake.
Yeah Gratton was pretty bad.....Clarke really over valued that dude and that signing bonus of 10M or whatever it was really took the cake.
Beef Invictus
Revolutionary Positivity
Also thought of Boucher; he went from being a revolution in net to "meh" rapidly.
Bryzgalov has to be the biggest flop though, probably in franchise history when you consider the huge impact it had. Costed us Bob (that may work now, but at the time that was really annoying), forced Homer to remodel the defense into an outdated DPE-era monstrosity to put a meatshield in front of him (Are only JUST beginning to recover from that, and it cost us JVR for Schenn), and it forced Lavi to try to use a convoluted system he couldn't coach and the players didn't understand.
Bryzgalov's signing and failure had huge negative impacts across the team for years, and we are only just moving on with Grossmann and Schenn moved out.
Bryzgalov has to be the biggest flop though, probably in franchise history when you consider the huge impact it had. Costed us Bob (that may work now, but at the time that was really annoying), forced Homer to remodel the defense into an outdated DPE-era monstrosity to put a meatshield in front of him (Are only JUST beginning to recover from that, and it cost us JVR for Schenn), and it forced Lavi to try to use a convoluted system he couldn't coach and the players didn't understand.
Bryzgalov's signing and failure had huge negative impacts across the team for years, and we are only just moving on with Grossmann and Schenn moved out.
CanadianFlyer88
Knublin' PPs
I guess Bryz was such an obvious disaster that he wasn't worth mentioning
Clearly blocked that out of my memory.
Beef Invictus
Revolutionary Positivity
Lindberg
Bennyflyers16 get a life
- Oct 5, 2013
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For a player labeled as "The Next One" he did underachieve on an individual level as well. (In my mind) For what he was suppose to be and what he was suppose to accomplish he came up quite short due to a various amount of reasons. He played against quite a high level of competition but his trophy case is quite small as well. Winning a cup is a team achievement but it is up to the top level players to really make it happen. It is unfortunate that his career was cut short and the flyers gave up a ton to come up with nothing to show for it.
Eric Lindros was a fantastic player but he certainly didn't live up to the hype.
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