Players With a Big Disparity Between Talent Level and Body of Work?

PucksInDeep

Registered User
Oct 1, 2014
605
0
Mike Knuble never struck me as the most skilled player, but he was incredible around the net and was great at playing with talented players.

He never scored more than 15 goals in a season before turning 30, but still managed to have 8 straight 20+ goal seasons on 3 different teams... he averaged over 27 goals a season from 2002/03 - 2010/11!
 

hohosaregood

Banned
Sep 1, 2011
32,273
12,439
John Scott's been characterized as an elite level goon and facepuncher. He's not much of a goon really.
 

Bathcat

Slavin is mediocre
Jul 26, 2010
3,333
47
Oakland
Luongo has been an elite goaltender for over a decade, yet has very little to show for his work. He was runner-up for the Hart in a year he deserved to have won, was runner-up for the Vezina twice putting up stats he would have won in any other year over the past decade. He was the Conn Smythe favourite going into the Finals - people obsess over his bad games while ignoring the fact he put up two shutouts.

The awards he does have really doesn't represent his very good stat line and longevity.
 

Konnan511

#RetireHronek17
Sponsor
Jul 29, 2008
9,557
3,244
Sarasota, FL
Tomas Holmstrom. Can't shoot, skate, pass, deke, play defense.

Can take a physical beating and has some of the best hand eye coordination. Carved out a good career with a bunch of Stanley cups playing a ton of minutes.
 

Smelling Salt

Busey is life
Mar 8, 2006
6,955
3,375
Winnipeg
Victor Kozlov had a very average career. But if you had a couple beers in you, he looked like Mario when he set up in the offensive zone. Had very similar physical gifts as 66 but didn't amount to much.
 

Belly

Registered User
Jan 7, 2012
31
0
Maybe Darcy Tucker? 900+ games and averaged over .5 points per game. Had five 20+ goal seasons. I guess I was surprised by his productivity over the course of his career.

Going back 4 decades, I'd have to say Ron Stackhouse. He was terrible in the 70s, but somehow managed to play almost 900 games, and averaged around .5 points per game as a defenseman on a really, really bad Penguins team. I watched him play when I was a kid and don't remember much, but I do remember asking my dad why the Penguins fans were booing him when he was on the ice.
 

DFC

Registered User
Sep 26, 2013
46,838
22,679
NB
Aside from 2-3 years (4 at most), Sergei Fedorov. He had the talent to put himself in "best of all time" conversations but didn't get close to that level. The way he dominated his Hart trophy year should have been a sign of things to come.
 

kook10

Registered User
Jun 27, 2011
4,646
2,781
Luc Robitaille for me. Not known as a very good skater and was drafted after the pitcher Tom Glavine in the NHL. Went on to score over 660 goals in his career though playing with Gretzky probably helped immensely.

+1

his skills were unremarkable but he might have been the greatest garbage collector ever.
 

stepdad gaary

Registered User
Dec 5, 2011
7,249
814
This sounds absolutely silly, and it is..

.. but..


Mario Lemieux shouldn't have smoked, or eaten so many hotdogs, and taken his fitness seriously. Especially during the prime of his career.

It's crazy to think one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) talent to ever play our game could have been better, but he's quite easily one of the people I think of that could have accomplished so much more.


He should have overtaken quite a few of Gretzky's records. If only he were better conditioned, and possibly not as injured.

hot dogs are pretty widely known to cause Hodgkin's lymphoma
 

Retire91

Stevey Y you our Guy
May 31, 2010
6,135
1,563
Luongo has been an elite goaltender for over a decade, yet has very little to show for his work. He was runner-up for the Hart in a year he deserved to have won, was runner-up for the Vezina twice putting up stats he would have won in any other year over the past decade. He was the Conn Smythe favourite going into the Finals - people obsess over his bad games while ignoring the fact he put up two shutouts.

The awards he does have really doesn't represent his very good stat line and longevity.

good one
 

Hisch13r

Registered User
May 16, 2012
32,892
32,065
NJ
Datsyuk had a lot of talent but he was never a physical beast. Never an amazing skater or very strong, he was just smart and skilled so he got by using that.

Datsyuk is incredibly strong
 

Ivo

Registered User
Dec 29, 2008
3,011
2,887
Rotterdam, NL
Ziggy Palffy was an incredible hockey talent, but didn't accomplish as much as he could due to a combination of injuries, being on bad teams and early retirement.
 

Bacon Artemi Bravo

Registered User
Sep 20, 2007
7,008
9,558
Kovalev is #1 in my book. Some people are of the opinion that he had one of the best natural skillsets of all time, just never had the #'s to back it.

HM to Robby Shremp but I feel like he had more of a circus level skillset rather than practical lol
 

wahsnairb

Registered User
Jun 9, 2010
5,240
2,558
I like Holmstrom for biggest overachiever for skill level.
I like Filatov for biggest underachiever for skill level.
 

Felix Unger

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
13,634
2
Kovalev is #1 in my book. Some people are of the opinion that he had one of the best natural skillsets of all time, just never had the #'s to back it.

Winner winner chicken dinner. He should have scored 40+ goals and 90+ points every year with his talent level. Unbelievable.

Anyone saying Robbie Schremp, please stop. Nobody's going to say Corey Locke and he's a better hockey player than Robbie Schremp. Small and slow is a bad combo.

The most disappointment I ever had around a hockey player was Mikko Makela. He came up destroying the Sm-Liiga right before Selanne did it. He came over and broke out at 22 y/o, going more than a point per game (of course that was the same year that Mike Bullard scored 100 points). Nasty shot. It all went downhill from there. He was followed up by Dave Chyzowski. Boy those days hurt.
 

BruinsBtn

Registered User
Dec 24, 2006
22,080
13,546
Benoit Pouliot has all-world shooting, skating, passing, size and strength. Zero hockey IQ.
 

Whiston532

Registered User
Dec 27, 2010
1,731
2,309
Edmonton
Rob Schremp. We all saw flashes of skill. I believe he had the capability to atleast be more then the nothing he was in the NHL, but his atrocious skating speed didn't help.

Also, I'm NOT putting his name up as a possibility, but I always felt like outside of some 70 point seasons we never really saw Hemsky hit what I felt was his absolute peak. He never had amazing line mates for long a lot of years, and injuries hurt him a bit. But looking at his stats I kinda feel like there was more there.
 

hfdshdh

Unregistered Abuser
Jan 11, 2015
951
1
Starts and ends with Brian Fogarty.
Mats Sundin said Brian Fogarty could shoot, pass and skate better drunk than anybody else on the team could sober. So there's that.

It's a shame he wasn't able to get the right help with his depression, anxiety and addictions sooner. The stories about him pulling coaches aside to privately ask if his teammates hated him are really sad.
 

GIN ANTONIC

Registered User
Aug 19, 2007
18,786
14,617
Toronto, ON
Rod Brind'Amour?

Didn't have a particularly impressive skill-set other than he was strong as an ox and worked his ass off. That was due to him being a workout fiend. Not a great skater, shooter, playmaker, etc. He was great defensively but that was all just hard work. Over 1100+ points. 400+ goals. Arguable HOFer.

EDIT: Not saying Brindy was a scrub or something. He was a high draft pick and an excellent player throughout his career, jsut saying he wasn't the most naturally talented.
 
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jdatb

Registered User
Apr 29, 2014
2,397
2
Mats Sundin said Brian Fogarty could shoot, pass and skate better drunk than anybody else on the team could sober. So there's that.

It's a shame he wasn't able to get the right help with his depression, anxiety and addictions sooner. The stories about him pulling coaches aside to privately ask if his teammates hated him are really sad.

Yeah, Fogarty was amazingly skilled. And that's so sad. :(
 

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