The Panther
Registered User
I'm not talking "over-rated", which implies rating by fans over a long period.
I'm talking about an over-cooked media narrative, perhaps for only a short period, which inflated a player's reputation or, in some cases, even helped a player win an NHL award. It could also be inflated by NHL players themselves.
A good example, I think, is Grant Fuhr. I loved Fuhr and he was a good player. And I never considered Fuhr over-rated by hockey fans. Rather, his rep got really inflated during 1987 and 1988 by hockey writers. It got a little silly after 1987-88 when Fuhr finished ahead of Edmonton-Gretzky in Hart voting, and won the Vezina, despite having just had the weakest RS-record since his sophomore year. (I think in March '88 he actually posted the worst GAA in the NHL.) He was also nowhere near the top-10 in save percentage (he had been top-10 three times before).
Another goalie, Mike Liut, during 1980-81. St.Louis was having its first big regular season in a long time, and the NHL hockey writers decided, for some reason, that it was entirely down to Liut's brilliance. In fact, St.Louis was no better defensively in 1980-81 than they'd been in 1979-80; the difference was that the Blues were scoring 1 goal-per-game more than they'd scored the year before. Yet Liut almost beat young-Gretzky for the Hart and won the Pearson.
I'm not sure what caused the hockey media to have a passionate love affair with Scott Niedermayer, or exactly when it was. But for a while there, just before the lock-out I guess, he was the media-darling defenceman. Was Niedermayer any better in this period than, say, Chris Pronger? I don't see it. I also don't see his 2007 Conn Smythe...
More recently, Jonathan Toews' rep was really pushed by hockey media types, writers, and even other teams' coaches and players. Was Toews great in his prime? Yes, indeed. But his rep got so inflated by media that I feel an anti-Toews backlash set in on the part of fans, who were tired of hearing about him.
So, great players all, but I feel their reps got a bit disproportionately inflated during certain periods.
Who else?
I'm talking about an over-cooked media narrative, perhaps for only a short period, which inflated a player's reputation or, in some cases, even helped a player win an NHL award. It could also be inflated by NHL players themselves.
A good example, I think, is Grant Fuhr. I loved Fuhr and he was a good player. And I never considered Fuhr over-rated by hockey fans. Rather, his rep got really inflated during 1987 and 1988 by hockey writers. It got a little silly after 1987-88 when Fuhr finished ahead of Edmonton-Gretzky in Hart voting, and won the Vezina, despite having just had the weakest RS-record since his sophomore year. (I think in March '88 he actually posted the worst GAA in the NHL.) He was also nowhere near the top-10 in save percentage (he had been top-10 three times before).
Another goalie, Mike Liut, during 1980-81. St.Louis was having its first big regular season in a long time, and the NHL hockey writers decided, for some reason, that it was entirely down to Liut's brilliance. In fact, St.Louis was no better defensively in 1980-81 than they'd been in 1979-80; the difference was that the Blues were scoring 1 goal-per-game more than they'd scored the year before. Yet Liut almost beat young-Gretzky for the Hart and won the Pearson.
I'm not sure what caused the hockey media to have a passionate love affair with Scott Niedermayer, or exactly when it was. But for a while there, just before the lock-out I guess, he was the media-darling defenceman. Was Niedermayer any better in this period than, say, Chris Pronger? I don't see it. I also don't see his 2007 Conn Smythe...
More recently, Jonathan Toews' rep was really pushed by hockey media types, writers, and even other teams' coaches and players. Was Toews great in his prime? Yes, indeed. But his rep got so inflated by media that I feel an anti-Toews backlash set in on the part of fans, who were tired of hearing about him.
So, great players all, but I feel their reps got a bit disproportionately inflated during certain periods.
Who else?