Players that you thought would make it but never did for some reason.

[Levitate]

Also Petr Nedved

Nedved had a solid career when you step back and look at it, though he never really became the go to guy for his teams or pushed himself into being a legitimate 1st liner. He was more of a good 2nd line center that could produce very well with the right linemates. His wrist shot was also awesomely good except that it took him forever to get it off so that he was constantly getting it blocked. If he was able to get a clear shot off, he could roof that thing from wherever, but good god did it take him forever to shoot it.

Nigel Dawes is one guy I thought would at least turn into a 25+25 guy in the NHL...a decent second liner. He had good hands, a pretty good shot (not super hard but accurate), and a knack for finding open spaces on the ice. He had a good first callup with the Rangers and seemed on track for scoring 20+ goals the next year and start to establish himself as a 2nd liner, but something just didn't happen. I'm not sure if it's work ethic or he just couldn't find the open space like he used to, but his skating isn't good enough to make up for his size at this point, and even though he's strong, he's just too small to make up for some of that size difference.

He's still ripping up the AHL so maybe he gets some more chances and can make the most of them, but it was just frustrating that he seemed to stall out in his development right after a decently promising rookie season.

Some names that I thought were supposed to be top six forwards in the NHL but never panned out:
Jared Aulin,

Hah, Jared Aulin...I remember when Sather traded Anson Carter for a half-priced Jagr. Then the Caps turned around and traded Carter for Aulin, and a vocal contingent of Rangers fans were pissed as hell about it, saying "why couldn't Sather have traded for Aulin? Guy has potential, Jagr is washed up and finished, horrible trade, etc".

Jagr then almost singlehandedly revives the franchise and sets the franchise record for points and goals the next season. Aulin busts hard.

Incredibly early, but by meeting the kid and how positive he was and how his career started off, I thought Nikita Filatov would be so much of an impact by now. It's so strange see a former #1 prospect with the most immense amount of talent not even be able to replicate his rookie season in the AHL. No one but maybe him know what's going on, I'd still love to him him become a force on any club. There is more than enough time for his career to be salvaged though.

I wonder what his value in a trade would be at this point. I would be quite interested in the Rangers taking a chance on him if the price wasn't too high, but I kind of feel like Columbus wouldn't want to sell low at this point, and the Rangers and Tortorella might be tired of enigmatic players from Russia at this point

 

[DevilsJunkie]

Ryan Caldwell.

He was an Isles draft pick (7/202 in '00) who played for the Denver Pioneers. The guy could skate and seemed to play well in all 3 zones. Had leadership ability, too. I think he was DU's captain for their championship. Unfortunately, he blew out his knee shortly after getting drafted and was never the same again. He's playing in Finland now.

 

[davebenj]

Ryan Caldwell.

He was an Isles draft pick (7/202 in '00) who played for the Denver Pioneers. The guy could skate and seemed to play well in all 3 zones. Had leadership ability, too. I think he was DU's captain for their championship. Unfortunately, he blew out his knee shortly after getting drafted and was never the same again. He's playing in Finland now.

Wow, I totally forgot about him but I remember really liking him also

 

[NeptunesTrident]

Bryan Fogarty

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

Another one who looked promising in limited time but never worked out: Radim Bicanek. I remember the Senators thought highly of him. He had a nice shot and moved the puck well, looked like he could be a decent PPQB. Except he shot blanks, didn't pick up assists, and rarely saw PP time.

He struck me as a guy that never got a full chance though with the Sens.

Then the Bluejackets gave him one and six points later he was out of hockey. That one surprised me.

 

[Leafs87]

He is one guy who never impressed me, even slightly. I'm a Leafs fan, and obviously want our prospects to succeed, but I never got the hype about Tlusty at all, he always looked like a complete and total scrub in the NHL.

Oh I know, but in the AHL he was a completely different player. He didn't bring that drive to the NHL with him. Very unfortunate.

 

[tsunami]

Michel Riesen

 

[Czechexpert]

Another one who looked promising in limited time but never worked out: Radim Bicanek. I remember the Senators thought highly of him. He had a nice shot and moved the puck well, looked like he could be a decent PPQB. Except he shot blanks, didn't pick up assists, and rarely saw PP time.

He struck me as a guy that never got a full chance though with the Sens.

Then the Bluejackets gave him one and six points later he was out of hockey. That one surprised me.

He is still playing in Czech Extraleague.

 

[Scouter]

Maybe Robin Soudek

 

[mike14]

Nigel Dawes.

For some reason I thought he'd be playing 2nd line minutes for the Rangers and scoring 15-20 goals a year.

Instead he's been on 5 teams in 4 years and spent more time in the AHL than the NHL (where he's going at a PPG in the playoffs)

 

[Scouter]

Maybe Sam Gagner is now a bust.

 

[Juzmo]

Ryan Caldwell.

He was an Isles draft pick (7/202 in '00) who played for the Denver Pioneers. The guy could skate and seemed to play well in all 3 zones. Had leadership ability, too. I think he was DU's captain for their championship. Unfortunately, he blew out his knee shortly after getting drafted and was never the same again. He's playing in Finland now.

Had a very good season here in Ässät being tied 12th in scoring by defencemen in SM-liiga even though he played 10-23 games less than the guys ahead or tied with him in points. Very good with the puck and oh so calm (sometimes maybe a bit too calm). Can give really nice hits even on the open ice and was just really good. With better speed he would not be playing in this league (didn't know about his knee).

OT, but since he played in Ässät last season and will be playing next season also I had to comment on this one

 

[Teus]

Thought Mattias Weinhandl would do better, but his scoring abilites ended up not being good enough for the first 2 lines and thus making him useless in the NHL.

 

[Hyack57]

Zdenek Blatny. (Atlanta)
Thought really highly of him as a WHLer and thought he would get an opportunity.

Igor Radulov and Eero Somervuori. Hockey publications had readers drooling over their supposed talent. I will forever hate both these clowns for messing up my 2003 draft.

 

[hallhopkinseberle]

bryan berard

 

[Sensfanman]

bryan berard

I don't think you can count a guy getting injured like that. He was as expected until then and even had some solid seasons after.

Rob Schremp is one for me. Even when he played in the NHL, he produced pretty well on some poor teams. It looks like he'll get a shot in Atlanta but that guy lives on the bubble I guess.

 

[wedge]

Dustin Boyd. I was so excited when we got him last year. I thought he would become a 30 goals-scorer.

 

[misfit]

Ari Ahonen.

Though looking back at his numbers in the AHL, I have no idea why I thought that.

 

[SaintMorose]

Daniel Tkaczuk, Rico Fata, Dustin Boyd

Not sure how their organizations managed to screw up their development.

 

[JMcLeaf]

Maybe Sam Gagner is now a bust.

Why?? Four 40+ pt seasons including a 49 pt rookie campaign. Still only 21. Sure sounds like a bust to me

 

[Scouter]

Why?? Four 40+ pt seasons including a 49 pt rookie campaign. Still only 21. Sure sounds like a bust to me

Really, #6 overall, put up 118PTS in 53 games in his draft year, can only manage around 40 in the NHL, has been a minus player his whole career, gets a chance to play with talent like Hall and Eberle, still can only get around another 40 point season, smells busty to me.

And I don't know what planet you are living on, but 40 point less than 20 goal seasons are not considered good for top line forwards.

 

[Fulcrum]

I hate to say this but Nikita Filatov and Grachev are getting closer and closer to this list. Another failed season. Very dissapointing. There is time, but there's been no progress, just regress.

 

[JMcLeaf]

Really, #6 overall, put up 118PTS in 53 games in his draft year, can only manage around 40 in the NHL, has been a minus player his whole career, gets a chance to play with talent like Hall and Eberle, still can only get around another 40 point season, smells busty to me.

And I don't know what planet you are living on, but 40 point less than 20 goal seasons are not considered good for top line forwards.

Yeah I can understand that point. I was expecting him to keep going up after this 49 rookie pt campaign but he stayed around 40 pts. If he stays around 40 pts his whole career I'd be disappointed but I think it's a little early to consider him a bust since many players don't reach their prime till after 25. I don't think he will ever put up a lot of goals, but he certainly has the play making abilities and hockey IQ to put up a lot of points.

 

[StormSurge9]

Igor Grigorenko

Granted he was well on his way before the injury, and has played fairly well in Russia the past few years (but then again, I'm going off stats). But I was still expecting him to be the real deal and be a fixture in the wings line-up for years.

 

[Scouter]

Yeah I can understand that point. I was expecting him to keep going up after this 49 rookie pt campaign but he stayed around 40 pts. If he stays around 40 pts his whole career I'd be disappointed but I think it's a little early to consider him a bust since many players don't reach their prime till after 25. I don't think he will ever put up a lot of goals, but he certainly has the play making abilities and hockey IQ to put up a lot of points.

Yeah, to be fair maybe his points in his draft year were a bit inflated playing with Kane, although Kane does a bit of playmaking himself, still the Oil took him that high and put him in the NHL right away, he probably should have stayed in junior for at least 1 more year then maybe the AHL, but the Oilers rushed him because they had no one else really, he's been in the NHL for 4 seasons now and showed little progress, I say if after your 3rd year especially for forwards if you haven't shown much progress then you can become a candidate for busting, I will give him 1 more year, it sounds like Oilers fans won't mind at all if they take Nugent-Hopkins, they then see Gagner as expendable.