Players who Developed Different than Expected

[MS]

Marty Reasoner jumps to mind. Was supposed to be a soft scoring forward and turned himself into a gritty shot-blocker.

Yeah, this is the one that always stands out to me. Went from being considered an absolute creampuff to one of the grittiest defensive centers in the league.

Kyle Wellwood's transformation wasn't quite as polar but he's re-invented himself quite nicely as a reliable 3rd line center who does a great job defensively.

Jamie Rivers was one of the most high-risk/high-reward defenders you'll ever see when he was in junior - scored 121 points one year, was nicknamed the 'Riverboat Gambler'. To stick in the NHL, he turned into the most boring, low-risk 3rd pairing defender you can imagine, and averged about 9 points/82 games over his career. That was always one of the weirdest to me - was like his talent just disappeared.

Bouwmeester was considered a guaranteed #1 dman who can do it all. He was said to be as smooth of a skater as Scott Niedermayer, with the ability to control a game with his play. Today, he is far from that. He's at best a decent 2-3, defensive dman.

As someone who said that Bouwmeester projected as a 'taller Bret Hedican' when I was watching him in junior, he turned out absolutely exactly as expected.

Having said that, he's pretty clearly a 1-2 defender who plays 27 minutes/game and is very good defensively and on the PK ... just absolutely sucks on the PP. Unfairly maligned player who is the least of Calgary's problems.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

how about marty mcsorley? drafted and entered the league as a fourth line goon winger and at his very best was arguably LA's best defenseman over rob blake and alexei zhitnik in his excellent rookie year, helping the team to the finals. i know mcsorley over blake in the '93 playoffs is going to be controversial to some and seem crazy now, but it was a legitimate argument at the time and one that analysts were making.

 

[ES]

Ian Laperriere, big time scorer in juniors, became a pest and grinding, checking line center in the NHL.

Laperriere came to my mind due to his first season. He had 27 points as a rookie in a lockout-shortened season. It stayed as his career high for 11 years, until he had 45 in 2005-06.

 

[JSmith81x]

Not exactly the right thread, but I was looking at the 2000 THN Draft Preview.

Rank | Player | Upside | THN
1 | Dany Heatley | First line scoring winger | Size and a big-time shot
2 | Marian Gaborik | First line offensive winger | Speed and creativity
3 | Rick DiPietro | Star No. 1 netminder | A premier puckhandler
4 | Rostislav Klesla | An all-around No. 2 defenseman | The best blueline prospect
5 | Scott Hartnell | A gritty, two-way second or third line winger | Future NHL captain
6 | Raffi Torres | A second line scoring winger | A gritty sniper
7 | Mikhail Yakubov | A first or second line playmaker | Rangy, smooth playmaker
8 | Brooks Orpik | A No. 3 or 4 banging defenseman | Mean and punishing hitter
9 | Pavel Vorobiev | A first or second line winger | An increasingly hot property
10 | Alexei Smirnov | A first line winger | A talented, but high-risk pick
11 | Vaclav Nedorost | A second line center | Plays a complete game
12 | Brent Krahn | A solid No. 1 goalie | Goalies don't come much bigger
13 | Alexander Frolov | A first or second line offensive winger | A skilled sniper with size
14 | Ilya Nikulin | A No. 3 or 4 defenseman | Big, hard-shooting defender
15 | Martin Samuelsson | A two-way No. 3 winger | Blazing speed, can he finish?
16 | Brad Boyes | An offensive No. 2 or 3 center | As smart as there is in draft
17 | Nikita Alexeev | A second line winger | An underachieving giant
18 | Anton Volchenkov | A No. 4 or 5 defensive D-man | Hard-nosed defensive D-man
19 | Jarret Stoll | A two-way third liner | Finds a way to get it done
20 | Marcel Hossa | A playmaking second line center | Good player on a bad team
21 | Justin Williams | A second or third line winger | Just keeps on improving
22 | Alexei Mikhnov | A second or third line winger | Mystery man causing a stir
23 | Lars Jonsson | A top-four offensive defenseman | Smooth-skating puckhandler
24 | Ron Hainsey | A No. 3 or 4 mobile defenseman | Rangy, mobile puck mover
25 | Ruslan Zainullin | An all-around No. 2 or 3 winger | No glaring weaknesses
26 | Brian Sutherby | A two-way third line center | Plays solid two-way game
27 | Krys Kolanos | A second line point-producing center | One-dimensional offense
28 | Jeff Taffe | An offensive No. 2 center | Offensive work in progress
29 | Tomas Kurka | A second line scoring winger | A skater and a shooter
30 | Tero Maata | A No. 4 or 5 hard-nosed defenseman | Rock-solid Finnish blueliner
31 | Steve Ott | A third or fourth line "energy" player | The ultimate pest/agitator
32 | Libor Ustrnul | A No. 5 or 6 physical, defensive defenseman | They don't come any bigger

Niklas Kronwall (#47)

"As you might expect, he's not at all physical," said another scout. "But he has great anticipation, skates and passes well. He could be an effective power-play specialist. If (an underdeveloped defenseman) can make it, this could be the one."

Tero Maata

"He has a good mind for the game," added another scout. "He will play. At worse, he'll be a five-six defenseman, at best a four-five."

Paul Martin (#50)

Some, however, are concerned about his lack of physical stature and wonder if he'll be able to make a smooth transition to the college game, never mind pro hockey.

Steve Ott

Doug Gilmour projections are a reach--it's doubtful Ott will be prolific at the pro level. Tyson Nash may be a better match.

Justin Williams

"He's a scrawny kid who's a good junior player, that's it," said one critic.

Ruslan Zainullin

"He's a lock to play (pro). He has no real weaknesses."

 

[Jumptheshark]

Jovo cop comes to mind

He was projected to be a stud d-man with a bright norris future

 

[vippe]

Jovo cop comes to mind

He was projected to be a stud d-man with a bright norris future

He was a stud for a few years though

 

[jkrx]

Jamie Rivers was one of the most high-risk/high-reward defenders you'll ever see when he was in junior - scored 121 points one year, was nicknamed the 'Riverboat Gambler'. To stick in the NHL, he turned into the most boring, low-risk 3rd pairing defender you can imagine, and averged about 9 points/82 games over his career. That was always one of the weirdest to me - was like his talent just disappeared.

Bad management. Blues coaches and staff kept telling him to stay at home and finally ruined the poor kids confidence. One of the young kids Keenan (amongst others) managed to destroy.

 

[ColeJ]

was just thinking that manny malhotra fits this perfectly the other day.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Burrows never had hands of stone. Perhaps in his first few years he wasn't quite adjusted to the speed of the NHL, but he still had pretty deft hands.

Yes, he did. Early in his career he would flub chances in close at least once a game. In his first full year he had 3 goals in 81 games. 22 goals in his first 206 games. Every time he got in scoring position he'd screw it up. If anything it was speed that he had down in those days, his speed and hockey sense made it so he was regularly in scoring positions despite limited ice time and defensive roles, but his hands were made of stone.

Bouwmeester was considered a guaranteed #1 dman who can do it all. He was said to be as smooth of a skater as Scott Niedermayer, with the ability to control a game with his play. Today, he is far from that. He's at best a decent 2-3, defensive dman.

Chara turned out differently as well, I don't think the Isles or draft experts anticipated Chara to become the player that he is today.

Jovo cop comes to mind

He was projected to be a stud d-man with a bright norris future

I think it's worth noting that being better or worse then projected is not developing differently.

Bouwmeester is everything people said he would be, just a weaker version of it.

Jovanovski showed everything people hoped for, just never at the same time and sometimes not at the same time, inconsistent on a Jekyl and Hyde level, or, on a Jovo-Cop/Special Ed level...

Chara is a weird case where everyone just assume that a player that big would not be able to control their body and skate smoothly, it's not so much that he developed different, so much as proving that a player of his size could develop that way.

 

[jkrx]

Craig Conroy went from top-6 offensive talent to Selke nominee to top-6 offensive talent. Got to be mentioned.

Brian Skrudland is pretty self-explainatory.

 

[gifted88]

matt moulson, I don't think anyone expected a 30 goal scorer.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Sheldon Souray was projected as a tough stay at home d-man until he got his bionic wrist.

 

[terreur]

I'M a bit young, so I'm not 100% sure of what I will advance... it's a mix of what I remeber, youtube videos and discussions with my dad. But we went to 20-25 games per year in Quebec city when Sundin was there and he did not look at all like the player he was at the end of his career.

In qc he was a tall, slim speedy winger. I would say it was a longshot saying he would become a physically dominant Center by the end of his career.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Believe it or not, but Wendel Clark was originally a defenseman. I think he was switched to LW towards the end of his junior hockey career.

 

[Big Phil]

I do remember Rostislav Klesla predicted to be an offensive defenseman

I know injuries have hurt him but I remember Gilbert Brule expected to be a franchise-type center

 

[Stephen]

I'M a bit young, so I'm not 100% sure of what I will advance... it's a mix of what I remeber, youtube videos and discussions with my dad. But we went to 20-25 games per year in Quebec city when Sundin was there and he did not look at all like the player he was at the end of his career.

In qc he was a tall, slim speedy winger. I would say it was a longshot saying he would become a physically dominant Center by the end of his career.

It's funny, Lars Eller reminds me a lot of a young Mats Sundin, so you're right, Sundin did end up being a very different player than he started out as. His transformation really started in 1997 when he simply put a horrible Leafs team on his shoulders and then ended up with the captaincy that summer.

 

[Leafs87]

Not sure what Kulemin was projected to be, but I doubt many expect him to be a 30 goal scored, who plays good both ways and can use his size

 

[Hardyvan123]

He was a stud for a few years though

He was more a guy who looked like a stud rather than actually being one.

Dion Phaneuf like in the way he played and regressed once exposed.

Both are good players but their aggressive style made them look more "studly" than they really were IMO.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

I do remember Rostislav Klesla predicted to be an offensive defenseman

I know injuries have hurt him but I remember Gilbert Brule expected to be a franchise-type center

I remember scouts saying he'd be the next Adam Foote.

 

[kmad]

Do we count players who drastically change their style of play partway through their careers?

If so, Serge Savard, Scott Stevens, Steve Yzerman come to mind.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i thought after the '92 WJC when the unified team tore through the tournament that dmitri yushkevich was going to just another european defenseman who doesn't pay attention to his own end and feasts on the PP, like his WJC teammate boris mironov. and instead he became a poor man's konstantinov. yushkie was such a warrior.

 

[Stephen]

Sergei Gonchar was also once projected as a stay at home defenseman with limited offensive ability, strangely enough.

 

[sr edler]

i can confirm that sundin was pretty lean and fast and then put on a lot of muscles to be stronger but also slower