Players you have watched that get no press historically

Dissonance

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Feb 27, 2002
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Calle Johansson comes to mind—was a cornerstone of Washington's (generally excellent) defense throughout the '90s yet never really got much attention (outside of the '96 World Cup).
 

Kirikanoir

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Dec 16, 2010
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Thomas Gradin Vancouver Canucks

Regular Season

1978-79 Van G-20 A-31 P-51
1979-80 Van G-30 A-45 P-75
1980-81 Van G-21 A-48 P-69
1981-82 Van G-37 A-49 P-86
1982-83 Van G-32 A-54 P-86
1983-84 Van G-21 A-57 P-78
1984-85 Van G-22 A-42 P-64
1985-86 Van G-14 A-27 P-41

1986-87 Boston G-12 A-31 P-43

Playoffs

1978-79 Van GP-3 G-4 A-1 P-5
1979-80 Van GP-4 G-0 A-2 P-2
1980-81 Van GP-3 G-1 A-3 P-4
1981-82 Van GP-17 G-9 A-10 P-19
1982-83 Van GP-4 G-1 A-3 P-4
1983-84 Van GP-4 G-0 A-1 P-1
1985-86 Van GP-3 G-2 A-1 P-3

1986-87 Boston GP-4 G-0 A-4 P-4



Considered to be the Canucks most skilled player in the franchise's history before Pavel Bure, this former 3rd round draft pick of Chicago gave Vancouver 8 solid years and was a fan favorite along with line mates Curt Fraiser and Stan (the Steamer) Smyl. Member of the 1982 Cup final team.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
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Thomas Gradin Vancouver Canucks

Regular Season

1978-79 Van G-20 A-31 P-51
1979-80 Van G-30 A-45 P-75
1980-81 Van G-21 A-48 P-69
1981-82 Van G-37 A-49 P-86
1982-83 Van G-32 A-54 P-86
1983-84 Van G-21 A-57 P-78
1984-85 Van G-22 A-42 P-64
1985-86 Van G-14 A-27 P-41

1986-87 Boston G-12 A-31 P-43

Playoffs

1978-79 Van GP-3 G-4 A-1 P-5
1979-80 Van GP-4 G-0 A-2 P-2
1980-81 Van GP-3 G-1 A-3 P-4
1981-82 Van GP-17 G-9 A-10 P-19
1982-83 Van GP-4 G-1 A-3 P-4
1983-84 Van GP-4 G-0 A-1 P-1
1985-86 Van GP-3 G-2 A-1 P-3

1986-87 Boston GP-4 G-0 A-4 P-4



Considered to be the Canucks most skilled player in the franchise's history before Pavel Bure, this former 3rd round draft pick of Chicago gave Vancouver 8 solid years and was a fan favorite along with line mates Curt Fraiser and Stan (the Steamer) Smyl. Member of the 1982 Cup final team.

i think that title goes to patrik sundstrom and after him probably paul reinhardt (another name for this thread, btw). but yeah, gradin was a good player for us for a long time.

and gradin apparently discovered alex edler playing in a swedish division III league, so he's the gift that keeps on giving.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
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Regina, SK
In terms of recognition versus deserved recognition, I think Robert Svehla was a good candidate during his 8 years in North America.
 

Stephen

Moderator
Feb 28, 2002
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51,516
How about Oleg Tverdovsky? 3 50 point seasons by the age of 25 and his career slides into obscurity.
 

IafrateOvie34

Registered User
May 14, 2009
11,540
8,132
Great thread and so many names to pick from. Lots of great candidates mentioned. I will add players I haven't seen so far in this thread: Mike Ridley, Doug Smail, Joel Otto, Teppo Numminen, Dave Manson, Bengt Gustafsson, Gaetan Duchesne, Mike Eagles, Mats Naslund, and Troy Murray. So many players could fit into this thread, lol.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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Aug 28, 2006
52,271
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Brooklyn
Shawn Chambers was a top pairing defenseman for most of the 1995 playoffs for the Cup winning Devils and was a depth guy for the 99 Stars. But nobody ever thinks of him when they talk about role players who contributed heavily to championships.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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Aug 28, 2006
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Richard Matvichuk was a great defensive defenseman for the Dallas Stars when they were perennial Cup contenders. Usually played with Hatcher on the top pairing.

Panel Kubina isn't really "historical," but his contribution to successful teams is on it's way to being historically overlooked.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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Aug 28, 2006
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Pavel Demitra is often criminally underrated. One of the beat point producers of the dead puck era.

Zigmund Palffy is another - if he didn't get injured, he'd be on his way to the Hall of Fame. Far better overall player than fellow Slovak Bondra, who everyone remembers because of his goal scoring numbers, despite the fact that he was awful at everything else.
 

Tawnos

A guy with a bass
Sep 10, 2004
28,816
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Charlotte, NC
When was the last time Al Iafrate got mentioned?

Unfortunately, Bernie Nicholls will forever be known as the guy who got traded to the Rangers in order to give Gretzky some wingers and then got traded for Mark Messier. Never mind that he scored 1209 points in his NHL career and posted over a PPG in 13 seasons.
 

mapletoft

Registered User
Jan 3, 2006
119
0
Great thread...

Names coming to mind:

Mark Napier
Bobby Smith
Steve Duchesne
Rick Vaive
Steve Kasper
Walt Poddubny
Stan Smyl
Joe Mullen
Pete Peeters
Hakan Loob
Mats Naslund
 

begbeee

Registered User
Oct 16, 2009
4,158
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Slovakia
Pavel Demitra is often criminally underrated. One of the beat point producers of the dead puck era.

Zigmund Palffy is another - if he didn't get injured, he'd be on his way to the Hall of Fame. Far better overall player than fellow Slovak Bondra, who everyone remembers because of his goal scoring numbers, despite the fact that he was awful at everything else.
When we are talking about Slovaks - Lubomir Visnovsky is crimminally underrated b/c of factors:
a) teams: Kings, Oilers, Ducks
b) his size

It almost seems the people dont know him.
 

MadArcand

Whaletarded
Dec 19, 2006
5,872
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Seat of the Empire
Far better overall player than fellow Slovak Bondra, who everyone remembers because of his goal scoring numbers, despite the fact that he was awful at everything else.
No and no. Palffy was much better playmaker and much more well-rounded offensive threat. That's it. Bondra has the edge in everything else.

And only thing Bondra was awful at was playmaking.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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Aug 28, 2006
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Bondra was non-physical and was never involved defensively as an NHL player. You and others say he was good defensively for the national team - he never showed that in the NHL.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a thread praising guys barely talked about not cutting down other players. Sorry about that.
 

Blades of Glory

Troll Captain
Feb 12, 2006
18,401
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California
Can you guess this player? Beginning in 1997-98, here are his point totals, with the years that he missed significant time with injuries in (). He's still playing.

65
64
71
34 (46 games)
61 (67 games)
76
43 (67 games)
55 (63 games)
83
61 (66 games)
77
58
57

Pretty solid career for little Ray Whitney. 926 points in 1147 games. Throw in being a major contributor on a Cup champion.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
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Shawn Chambers was a top pairing defenseman for most of the 1995 playoffs for the Cup winning Devils and was a depth guy for the 99 Stars. But nobody ever thinks of him when they talk about role players who contributed heavily to championships.

your description of chambers sounds like his '91 north stars teammate brian glynn, though chambers was more of a legit NHLer and played a bigger role in his prime (when he was paired with scott stevens).

glynn was waived three or four times, but he was a solid and valuable bona fide top six defenseman on the '91 north stars that went to the finals, the '92 oilers that went to the third round, and the '94 canucks that went to the finals. not bad for a guy who never played a full NHL season.

they were kind of similar guys too. bigger stay-at-home defensemen with a bit of offensive ability who were criticized a lot for not being very physical.
 

RECsGuy*

Guest
1,245 GP - 517 G - 806 A - 1,323 PTS

Holds the Los Angeles Kings' single-season goal-scoring record ('88-'89: 70)

nichols_89.jpg
 

TheMoreYouKnow

Registered User
May 3, 2007
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38° N 77° W
Frederik Olausson and Zarley Zalapski (if he gets any mention it's usually for the name) tend to get the short end of the stick for late 80s/90s offensively minded D-men.
 

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