Which player made most out of his limited talent?

[Gubbhornet]

One of the things that makes hockey a great game according to me is that players with limited talent can still become great if they manage to find a role in a team and accept it. There are many examples of course, but who did it best according to you?

Click to read more...

 

[johan f]

Holmstrom, U Samuelsson, D McCarty, D Murray, Hall (the tall one).

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

alex burrows

shows you that hard work, a world class motor, and having a really really really great hockey mind can take you from an undrafted 22 year old ECHLer to the best defensive winger of your generation and a prime of four straight 25+ goal seasons.

 

[Theokritos]

shows you that hard work, a world class motor, and having a really really really great hockey mind can take you from an undrafted 22 year old ECHLer to the best defensive winger of your generation and a prime of four straight 25+ goal seasons.

Begs the question: isn't a really great hockey mind an asset that belongs to the domain of talent?

 

[GlitchMarner]

Hall (the tall one).

Who's that?

Taylor is pretty talented.

 

[scott clam]

John Scott

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Terry O'Reilly.

 

[Nick Hansen]

Obligatory mention of Ryan Smyth.

 

[crobro]

Stan Smyl

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Begs the question: isn't a really great hockey mind an asset that belongs to the domain of talent?

that’s something i’ve often thought too. but most ppl define skill as skating fast, shooting hard, and sweet stickhandling.

the beach skills?

 

[McRpro]

Kelly Buchberger

 

[FerrisRox]

Who's that?

Taylor is pretty talented.

I was going to ask the same thing. Who is the tall Hall?

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I’m going by the definition of not having anything else in particular but an ability to take tons of puck abuse, using the NHL database (which only has blocked shots tracked since 2005-06).

In 354 NHL games, Nate Prosser blocked 572 shots. His TOI average was 13:45, and his blocked shots per 60 min average was 7.04. Nate Prosser scored 10-37-47 with his statistically best season being 2011-12 when he posted 1-11-12 in 51 games.

In 105 NHL games, Nick Seeler has blocked 162 shots while averaging only 12:45 TOI. Per 60 min, he’s averaged 7.26 blocked shots. In 2018-19, Seeler played 71 games and scored 2-5-7.

But the King of doing the most with limited talent is Greg Zanon, my favorite player ever based on his NHL 14 profile picture. I never would have guessed it, but over 493 NHL games, Zanon actually averaged a whopping 19:45 minutes per game and blocked 1279 shots, for an average of 7.83 per 60 minutes. Zanon scored 12-60-72 over his career with his best season being 2009-10, where he posted 2-13-15 in 81 games, wearing an ‘A’ for the Wild.

If you haven’t yet noticed, all of these played for Minnesota.

 

[MadLuke]

Hall (the tall one).

Hal Gill ?

 

[The Panther]

Maybe Kevin Lowe?

He was not particularly large, was very slow-footed, had a terrible shot-blocking technique that he way over-used, was an average passer (though not too bad, actually), had a muffin shot, and was useless on the PP. Somehow, he ended up having an 18-year career, with 6 Stanley Cups, and he recently entered the Hall of Fame.

 

[Plural]

Jarkko Ruutu managed to carve out a decent NHL career even though he wasn't really an NHL level talent.

Another Finn who was obviously way more skilled, but managed to get the most out of him every time he was on the ice was Jere Lehtinen. He was a very good hockey player, but injuries aside he did manage to rise up in to one of the better wingers in the NHL, based on his complete game.

 

[alko]

From Slovak perspective i would say Tomas Kopecky. He squeezed the maximum of his potential.

 

[johan f]

Hal Gill ?

Yes, I mixed the name up.

 

[Albatros]

Josh Gorges had a pretty respectable career without much obvious talent.

 

[The Panther]

There are a probably a lot of stay-at-home, physical defencemen who could be mentioned here -- like, Rod Langway. Not a player you'd associate with any particular talent, but he certainly made the most of what he had.

 

[danincanada]

My "homer" pick and personal favourite would be Holmstrom. He made an NHL career out of battling in front of the net and using his choppy skating to retrieve pucks in the offensive zone for his teammates. He wasn't even that big or strong but he could take a beating and knew how to make himself effective even while playing with linemates who had far more talent than he did.

He did develop good skills at tipping pucks so I guess he had some talent.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

alex burrows

shows you that hard work, a world class motor, and having a really really really great hockey mind can take you from an undrafted 22 year old ECHLer to the best defensive winger of your generation and a prime of four straight 25+ goal seasons.

Burrows could have been an all time great story, for the reasons you mentioned. Unfortunately in every non-Vancouver part of the civilized world he’s remembered as a hair puller, biter, diver, whiner, player who trashed talk players wives. An absolute slug.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

Maybe Kevin Lowe?

He was not particularly large, was very slow-footed, had a terrible shot-blocking technique that he way over-used, was an average passer (though not too bad, actually), had a muffin shot, and was useless on the PP. Somehow, he ended up having an 18-year career, with 6 Stanley Cups, and he recently entered the Hall of Fame.

Those last two accomplishments mean he’s much more apt for a “player who was extremely fortunate for the team they played on” topic, methinks. Although 18 year career is always note worthy.

 

[Soundgarden]

Joel Ward and Patric Hornqvist come to mind.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Burrows could have been an all time great story, for the reasons you mentioned. Unfortunately in every non-Vancouver part of the civilized world he’s remembered as a hair puller, biter, diver, whiner, player who trashed talk players wives. An absolute slug.

don't forget narc, hehe

that said, whatever people want to say about his character, which personally i'd be inclined to defend as vigilantly as almost any canuck ever, slug is maybe the last the animal i'd compare him to