Tony Hand

[blundluntman]

After seeing the Well-Known Hockey People Who Barely Played in the NHL thread, my first thought was to add Tony Hand, but it turns out he only played in the WHL briefly before returning to Great Britain.

Basically, I'd like to know what the consensus was concerning him during the 80s. I've seen his numbers in the British League and while I assume the competition there was very lackluster, that level of dominance was so otherworldly I can't help but think he'd have been at least serviceable if not a 1st liner in the NHL if he made the transition (IIRC, there was a coach or two in North America that believed he could've been a great player). In his time in the WHL although brief, he put up some impressive numbers and was only 20 at the time. To those who were fans during that time, was there any talk about the guy in North America? If anybody got a chance to watch him play (or had access to articles), how good was he and was there any stylistic comparison?

Just curious to know.

Edit: Just read through all the posts and it seems the general consensus is that he was most likely an interesting prospect at best; a decently sized fish in a glass of water if you will. Great read, great thread.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Would not ordinarily merge this into an older thread other than that I remember this thread quite well and there's good material in it (which is what you were asking for). Figured it would make a good starting point.

 

[blundluntman]

Would not ordinarily merge this into an older thread other than that I remember this thread quite well and there's good material in it (which is what you were asking for). Figured it would make a good starting point.

Perfect. Much appreciated