Skillswise, Who's The Worst NHL That You Have Ever Seen

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

It's kinda interesting how this list so closely follows our perceptions that are based on watching them, though, isn't it?

Look who's on top: Hasek, Potvin (who, for two seasons, was a top-5 goalie), Roy, Joseph, Belfour, Vanbiesbrouck.

Look who's close: Hebert, Richter, Essensa (who, for two seasons, was a top-10 goalie), Puppa, Terreri, Irbe, Barrasso.

Look at the next tier: Moog, Ranford, hextall, Casey, McLean, Beaupre, Burke.

clearly sv% statistics in this five-year period do a pretty good job of illustrating who was performing and who wasn't.

Racicot could have been worse than his sv% indicated (there are plenty of cases of this) but also it's undeniable that his ineptitude was exacerbated by playing in Montreal, and having an elite starter (Patrick Roy, .909) to be compared to.

Follows closely, yes. But when you look below him and see Tugnutt (clearly a better goalie) at 41, and heck, Hayward at 52, I'm not fooled at thinking this ranking maintains any kind of "accuracy" past spot 20 or 25. Different goalies, at different points in their careers, and backups who faced very different levels of competition compared to the starters they played behind.

I get your point, but again, don't let the stats lead you astray. Racicot was worse between the pipes than most guys on that list not named Pat Jablonski or Peter Ing. Getting dubbed "Red Light" is probably a factor of playing in Montreal (as you mention), and while he may not be THE goalie in history most deserving of that nickname, he certainly earned it.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

Francois Leroux

Francois Leroux

and...Francois Leroux

absolutely the worst...ever... skated like a 5yr old, had zero offensive skills, everyone and their dog skated by him on defense... all he was ever good for was losing fight and ending hall of fame careers...

simply put, a walking, skating advertisement for the birth control

Winner.

The guy pivoted about as fast as a sundial. And yeah, wasn't much of a fighter either, though he once scored a TKO vs. Tony Twist by slewfooting him.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Andre Racicot

It's kinda interesting how this list so closely follows our perceptions that are based on watching them, though, isn't it?

Look who's on top: Hasek, Potvin (who, for two seasons, was a top-5 goalie), Roy, Joseph, Belfour, Vanbiesbrouck.

Look who's close: Hebert, Richter, Essensa (who, for two seasons, was a top-10 goalie), Puppa, Terreri, Irbe, Barrasso.

Look at the next tier: Moog, Ranford, hextall, Casey, McLean, Beaupre, Burke.

clearly sv% statistics in this five-year period do a pretty good job of illustrating who was performing and who wasn't.

Racicot could have been worse than his sv% indicated (there are plenty of cases of this) but also it's undeniable that his ineptitude was exacerbated by playing in Montreal, and having an elite starter (Patrick Roy, .909) to be compared to.

Again relying on SV% when it is far from an adequate stat to try to explain the performance of a specific player.

Andre Racicot had a habit of losing his game at times. His focus and technique would disappear and he would give up goals that would leave watchers trying to understand how a pro goalie could let in such a shot. This was a problem in midget/junior and elsewhere in his pro career. Nothing to do with playing in Montreal or the strength of the starting goalie. Usually goalies with this quirk get filtered by the end of junior and have a low minors career.
Some get to the NHL because they happen to be in the right place at the right time but get exposed and fade away rather quickly. They may have tease SV% numbers but coaches quickly lose faith in them since you never know when their specific flaw will surface.

 

[td_ice]

Jay Caufield.

 

[Bonzai12]

Peter Worrell hands down.

He couldn't skate. He couldn't skate backwards and it took him 5 seconds to turn 90 degrees on his skates.

Probably would have gotten in more fights if he could have actually skated to his opponents.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Peter Worrell hands down.

He couldn't skate. He couldn't skate backwards and it took him 5 seconds to turn 90 degrees on his skates.

Probably would have gotten in more fights if he could have actually skated to his opponents.

Was thinking that he might not be bad choice. But wasn't he PPG in the Q? He can't be THAT bad (at least, not close to the worst), despite how relatively bad he looked in the NHL. Heck, I think he scored goals every year of his NHL career.

 

[isles31]

this thread is all about Mitch Fritz...just saying

 

[TonyTinglebone]

Again relying on SV% when it is far from an adequate stat to try to explain the performance of a specific player.

Andre Racicot had a habit of losing his game at times. His focus and technique would disappear and he would give up goals that would leave watchers trying to understand how a pro goalie could let in such a shot. This was a problem in midget/junior and elsewhere in his pro career. Nothing to do with playing in Montreal or the strength of the starting goalie. Usually goalies with this quirk get filtered by the end of junior and have a low minors career.
Some get to the NHL because they happen to be in the right place at the right time but get exposed and fade away rather quickly. They may have tease SV% numbers but coaches quickly lose faith in them since you never know when their specific flaw will surface.

I still don't understand how Racicot got to even be the backup in Montreal. From watching guys like Racicot, Frederic Chabot, Martin Brochu and Les Kuntar strap on the pads for the Fredericton Canadiens in the early 90's I can easily say that Racicot was the worst of that bunch, and none of them were all that great. The fact that Racicot got over 50 NHL games is beyond incredible to me considering the guy didn't appear to be qualified to play 50 games in the AHL.

 

[Maupin Fan]

This is so easy and you all are missing it.

The answer is, without a doubt, Joel Rechlicz.

Since 2004, he has a COMBINED 1 goal and 5 assists between the USHL, NAHL, QMJHL, ECHL, UHL, IHL, AHL and unbelievably (that he was ever there) the NHL.

Thats right, 6 points in 6 years.

Here's the link if you dont believe: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=90714

Is there anyone else on this list that you can say played in the NHL without ever scoring a SINGLE GOAL in juniors? As a right wing? Doubt it.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Right Place..........

I still don't understand how Racicot got to even be the backup in Montreal. From watching guys like Racicot, Frederic Chabot, Martin Brochu and Les Kuntar strap on the pads for the Fredericton Canadiens in the early 90's I can easily say that Racicot was the worst of that bunch, and none of them were all that great. The fact that Racicot got over 50 NHL games is beyond incredible to me considering the guy didn't appear to be qualified to play 50 games in the AHL.

Right place at the right time. After Hayward left it was a toss-up between Bergeron, Chabot and Racicot to back-up Roy - not an ideal choice but Racicot outplayed them. Roland Melanson came in to back-up Roy but suffered a career ending injury so Racicot came back. Was used against weak teams and survived.

You are very accurate in your assessment of the other goalies that went through Fredericton. All were flawed but Racicot was a tease, even in his midget and junior days. Coaches always thought that he was just a bit away from eliminating his flaws but inevitably they would resurface.

 

[Uber Coca]

This is so easy and you all are missing it.

The answer is, without a doubt, Joel Rechlicz.

Since 2004, he has a COMBINED 1 goal and 5 assists between the USHL, NAHL, QMJHL, ECHL, UHL, IHL, AHL and unbelievably (that he was ever there) the NHL.

Thats right, 6 points in 6 years.

Here's the link if you dont believe: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=90714

Is there anyone else on this list that you can say played in the NHL without ever scoring a SINGLE GOAL in juniors? As a right wing? Doubt it.

11 teams in 6 years is impressive too!

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

This is so easy and you all are missing it.

The answer is, without a doubt, Joel Rechlicz.

Since 2004, he has a COMBINED 1 goal and 5 assists between the USHL, NAHL, QMJHL, ECHL, UHL, IHL, AHL and unbelievably (that he was ever there) the NHL.

Thats right, 6 points in 6 years.

Here's the link if you dont believe: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=90714

Is there anyone else on this list that you can say played in the NHL without ever scoring a SINGLE GOAL in juniors? As a right wing? Doubt it.

Well, I've never seen him play personally (like the thread title asks), but that guy has to take the cake.

 

[MS]

This is so easy and you all are missing it.

The answer is, without a doubt, Joel Rechlicz.

Since 2004, he has a COMBINED 1 goal and 5 assists between the USHL, NAHL, QMJHL, ECHL, UHL, IHL, AHL and unbelievably (that he was ever there) the NHL.

Thats right, 6 points in 6 years.

Here's the link if you dont believe: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=90714

Is there anyone else on this list that you can say played in the NHL without ever scoring a SINGLE GOAL in juniors? As a right wing? Doubt it.

Post #4 in the thread.

Kyle Freadrich and Joel Rechlicz would be right up there for guys who managed to get a cup of coffee in the NHL.

 

[TheStranger]

By the looks of his statistics, Shantz seems to have played his way out of the NHL after one year with the Avalanche. I'd understand why a Colorado fan would think he sucked.
Sort of like Clark Wilm with the Leafs I guess. I remember him being a pretty solid role player with Calgary, but in his last year, he didn't do anything.
Chris McAllister is a good choice for non-fighters.

In 301 NHL games he had 58 fights plus 5 pre-season fights. With an average of 1 fight every 5 games he sure fought a lot for a non-fighter.

 

[MS]

In 301 NHL games he had 58 fights plus 5 pre-season fights. With an average of 1 fight every 5 games he sure fought a lot for a non-fighter.

He was usually dressed as a defender, though, and averaged 12-13 minutes of icetime/game for a few years. There's a hell of a lot more responsibility in that sort of role than their is in being a Grimson-type forward goon who plays 5 minutes/game.

Anyhow, yeah, awful player who made the NHL sheerly on size.

John Scott who is playing for Minnesota right now is almost *exactly* the same player as McAllister, incidentally.

 

[TheStranger]

He was usually dressed as a defender, though, and averaged 12-13 minutes of icetime/game for a few years. There's a hell of a lot more responsibility in that sort of role than their is in being a Grimson-type forward goon who plays 5 minutes/game.

Anyhow, yeah, awful player who made the NHL sheerly on size.

John Scott who is playing for Minnesota right now is almost *exactly* the same player as McAllister, incidentally.

Well I only remember him from his days with the Avs. Just went to look at his TOI numbers...

in 03-04 which he split with Colorado and the Rangers, in 25 or so games with colorado he played 5 games with over 7 minutes of ice time, and nothign more than about 10 minutes, with 14 games under 4 minutes. He went to the Rangers and had quite a few games around 15+ minutes but after that never played in the NHL again, so I'd guess they are wrong. I can't find stats for previous years, but before Colorado had him did he really play "average" well over 10 minutes a night?

 

[a79krgm]

Dave "Moose" Morissette. Played 11 NHL games with the Habs. Great fighter, but he had trouble with crossovers.

 

[mco543]

I've been trying to come up with someone from the Panthers to fit this thread as soon as it was posted and for some reason the only name i keep coming back to is Lance Pitlick.

Absolutely no idea why though.

 

[Velociraptor]

Mike Brown and Joel Rechlicz

 

[JVR21]

Riley Cote
Kent Manderville
Adam Burt

 

[Slapshooter]

Dave Brown was pretty awful with the puck. Hard to say if he was the worst. However as the enforcer-goon he was one of the very best there ever was.

A great contrast and reminds me what a rich sport the NHL used to be.

 

[MS]

Well I only remember him from his days with the Avs. Just went to look at his TOI numbers...

in 03-04 which he split with Colorado and the Rangers, in 25 or so games with colorado he played 5 games with over 7 minutes of ice time, and nothign more than about 10 minutes, with 14 games under 4 minutes. He went to the Rangers and had quite a few games around 15+ minutes but after that never played in the NHL again, so I'd guess they are wrong. I can't find stats for previous years, but before Colorado had him did he really play "average" well over 10 minutes a night?

He was used more exclusively as a goon in Colorado and often played at forward there.

In Vancouver/Toronto/Philly, he was used mainly on the blueline. Just eyeballing the numbers, it looks like he averaged about 11-12 minutes/game from 1998-2002. His highest mark was 13:59/game with Toronto in 1998-99 after being aquired from Vancouver. In his 'best' NHL season with the Flyers, he averaged 11:36 over 60 games.

__________

To keep adding names, I'll toss Nate Thompson into the mix.

One of the most unremarkable WHL players I've ever seen, like countless others who play their overage year and then go on to Canadian university hockey before getting real jobs. Small guy with limited talent, not a fighter, topped out at 36 points in the WHL - basically a 3rd liner at that level.

Somehow battled his way through the AHL to get to the NHL and has been a skill-challenged 4th liner for bad NYI/TB teams for the past couple years and scored 3 goals in 93 NHL games despite an average of 12 minutes of icetime/game.

Amongst non-fighter forwards, he's probably the least talented guy I've seen sticking on an NHL roster for a full season or more and taking a regular shift.

 

[Boxscore]

Peter Worrell. The guy could barely stand up on skates, let alone put three natural strides together.

 

[DJ Kariyaaa]

a few come to mind..

Oliwa - all he could do was fight. literally.
Boogaard - now that i think of it both brothers are pretty awful
Godard - 12 points in 271 NHL games
Caufield - 13 points in 208 NHL games.. his job was to beat up people who hit Mario

 

[Doomsday Device]

He was used more exclusively as a goon in Colorado and often played at forward there.

In Vancouver/Toronto/Philly, he was used mainly on the blueline. Just eyeballing the numbers, it looks like he averaged about 11-12 minutes/game from 1998-2002. His highest mark was 13:59/game with Toronto in 1998-99 after being aquired from Vancouver. In his 'best' NHL season with the Flyers, he averaged 11:36 over 60 games.

__________

To keep adding names, I'll toss Nate Thompson into the mix.

One of the most unremarkable WHL players I've ever seen, like countless others who play their overage year and then go on to Canadian university hockey before getting real jobs. Small guy with limited talent, not a fighter, topped out at 36 points in the WHL - basically a 3rd liner at that level.

Somehow battled his way through the AHL to get to the NHL and has been a skill-challenged 4th liner for bad NYI/TB teams for the past couple years and scored 3 goals in 93 NHL games despite an average of 12 minutes of icetime/game.

Amongst non-fighter forwards, he's probably the least talented guy I've seen sticking on an NHL roster for a full season or more and taking a regular shift.

Interesting choice in Thompson. I think he does have some semblance of defensive skills so I don't think I'd select him based on that. Unless we restricted it to lack of offensive talent, in which case he's a leading contender in the non-goon category. It's amazing that he made the show off that Thunderbirds team and Chris Durand is the one playing CIS. You could never have given me odds on that 5 five years ago.

I think the best choices for the most skilled non-goons would be the players who stuck in the league simply because they were good locker room guys. The best example who got a regular paycheque, off the top of my head, is Jason Strudwick.