Ray Ferraro - overlooked?

[PapaBear*]

Underated throughout his career? I think so. He was a pretty decent C, played well for ATL those couple years.

Click to read more...

 

[Street Hawk]

Nope...

Underated throughout his career? I think so. He was a pretty decent C, played well for ATL those couple years.

Not underrated. The guy was a good player, rating of like a 6 or 7 out of 10. Never the star of the team, but was good enough to play alongside a great player.

Whenever I hear that he was on like the Jim Rome show or some other sports talk show in the US, I kinda shake my head and wonder how many of the host's listeners actually know who the heck Ferarro is?

 

[David Puddy]

Whenever I hear that he was on like the Jim Rome show or some other sports talk show in the US, I kinda shake my head and wonder how many of the host's listeners actually know who the heck Ferarro is?

Ferraro works for ESPN.

Ferraro had a fine NHL career. he scored over 400 goals and added over 400 assists. He is 71st all-time in goals scored in the NHL, which I think is impressive. Ferraro certainly will not make it into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but he had an 18-season career that should be admired. When one considers all the players to have ever played the sport, Ferraro is better than merely good, not that I am elevating him to great or even near-great status.

 

[kmad]

When one considers all the players to have ever played the sport, Ferraro is better than merely good, not that I am elevating him to great or even near-great status.

I'd put him on par with Cliff Ronning or Mike Keane

 

[Hackett]

I'd put him on par with Cliff Ronning or Mike Keane

Mike Keane is a totally different player than ronning or ferraro.

Keane is all about heart, character, and guts. He's a true winner with 3 or 4 stanley cup rings. He never had the same the skill as ronning or ferraro but was a lot more captian material.

Besides, Keane could kick the crap outta these guys. In his day when keane used to drop the gloves.... he was one guy u didn't wanna mess with.

Case in point, keane has had a great career but he's a completly different player than these two so he doesn't belong in this category

 

[kmad]

Mike Keane is a totally different player than ronning or ferraro.

Keane is all about heart, character, and guts. He's a true winner with 3 or 4 stanley cup rings. He never had the same the skill as ronning or ferraro but was a lot more captian material.

Besides, Keane could kick the crap outta these guys. In his day when keane used to drop the gloves.... he was one guy u didn't wanna mess with.

Case in point, keane has had a great career but he's a completly different player than these two so he doesn't belong in this category

All solid points, but irrelevant - I meant same quality of career.

 

[tom_servo]

Ferraro was probably the biggest Penguin-killer I've seen during my fandom. #2? ...Robert Kron.

 

[OpAck]

Ferraro was probably the biggest Penguin-killer I've seen during my fandom. #2? ...Robert Kron.

Absolutely, he was phenomenal during the 93 playoffs with the Isles. After the Dale Hunter cheapshot on Turgeon, Ferraro stepped up and led the Isles past Pittsburgh. I think he had like 4 or 5 overtime points in the Caps and Pens series. He played some of his best hockey with the Isles, mostly on the 2nd line with Pat Flatley and Benoit Hogue.

Definitly a Penguin killer though.....but Dave Volek was the one that officially buried the hatchet.

 

[Leaf Lander]

Ferraro was a determined player with a good scoring touch throughout his long 18 yr career

 

[MS]

Shouldn't have a Ray Ferraro thread without mentioning his WHL-record 108 goals in 1983-84, including 15 hat-tricks.

His terrific performance in the 1993 playoffs is doubly impressive when you consider he broke his leg earlier in the year, and then had to have it re-broken several weeks later in hospital because it wasn't healing properly.

 

[David Puddy]

His terrific performance in the 1993 playoffs is doubly impressive when you consider he broke his leg earlier in the year...

He was a big reason the Islanders upset the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion and 1992-93 President's Trophy winning Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

[CRUNK JUICE]

Mike Keane is a totally different player than ronning or ferraro.

Keane is all about heart, character, and guts. He's a true winner with 3 or 4 stanley cup rings. He never had the same the skill as ronning or ferraro but was a lot more captian material.

Besides, Keane could kick the crap outta these guys. In his day when keane used to drop the gloves.... he was one guy u didn't wanna mess with.

Case in point, keane has had a great career but he's a completly different player than these two so he doesn't belong in this category

Um, yeah.... I'm absolutely going to have to disagree with almost everything you just said. Keane has the clear edge in Cups (he has 3, BTW, not 4, and was a support player on all of those teams except MAYBE Montreal in '93, although it was pretty obvious to anyone who watched the playoffs that year that Roy was the reason why Keane has that extra ring), I'll give you that. But do you really think Dallas and Colorado wouldn't have won in 99 and 96 respectively without him? I'll give you dollars to donuts, Mike Modano and Adam Deadmarsh would still have their names on the Cup if Keane wasn't on those teams.

Next, for you to say that Ferraro was a player without grit or guts indicates to me that you simply didn't see him play very much at all. Compare his penalty minutes to Keane's sometime. Not only that, but Ray was just as willing to mix it up in corners and played an absolutely fearless game just like Keane (except better). You make it sound like he was a soft perimeter player. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ray was also much better offensively, as he has almost twice as many points in roughly the same number of games and again, he didn't get those points by being a soft perimeter player, he busted his ass and took a lot of punishment for what he got. Talk about a heart and soul guy.

As for fighting, maybe Keane would win. Ray was never known to drop the gloves that much so I guess we'll never know. To be quite honest though, I could care less, as Ferraro would make Keane look absolutely foolish one on one when it mattered. And as for Keane being uber-physical (which isn't all that true, IMO), Ferraro dealt with a lot worse during his career and usually came out on top.

Bottom line: if I need an inspirational speech before a game and I have an empty roster spot and no one else to fill it with, I'd take Keane. If I actually want to win said game, I'll hire a motivational speaker or a coach who can inspire his players and take Ferraro.