Players You Didn't Know About or Totally Forgot About

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
9,712
6,432
Brampton, ON
Are there any players who were active while you followed the NHL or whatever League you follow that you either didn't know about or totally forget about until being reminded of them at some point?

I'm not talking about obscure fringe players or call-ups who played a few games; I mean guys who lasted a while in the League and played at least 200 or 300 games.

I had no idea who Andreas Johnasson was until I reviewed the OTT/BUF playoff series from '99 today. I knew of a lot of players in the late 90s and actually followed Ottawa somewhat back then. I remember Dackell, McEachern, Arvedson, Danny Lamert etc but either totally forgot about Johansson or never registered who he was back when he played. I was also surprised to see that he played for Nashville for two seasons before the 2004 lockout.

Andreas Johansson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com
 

sr edler

gold is not reality
Mar 20, 2010
11,845
6,290
Andreas Johansson is a really common name here. I think we had a (moderately anonymous but not bad per say) football player too with that name.

If you wanna blend in with the crowd here or go incognito that's a brilliant name.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GlitchMarner

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,133
6,428
Randy Burridge. :)

I used to rave about this guy! He scored 30 goals (2nd to Neely in Boston); he went to my Caps and the left winger banged opposing top right wingers incessantly, a constant motor of energy; then he went to Buffalo (2nd in goals to Lafontaine) and became a favorite of coach Nolan. I recently came across his name in researching Buffalo for a post and realized i haven't thought about him in the better part of a decade (i used to talk about him fondly on these boards back in 2004-2009 but then suddenly the memories faded a bit until this week).
 

a79krgm

Registered User
Jul 15, 2006
1,545
372
White Bear Lake
www.northstarshockey.com
Kirk McCaskill

Drafted by Winnipeg in the 4th round n 1981. I saw him play in one or two preseason games for the Jets in 1983. He played that season in
Sherbrooke. I had forgotten about him until …

In 1986 I was watching some baseball on TV and realized that the pitcher was the same guy that was in the Jet's organization. McCaskill had a couple of very good seasons as a starting pitcher for the California Angels. Pitched two no hitters and two 15 win seasons.
 

Ace36758

Registered User
Feb 15, 2007
722
233
Calgary
Eric Weinrich. I remember him when he played somewhat but for whatever reason cannot remember anything about his career, other than he played for the devils at one point and had a couple of decent years.
 

Albatros

Registered User
Aug 19, 2017
12,274
7,723
Ostsee
Luke Richardson is one of those guys, had a long career fairly recently but is entirely forgettable as a player despite serving as a captain and enjoying some international success.
 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
3,110
2,489
Zeballos
Hang in there, about to get really trivial over here. Doug Houda was in and out of the league for an eternity. Between 1985 and 2003 he scored 19 goals. Just for fun, I did some very rough math: If a goal was scored in the NHL between 1985 and 2003, there was a ~0.00034% chance it was Doug Houda who pulled the trigger.

Interestingly, if a goal was scored in the NHL between 1985 and 2003, there is a .00034% chance it was Mario Tremblay who scored it. He also had 19 goals during the period in question. He only played one of the years in question, but bear with me here.

Rick Nash, who most probably don't think of a contemporary of either guy mentioned here, fared slightly worse over those years, notching only 17 goals. If a goal was scored in the NHL between 1985-2003 (Nash's age 1-18 seasons), there was a mere .00031% chance it was Nash who tickled the twine.

So in closing, I think it's fair to say Doug Houda was a marginally better goal scorer than toddler/schoolboy aged Rick Nash, and had roughly the equivalent of Tremblay's scoring prowess as a coach and restaurateur.
 
Last edited:

LeBlondeDemon10

Registered User
Jul 10, 2010
3,729
375
Canada
Kirk McCaskill

Drafted by Winnipeg in the 4th round n 1981. I saw him play in one or two preseason games for the Jets in 1983. He played that season in
Sherbrooke. I had forgotten about him until …

In 1986 I was watching some baseball on TV and realized that the pitcher was the same guy that was in the Jet's organization. McCaskill had a couple of very good seasons as a starting pitcher for the California Angels. Pitched two no hitters and two 15 win seasons.
He didn't pitch any no hitters. Check your source. I used baseballreference.com
 

Fixxer

Registered User
Jul 28, 2016
3,224
1,629
Forgot about : Marty McInnis
I had a card of him with team USA and a few with the Islanders.

honorable mentions : (Dave?) Karpa, Bobby Dollas, ..hmmm............ Chris Didomenico (drafted 2007 - played NHL games in 17-18)
 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
3,110
2,489
Zeballos
It's time for more Doug Houda stats. I don't want to be unfair to the guy, and my last post might have come off a bit like I was poking fun at the guy. He's actually tied with some pretty notable names when it comes to goal-scoring over that period.



For example, for the same 1985-2003 period, he's tied with the great Martin Brodeur in GWG. Both guys came up clutch once each, with Houda (then with Hartford) scoring the go-ahead goal on the power-play in an eventual 8-2 drubbing of the Capitals on March 24th, 1992, just two days before Brodeur would make his NHL debut. It was the lone PPG Houda would score in his career (a mark that Brodeur took a glacial 21 years to match, finally drawing even with a PPG of his own on March 21st, 2013). Brodeur meanwhile was credited with the GWG in a 4-2 win over the Flyers on Feb. 15th, 2000.

Additionally, Adam Burt, a member of the 92 Whalers and the 2000 Flyers, was involved in both of these games. It's possible he was even on the ice for both. Burt was a -1 in the latter game. Could it have been from Brodeur's tally? Was he partnered with Houda in 91-92? Did he know he was witnessing, perhaps even partaking in such rare, historic events?

Edit: It looks like Zarley Zalapsky was involved in both games as well, picking up a total of three points on the nights in question. If you're looking back at the record books and the game in question had a GWG from either Doug Houda or Martin Brodeur, Zalapsky probably had himself a pretty good night as well. Adam Burt, in typical Adam Burt fashion, declined to record any points in the games mentioned.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Normand Lacombe

jiboy

la game dans la game
May 2, 2007
1,820
1,045
Murray Barron

I remember being a kid and trying to understand how we got this guy for one of our best players haha

Think he once scored on himself or something weird while behind the net
 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
3,110
2,489
Zeballos
Murray Barron

I remember being a kid and trying to understand how we got this guy for one of our best players haha

Think he once scored on himself or something weird while behind the net

Barron just missed the 1000 game mark, one of the closer guys to the milestone at 988.

You can see him at :15 of this famous sequence, doing some sort of lunge//floor hockey goalie routine while Yzerman sets up Federov in the slot.

 
  • Like
Reactions: jiboy

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
3,110
2,489
Zeballos
For example, for the same 1985-2003 period, he's tied with the great Martin Brodeur in GWG. Both guys came up clutch once each, with Houda (then with Hartford) scoring the go-ahead goal in an eventual 8-2 drubbing of the Capitals on March 24th, 1992, just two days before Brodeur would make his NHL debut. Brodeur meanwhile was credited with the GWG in a 4-2 win over the Flyers on Feb. 15th, 2000.

Houda's Rochester Americans squad won 3-2 over the Quebec Citadelles that same evening. It's possible Houda (seven goals that season) scored the game winner that night as well, perhaps even at the same exact moment as Brodeur netted his, further linking the two.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I choose to believe these two inseparably linked players both dug deep (perhaps drawing from the same cosmic well of fortitude— a Quebec City-New Jersey leyline?) to pull through for their teams. Does anyone have access to AHL game logs? I looked for longer than I'd care to admit for anything linking Houda to the GWG, be it a write-up in a local paper or a boxscore.


Lafleur and Dionne. Gretzky and Lemieux. Neely and Roy. Sid and Ovi. Perhaps it's time to add the Houda-Brodeur rivalry to the Pantheon.
 
Last edited:

Normand Lacombe

Registered User
Jan 30, 2008
1,442
1,352
Radek Martinek was a non-descript defensemen from what I remeber who played his most of his career with the Islanders.

Gord Donnelly just popped into my head. Without looking, I think Donnelly played with Winnipeg for most of his career.

Kay Whitemore was a backup to Kirk McLean for awhile in Vancouver. Wasn't there a mini-goaltending controversy between McLean and Whitemore?
 

wetcoast

Registered User
Nov 20, 2018
22,246
10,125
I have to admit that I didn't watch alot of hockey in the mid 90's due to career, family and the clutch and grab era reasons but 2 players from the 94 draft come to mind for me here.

Curtis Brown and Brad Brown, very average names and could most people even distinguish between the 2 without looking them up?

They played a combined 1066 NHL games.

Other "average blend in the crowd' names from that draft were Chris Clark, Andre Roy,Ryan Johnson, Matt Johnson, Colin Forbes, Chris Murray and of course Tim Thomas...okay he did become a household name.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
36,080
7,132
Regina, SK
Curtis Brown and Brad Brown, very average names and could most people even distinguish between the 2 without looking them up?

Yes, absolutely. Brad Brown was a career #7 defenseman and goon for non-playoff teams. Curtis Brown was a highly useful two-way forward who topped 50 points once, earned significant Selke votes twice, was outstanding on faceoffs, and had a pretty decent playoff record.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,585
15,948
Curtis Brown and Brad Brown, very average names and could most people even distinguish between the 2 without looking them up?

They played a combined 1066 NHL games.

off the top of my head there's also jeff brown (incredible on the powerplay), doug brown (speedy defensive winger, back to back cups on the late 90s wings), dave brown (some say the most feared fighter ever), keith brown (good middle pair defenseman on chicago for a long time), rob brown (IHL superstar, briefly mario's winger), mike brown (two of them, both played for the canucks: one was drafted in the first round by florida and traded for bure—he was a goon; the other was a nondescript fourth liner who bounced around for almost a decade), greg brown (okay i know nothing about this guy except that he existed).

so many monosyllabic names. makes dustin brown seem colourful in comparison.

EDIT: i forgot about sean brown, a big, physical, and fairly pylon-esque bottom pair defenseman. he was a first round pick in the '95 draft, in the same size queen era as the '94 draft mentioned in the OP. brad church was a large bust from the '95 draft. that's a guy who i would not be able to distinguish from brad brown, though i remember both of their names coming out of pierre maguire's mouth during tsn's coverage of those two drafts.
 
Last edited:

sr edler

gold is not reality
Mar 20, 2010
11,845
6,290
off the top of my head there's also jeff brown (incredible on the powerplay), doug brown (speedy defensive winger, back to back cups on the late 90s wings), dave brown (some say the most feared fighter ever), keith brown (good middle pair defenseman on chicago for a long time), rob brown (IHL superstar, briefly mario's winger), mike brown (two of them, both played for the canucks: one was drafted in the first round by florida and traded for bure—he was a goon; the other was a nondescript fourth liner who bounced around for almost a decade), greg brown (okay i know nothing about this guy except that he existed).

so many monosyllabic names. makes dustin brown seem colourful in comparison.

To be fair, most of those names are nicknames (Jeffrey, Douglas, David, Robert, Michael, Gregory). Only Keith passes as a mono.

It does remind me of that scene from PF though.

giphy.gif
 

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,133
6,428
Even if you watched hockey with your family all your life there is a point going back in memory when you draw a blank on a guy, even though you remember watching that team a lot.

I always tried to watch the Habs-Nordiques rivalry, and while I was a huge Habs fan (Dryden my fav player, Big Bird I modeled my game after), apparently when I was a hockey-mad 6th grader there was a 50-goal scorer I have zero recollection of. Zilch. Further, I can't recall ever coming across his name in all the history books and online searches I have done (for some very deep all-time drafts, where 1000+ players were drafted).

Jacques Richard, LW :huh:
2nd overall pick 1972 NHL entry draft
52 goals, 103 points in 1980-81.

I remember his teammates: Stastny brothers, Tardif, Hunter, Goulet, Bernier, Cloutier, Ftorek, Lacroix, Cote, Dupont, Rochefort, Marois, Bouchard, Plasse....

But Jacques Richard? ... *blank stare*
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
9,712
6,432
Brampton, ON
Yes, absolutely. Brad Brown was a career #7 defenseman and goon for non-playoff teams. Curtis Brown was a highly useful two-way forward who topped 50 points once, earned significant Selke votes twice, was outstanding on faceoffs, and had a pretty decent playoff record.

If I remember correctly, Curtis Brown was an absolute pain in the ass in that TOR/BUF series in '99. I definitely remember him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: seventieslord

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
36,080
7,132
Regina, SK
If I remember correctly, Curtis Brown was an absolute pain in the ass in that TOR/BUF series in '99. I definitely remember him.
I mean, who wasn't a pain in the ass in that Buffalo team's forward corps? Plante, Holzinger, Sanderson, Satan and that's about it. The rest were moderately talented grinders, checkers and agitators. OTOH, grosek, ward, brown, peca, Juneau, Barnes, Rasmussen, Primeau...
 
  • Like
Reactions: GlitchMarner

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->