Your thoughts on these players

[Megahab]

I started watching hockey around 1992 when I was 7. There are some players who I took notice of back then that seemed to have faded out (or maybe I just don't remember what happened to them) within a couple of years of me being a fan. I would like to ask people who were closely following hockey around 1992-1993 of their opinions on the below list of players. Me looking up their stats won't tell me the full story. I want to know what style of player they were, where they would rank in the league at their position at their time or what their role on teams was (top 6, 4th liner etc.), their value towards their team, comparable players today etc. Here's the list:

Thomas Steen
Nelson Emerson
Paul Yserbaert
Gilbert Dionne
Nikolai Borchevsky
Dave Babych
Greg Adams

I'll stop there but may add it to it later.

Click to read more...

 

[sr edler]

Babych in 92–93 was a bit over the hill, at least definitely offensively, but he transformed his game nicely and was quite good defensively and physically with Vancouver for its cup run as a top 3–4 guy on the team. Adams I feel was never a real first line player on a real good team but fit nicely with Bure and could score some goals. Now he was PPG in the regular season and playoffs in 92–93 but it probably had something to do both with playing with Bure and also because it was an inflated season. He was above average though.

 

[tony d]

Steen was a really good player who got under-appreciated because he played in Winnipeg. I bet if he played in Toronto, Montreal or New York he'd be better recognized.

 

[eddytheeagle20]

Thomas steen was a real similar player to his son if that helps

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

I don't know if I would compare Steen to his son. I think Thomas was a little more gritty, an excellent playmaker, very smart and had good hockey instincts. He was a little injury prone and while his son has more size, I don't think his injuries were do to his lack of it. He had a lot of bad luck with injuries. I think he's better compared to Igor Larionov. Had he played in a larger market or on a superior team, he may have been appreciated more.

 

[BraveCanadian]

I don't know if I would compare Steen to his son. I think Thomas was a little more gritty, an excellent playmaker, very smart and had good hockey instincts. He was a little injury prone and while his son has more size, I don't think his injuries were do to his lack of it. He had a lot of bad luck with injuries. I think he's better compared to Igor Larionov. Had he played in a larger market or on a superior team, he may have been appreciated more.

Agreed. Thomas was quite a bit better hockey player than Alex.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

greg adams was a great hardworking guy. good hands in tight, very opportunistic at grabbing rebounds and shoving them into the back of the net. wasn't a particularly physical player but went hard to the net and scored two of the most memorable goals in franchise history in back-to-back games: the double OT goal in game 5 against toronto to put us in the finals, and the goal near the end of the first OT period in game 1 against the rangers to cap off mclean's ridiculous 50 save performance.

 

[MS]

I started watching hockey around 1992 when I was 7. There are some players who I took notice of back then that seemed to have faded out (or maybe I just don't remember what happened to them) within a couple of years of me being a fan. I would like to ask people who were closely following hockey around 1992-1993 of their opinions on the below list of players. Me looking up their stats won't tell me the full story. I want to know what style of player they were, where they would rank in the league at their position at their time or what their role on teams was (top 6, 4th liner etc.), their value towards their team, comparable players today etc. Here's the list:

Thomas Steen
Nelson Emerson
Paul Yserbaert
Gilbert Dionne
Nikolai Borchevsky
Dave Babych
Greg Adams

I'll stop there but may add it to it later.

Greg Adams was a terrific player - big winger with soft hands and a nice skating stride, hard worker and solid defensive player, scored clutch goals. His Achilles heel was that he was very injury-prone and seemed to be out for a month every year. Was sometimes on Bure's line and sometimes on Linden's line ... elite 2nd line player or decent first-line one.

Babych came into the league as a 'franchise defender' prospect and was rushed into playing huge minutes on a bad Winnipeg team. He delivered offensively but was average defensively through the first half of his career. After missing a year to injury in 1990-91, he came back and re-invented himself as a grizzled defensive veteran who could still chip in offensively. Was a #1-2 guy through his years in Winnipeg-Hartford and a #4 type through his Canuck years.

Steen was often called the 'best #2 center in the NHL' during the 1980s - classy two-way player who made a great one-two punch with Hawerchuk for the Jets. Kind of a poor man's Ron Francis - not a flashy player, but a very reliable, talented playmaker who played a high-end game at both ends of the rink.

Emerson was a speedy 2nd line winger who had some very good years in the early 1990s to start off his career, but tailed off somewhat in his late 20s and spent his last several years as an OK rent-a-player type who kicked around from team to team.

Dionne was a mediocre 2nd line player who had a nice rookie season and never really did anything to match it. Fell off the face of the earth after being traded by Montreal. Average skater with decent hands, didn't contribute much if he wasn't scoring.

Borschevsky was a quick, smallish winger with a big heart - was Toronto's first impact Russian and a big fan favourite there for how he went into tough areas and took hits to make plays. Unfortunately his style of play broke him - ruptured his spleen in his sophomore season and was never remotely the same player again.

Ysebaert is listed as center but I think he was mainly playing wing in his best years in Detroit, where he benefitted from the influence of Yzerman and Fedorov. Had soft hands and was a big minor-pro scorer, but again wasn't a terribly good skater.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

was it borschevsky (or maybe kvartalnov?) about which it was said "once defensemen figured out he only had one move, his NHL days were numbered."

 

[EpochLink]

I watched Steen when he was with the Jets growing up, he never really got his due from the national media due to him being in the shadow of Hawerchuk then later, Selanne. He was a really gritty player and one of the most beloved Jets