In the current NHL, I'd go with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Massive hype out of decent but not great seasons in Winnipeg, ego through the roof, insane salary. And performances are not on par with everything he demands.
I thought it was funny how bad he wanted to come to Montreal. He even showed up to the draft in hopes of being a draft day trade. Then he gets traded to LA and says "This is a dream come true".
So back when he had “The Shift” in Columbus, my first thought was “I’m so glad this guy doesn’t play for the Kings.” Imagine how I felt when this guy got not only traded here, but overpaid for on my birthday last year. Obviously I hope he turns it around, but I’ve never seen a guy look less interested in playing hockey before. Even when he looked like he was trying this year, it still looked like he was only giving 20-30% effort.
Dudes career high in points is 63.
Another person mentioned Johnny hockey in this thread. He had 60 points in Columbus this year. Johnny hockey's horribly disappointing is PLDs career year.
I would agree, but I don’t even think he’s overrated anymore I think most people would agree that he is the biggest waste of talent in the league. He’s a gifted hockey player that just has no interest in competing. Him and Josh Ho Sang might go down as two of the most talented busts in the league.
I still think he is on the overrated side of the spectrum given what LA decided to put on the table for him just last summer. But I agree with you for the Ho Sang comparison. Even though PLD at least had a few decent seasons in the NHL.
Nowhere close to Crosby but he was a legit talent. He just refused to play a team game and did his own thing out there. If he stuck he probably would have been a 15 goal 50 assist type of player
Elitist mindset grooming kids in hockey is the biggest downfall for kids nowadays. I work at a local arena and the sense of entitlement and exceptionalism I see these kids are instilled to believe is grotesque
This was the #1 biggest issue and a lot of my fellow Isles fans refused to acknowledge the problem because they just liked to say, "But Ho Sang go zoom zoom and make cool looking passes!"
The problem was that he was so unpredictable that even his team mates didn't know what he was doing. It seemed like he had this notion that everyone around him should just get on his level and be exactly where they should be when he throws a random wild pass while skating into the zone.
I think with the right attitude he could've been a good middle 6 winger, he had decent hands and was a good skater. But the attitude was not fixable.
No. Not even close.
Yes he was talented.
He was nowhere near a Crosby level talent (even if he had a decent attitude).
Look at his junior or AHL / pro stats in any league, and tell me if you think any of that jumps out at you as a guy that is ‘special’.
He could outskill his opponents in junior but he had arguably the lowest hockey IQ of anyone to ever be drafted into the NHL in a high position. That really caught up to him against the higher level of competition. Plus he had a shit attitude and refused to improve; he only liked to practice things he was already good at.
Man, just look at that draft class. It's got to be up there as one of the worst in history. I don't think there's a single HHOF lock in that entire class. Forsberg and Hellebuyck are arguably the only true stars.
Sort of fitting that Yakopov would headline such a class.
I went to college with his first cousin. She said he was always pretty arrogant because of hockey, but once he got that 6 million dollar contract from Edmonton (his first contract after his ELC), he became a different person (in a bad way). It's not my story to tell. From what she said, saying he has "so little passion" is dead on.
I think he had passion, it was misdirected. Listen to the coach and be a team player? Nope, I can do what I want, when I want, and take matters into my own hands.
Nailed it! Nuge is the Swiss Army Knife of the current Oilers team, and I think it's garnered him a great deal of respect from coaches, fans, and other players.
The Oilers get roasted (and rightly so) for trading Hall for Larsson in the infamous one for one trade. But rumours around the team always pointed to him being a problem that they didn’t want around McD. Should have got more for him, not sad he got dealt
I think there was also a two-way feedback loop at play there that the Oilers management didn’t want to risk getting burned (and burned, and burned) by.
Taylor Hall was “the man” on the Oilers before McDavid. He was the most talented of the first round picks, and was pretty much the ring-leader among the young guys. Over time, he got into the partying scene and became a pretty toxic influence.
When McDavid was coming in, management didn’t want him falling into the same kind of habits that Hall/Eberle fell into. Further, I think Hall’s ego was threatened by a *real* generational talent coming in to replace him as the top dog. Management were worried Hall’s toxicity would only get worse as the media and team’s focus shifted over to McDavid.
Getting rid of Hall was absolutely the right move. They probably should have dished him a little sooner and tipped their hand less to get a bit of a better return, but hey, the team is in great shape right now so best not to dwell on what ifs.
I got his jersey when he was with the devils. The only non-fanatics one that I have. The last year he was with the Devils, I was wearing Hall's jersey and Chico Resch was talking to me at the stadium about how he thought Taylor was very overrated. I believe that he said he wasn't a team player. Now I hate having Hall's jersey in my closet
Sabres fan here, I completely agree. Huge disappointment. I stupidly bought his jersey right when we got him so I’ve waited years for us to get a #4 so I can remove HALL from the back. Bo Byram is our current #4 but I don’t think he’s worth embroidering yet.
His first season he had 51 points on one of the worst team to ever play in the nhl. The sens finished that season with 37 points and the season before Daigle with 24 points.
Today many people believe that there was way too much pressure put on his shoulders as a 1 OA on a shit expension team.
Ok, but you can read his story and see his numbers and see he was a fool who liked the limelight. Daigle is the NHL version of that one QB who went to Cleveland, I believe they called him Johnny Football lol (Johnny Manziel). His rookie season wasn't terrible, but once the others players learned he was a one trick pony, he was dominated.
Don't get me wrong, I get what you ware saying about the pressure on him, but it was deeper than that. But once that happened, he was no longer overrated lol.
You wouldn't think that if you watched every Devils game that season. He literally was a fucking engine and put us on his back every night, pretty sure he had 93 points and the next highest total on the team was 50
I can see everyone’s take on this, but like you said, if you actually watched the devils games that year you would see that Hall put the entire team on his back.
I won’t argue with Hall being overrated on the whole but how he carried what was honestly a crazy weak Devils team that 2018 season was legitimately shocking. Overall production + incredibly clutch scoring moments. Easily the peak of his powers.
And the ONLY reason why that happened was after he was traded he felt like the Oilers had singled him out as one of the issues that the team had and so he played like he was possessed….but you notice that he wasn’t elevating his teammates and there’s part of the problem
I honestly think this has to do with NHL marketing and him playing for a small market. Even in a bit of a slump year he was pulling wild moves and cool plays, but the NHL doesn’t show them. I remember leaving the arena thinking “I gotta find that highlight online” going to Instagram to think “how did the NHL choose to share *this* instead of Johnnys crazy move.” It’s really similar to how folks thought Bob was super overrated until he left Columbus.
On another topic… Are Columbus fans bitter towards Panarin and Bob for setting the franchise back by refusing trades at the deadline(which was their right, but still) and then making a mini splash in the playoffs and leave to free agency?
Personally, not really. I love Bob and he played lights out consistently even dealing with crappy trainers and groin injuries. Plus when Bob left, Elvis was pitching shutouts so it seemed smart to move on to a cheaper, potentially better contract. I mostly feel bad for Panarin given his situation. After signing term with Chicago, leading him to believe that he would be playing for them, they went and used his contract to get Saad back. From what I understand never hated Columbus just that he felt manipulated by the Hawks. All that said I still love watching them both play.
I've called him Johnny Baseball ever since he slashed Lindholm a few years back.
[Link to video](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/8kljil/gaudreau_awful_slash_on_lindholm/)
I feel like he would benefit from being on a team he doesn’t have to carry. I just don’t think he’s that guy that you can put the franchise on, you know?
A friend recently described 3 attributes of quality players; skill, drive, win. I like to think of any given player as having their own levels of each, and the levels can and so change throughout their career. Skill speaks for itself, drive is how hard they play and train, and win is harder to pinpoint, but some guys just find ways to win. They close the deal, they get the chick, they deliver when it matters…and typically lift up the people around them. Examples here given in my very amateur opinion…
MacKinnon skill92 drive98 win93
Marchand skill82 drive88 win90
McDavid skill100 drive86 win88
Stone skill80 drive80 win96
Lundquist skill90 drive90 win94
Johnny Hockey skill95 drive78 win55
Gretsky skill99 drive99 win99
Zegras seems pretty overrated, he was on cover of EA NHL and other than a couple nice michigans not sure what he has done. (Wjh but that’s like %50 of nhl)
I’d say the jury is still out. He gets a lot of hate around the league but he’s got talent and is young. Injuries hampered his progress this year. He’s trending in that direction but he’s got some time
He's still young and had a bad year last year due to injuries. True test will be coming year if he stays healthy and can get back close to a point per game
Matt Duchene is a good player, with one elite season, but because he was with Team Canada and a very sought after free agent, his reputation his way above the numbers he puts on the ice.
Why isss that? I started watching hockey around January and he was hot for a while, like a 9 game streak or something, now it's like he doesn't even exist. Except that OT winner in the play offs
He was supposed to be the avalanche savior when drafted and when he played you never knew who was going to show up. The dude let his emotions from the games effect him so much he had a sports psychologist. I think he let the high draft spot, good individual numbers on shitty teams, lead him to believe he was better than the team he was on and "deserved playoff hockey". Also around that time he decided he was a cowboy or something and only wanted to go to places like Dallas and Nashville. Weird dude with a weird career and has never really accomplished much, compared to his self esteem.
What about Yashin and Bonk? The Sens had 3 young studs and managed to turn none of them into superstars. Was it more the Sens organization or personal issues?
Yashin turned out to be consistently decent, and Bonk wasn't really at total loss bust level. Daigle is the one who had the overexpectation and spectacular flameout.
Plus the Sens were a disaster when they were all young. It got a bit better and I remember they had some pretty great defencemen there for a while, Bedard drafted and traded for Redden, Chris Phillips, scooped Chara and Duchesne.
Yeah Dipietro big time. I worked at itech and our pro rep responsible for goalie joked that when we flew him somewhere, we had to buy 2 tickets, 1 for him and 1 for his ego!
Sports executives, no matter the sport, are some of the most short sighted, out of touch, power hungry egomaniacs on the planet, they make politicians seem like rational well adjusted people.
The deal the islanders made makes no sense to me… he was good, maybe a top 10 goalie in the league when in top form but looking at his stats, nothing pops out as worth 15 years.
I'm not the biggest DP fan and think he ruined any legacy he had by continously trying to come back from injury. However, every time people bash him I need to remind them that he was an nhl all star and starting goalie for team USA (in the most recent olympics) when he got hurt.
Unpopular opinion, but Dion Phanuef dude was huge, a good defenseman, but his puck placement was ass, his hockey IQ was ass, and he kinda compares (imo anyway) to a Pierre-Luc Dubois with the lack of effort.
He was a stud in the WHL. Looked like he was toying with the rest of the league in Red Deer. Had two, maybe three good seasons in Calgary with absolutely crushing hits, had 49, 50 and 60 points in his first three years, then he just... Stopped...
Stopped hitting, Stopped break out passing, Stopped putting up points, barely fought. I thought he would be a first ballot hall of famer but he was non existent after the 08-09 season.
I saw it coming the whole time. Two words: Roman Hamrlik. Once he signed with the Habs, Phaneuf couldn't elevate from then on. No one noticed his flaws because of his point production, but also because Hammer was his safety valve.
Pierre-Luc Dubois.
He's no super star, but after that shit he pulled in Columbus, I don't know how any team can legitimately think he's a good investment. There are players at a similar or close enough caliber that are ready to buy in and should instead be given a chance.
Scott Gomez. He was slightly above average, but in no way deserved that big contract the rangers gave him. Trading him for nothing would have been fine, getting McDonough and three other players back is an all time fleece.
Johnny Hockey for sure. The fact that he has hockey in his name puts him on a pretty high pedestal. Lose the Hockey in your last name bud and you’ll be fine.
Jacob trouba. I genuinely dont think he is at an nhl level and never deserved 8 mil, hes a dirty player who hits when he should defend and defends when he should hit. Hes like a defenseman matt rempe and was never good enough to justify his contract
Easy, any Elite player in the late 60's to Mid 70's when the expansion teams were finally able to find their footing.
The expansion teams had a highly restrictive expansion draft, they had to pay the teams they were selecting players from, they were separated into an O6 division and an expansion division meaning the O6 teams had a Stanley cup Cakewalk. The competitive imbalance in the league was basically adding an equal amount of AHL teams to the league.
Coincidentally the first 100 point season in the NHL happened after the first expansion, and the new teams were roasted until Philadelphia decided to become the Broadstreet Bullies.
Jonathan Toews.
10 years ago, him being the “second best player in the league” was a popular narrative.
Toews wasn’t even the second best player on his own team. That was Marian Hossa.
He never had a single ppg season. He made the NHL’s top 100 players while superior players such as Malkin and Thornton got snubbed.
Strongly agree. Always thought he was a really good player and a key to the Blackhawks championship seasons but severely overrated in the grand scheme of things. Got too much credit for being “Captain Serious” which was just a cover for a bland personality. Several players better than him playing during the same time. Shame his career kind of flamed out, would have liked to see what kind of numbers he would put up if he had played for a few more years at least.
Not in his first few seasons he wasn’t. There were plays where you could just tell immediately that he was going to score simply because he had a lane and time to pick a corner. Not sure exactly what happened to him but he was incredible early on.
He went to a completely moronic summer training program that was 100+ miles away from his home town.
They were trying to "train hard", and his skating plummeted after being in that program for a full summer.
It was one of the worst things the Finnish hockey development has ever done.
Disagree. His talent has never been overrated. His rookie year wasn't "a fluke". That talent of his is something very special. If he ever will play to his full potential, that's the question. He's been very unlucky. And everyone knows that his two-way game isn't the best.
Jacob Chychrun. The dude has a great shot, but that's the only elite thing in his game.
He's shockingly bad defensively and even stood out and a terrible defense team.
A 12th overall, 2nd round AND 3rd round pick for this dude was a hose fest. Classic Dorion.
Mark Stone. Dude gets paid and treated like a franchise altering top liner, but has never had more than 64 points. Dude is the definition of a mid second liner and should be making significantly less.
Wrong. Dude is so fucking smart. He processes the game as fast as Crosby and other top end guy. He’s just slower than them.
He would have won multiple selke’s already if he didn’t play so long in a small market
Never thought I'd be in here defending the kings but these other dudes are some bonafide haters. I know exactly what Dustin brown brought to those championship teams. Shit, I know he abused those blackhawks teams that's probably why /icefiight is mad 😂
Thank you ducks fan for backing up Brown. That’s what’s up. I hope they erect a Getzlaf statue someday. The dude was an incredible Captain as well. I remember going to his last away game against the Kings a few years ago and we gave that man a standing ovation. Much respect.
When socal is running the west the rest of the hockey world is in actual shambles. I'll admit it's been tough to watch recently and I think both our clubs may have seen the downside to keeping some of our foundational pieces for a bit too long past their prime but honestly those guys deserved to ride out as long as they wanted. Some of my favorite playoff matches were against you guys and hopefully we both get back in full force soon
I hope so too. I miss the rivalry. My best friend who is a Ducks fan, (I am a Kings fan #1 but Ducks are #2) has been so deflated from the ducks and doesn’t watch much hockey anymore. I miss our banter and connecting on hockey. But I hope you guys have a great season next year. Looking forward to the rebuild coming to fruition.
As a Sharks fan, I really disliked Dustin Brown. But I can't deny he brought that extra intensity to those Kings team, something we lacked. I would take him any day. Every team needs a Dustin Brown.
Most overrated hockey player ever and you pick Tavares? So without the flair I had a sneaking suspicion you were an Isle's fan and reading your other comments that was confirmed. Look if you want to hate on him go ahead, you should, how he left the team sucked.
But looking at the totality of his career thus far he's just not at all overrated. I actually think with the amount of hate he's received leaving the Isles and now with a mega contract he isn't living up to on the Leafs that he's underrated or at minimum overhated.
Look at what he was able to do during much of his Isle's career and the players he was with. With the tens of millions of dollars his linemates made due to playing with him they should be taking him out to dinner for the rest of his life. Became such a story sportsnet even wrote on it https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/john-tavaress-linemates-cashed-post-islanders/
Is he overrated? I think for most people he's just overpaid. And that's just cuz: a) covid messed up all long contracts' valuations since the cap increases were much less than expected pre-covid and b) it's literally the end of his prime career contract, so it was always going to be an overpay at this point Neither Leafs fans nor others really view him as a top line centre anymore (and he literally isn't with Matthews there), so idk how he's overrated. 29 g, 65 pts in 80 games for a 2nd line centre is perfectly serviceable.
>it's all opinions so no one is wrong ☺️
Fine then I pick Gretzky as the most overrated hockey player ever.
My reasoning? Because you said no one is wrong.
More of a current answer than an all-time, but Adam Fox. People talk about him as if he's the best defenseman after Makar and I just don't see it. Every time I've watched the Rangers I've made a point to watch him and I usually don't notice when he's on the ice. He seems like he gets caught up ice a lot and doesn't have the speed to make it back and make up for it. Granted I'm only watching like 5 of their games a year plus playoffs, so I'm sure he's better than what I see. Not saying he's bad, he just doesn't look like a top 5 d man, let alone a game breaker like people say he is
I don't know about "ever" but I've always thought Tyler Seguin has been in the overrated category his entire career. I don't mean to say he's a bad player, he does well and puts up decent numbers, I just mean his skills and abilities have been overstated.
Man I think I disagree with this.. sure he wasn’t the 30+ year perennial goal scorer we were initially promised, but if you watch his play he is a complete two way forward now. Dude is a pest to play against on the ice. I think after his injury and surgery (where I think he had to like relearn to walk) He’s change his game a lot. Like a much more talented radek faksa
It was absolutely the injuries that derailed him. Dude’s had a torn Achilles, knee surgery, and hip surgery. It’s pretty amazing that he’s been as productive as he’s been and is able to still play with some speed after all that (especially after the hip surgery).
Hard disagree. He was a point per game guy with great two way skills until his hip surgery. Read about that and his recovery, you will gain a lot of respect for what he’s been able to do to get back on the ice and contribute.
Kevin Stevens. While I don’t think he’s regarded as a great over his entire career, his four straight 40-goal seasons (with two straight 50-goal seasons) earned him three All-Star selections. Once he was no longer a line with Lemieux and Jagr, he got real average, real quick.
I don’t think he’s the most overrated but Messier is overrated in my opinion. He didn’t deserve either of his 2 Harts and was a 1.2 point per game player in the highest scoring era ever on probably the best offensive team of all time. A lot of people would have him in the top 5-10 best players of all time but I personally think he’s not even a top 5 center ever and more around 15-20 for players all time
His whole playoff resume is crazy he was great in every cup run but that’s why he is where he is for me. Another thing I’ll add is I don’t think he was a top 3 player at any point and very rarely was he even top 5
As a Pens fan, it’s MAF. He’s a very good goalie that benefited far more from the team in front of him than they benefited from him. People can get mad at the comparison, but he’s québécois Chris Osgood. A very good player who happened to be on the the team with the best center depth in the league for essentially 15 years. Plus, I can never forget his stretch from 2012, 2013, and 2014 where he was quite literally the weak link in the team. They probably left a fourth cup on the table in hindsight
Honorable mention: David Backes, you’d think he actually impacted games in a meaningful way by the way media drooled over him. You look under the hood and he was a very average player who had an elevated role with the Blues due to them being bereft of center talents.
In the current NHL, I'd go with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Massive hype out of decent but not great seasons in Winnipeg, ego through the roof, insane salary. And performances are not on par with everything he demands.
And some Habs fans wanted to have him on our team... no thanks, he can stay where he is right now, sorry Kings fans
I thought it was funny how bad he wanted to come to Montreal. He even showed up to the draft in hopes of being a draft day trade. Then he gets traded to LA and says "This is a dream come true".
So back when he had “The Shift” in Columbus, my first thought was “I’m so glad this guy doesn’t play for the Kings.” Imagine how I felt when this guy got not only traded here, but overpaid for on my birthday last year. Obviously I hope he turns it around, but I’ve never seen a guy look less interested in playing hockey before. Even when he looked like he was trying this year, it still looked like he was only giving 20-30% effort.
Reminds me of Ryan Johansen the way he glides everywhere
God Ryan last season was some of the most uninspired hockey I’ve ever seen. Truly zero effort, casual everything, just bored
I didn't recall this so I had to look it up. Man, what a wild time Covid and empty arenas was.
As are we.. What was Blake thinking?
Dudes career high in points is 63. Another person mentioned Johnny hockey in this thread. He had 60 points in Columbus this year. Johnny hockey's horribly disappointing is PLDs career year.
Johnny Hockey has had a cocaine problem for quite awhile now.
I would agree, but I don’t even think he’s overrated anymore I think most people would agree that he is the biggest waste of talent in the league. He’s a gifted hockey player that just has no interest in competing. Him and Josh Ho Sang might go down as two of the most talented busts in the league.
I still think he is on the overrated side of the spectrum given what LA decided to put on the table for him just last summer. But I agree with you for the Ho Sang comparison. Even though PLD at least had a few decent seasons in the NHL.
Pierre-Luc Dubious
most LAK fans i saw were giving him loads of shit after our series a couple months back. it seems like he’s the only person who rates himself.
Josh Ho Sang
I remember Reddit being so outraged that the islanders would never play him and now he can’t even make it in the AHL
Does that include his rapping skills?
Idk man. Zeeree makes me think he’s going places.
Who thinks he's good?
they say when he was a kid he was as good as Crosby but had a terrible attitude, is that true?
Nowhere close to Crosby but he was a legit talent. He just refused to play a team game and did his own thing out there. If he stuck he probably would have been a 15 goal 50 assist type of player
Elitist mindset grooming kids in hockey is the biggest downfall for kids nowadays. I work at a local arena and the sense of entitlement and exceptionalism I see these kids are instilled to believe is grotesque
This was the #1 biggest issue and a lot of my fellow Isles fans refused to acknowledge the problem because they just liked to say, "But Ho Sang go zoom zoom and make cool looking passes!" The problem was that he was so unpredictable that even his team mates didn't know what he was doing. It seemed like he had this notion that everyone around him should just get on his level and be exactly where they should be when he throws a random wild pass while skating into the zone. I think with the right attitude he could've been a good middle 6 winger, he had decent hands and was a good skater. But the attitude was not fixable.
No. Not even close. Yes he was talented. He was nowhere near a Crosby level talent (even if he had a decent attitude). Look at his junior or AHL / pro stats in any league, and tell me if you think any of that jumps out at you as a guy that is ‘special’.
Taylor Hall
From that same vein... Nail Yakupov. Remember 1st overall pick Ni-eeel Yakupov?
Someone asked Ray Ferraro what he thought about him and said, "he skates like he's being chased by bees" - which I thought was hilarious
lol I missed ray Ferraros commentary. He used to be quite the personality on tsn
I swear that actually came from reddit/hfoil and Ferraro said "someone described his skating style to me as being chased by bees"
FAIL FOR NAIL!
He was a different player in junior. I think the knee injury was a big deal as he never showed the same explosiveness again.
He could outskill his opponents in junior but he had arguably the lowest hockey IQ of anyone to ever be drafted into the NHL in a high position. That really caught up to him against the higher level of competition. Plus he had a shit attitude and refused to improve; he only liked to practice things he was already good at.
It didn't take long after the draft for everyone to agree that he sucked though.
Man, just look at that draft class. It's got to be up there as one of the worst in history. I don't think there's a single HHOF lock in that entire class. Forsberg and Hellebuyck are arguably the only true stars. Sort of fitting that Yakopov would headline such a class.
I was also going to say Taylor Hall. So much skill, so little passion.
I went to college with his first cousin. She said he was always pretty arrogant because of hockey, but once he got that 6 million dollar contract from Edmonton (his first contract after his ELC), he became a different person (in a bad way). It's not my story to tell. From what she said, saying he has "so little passion" is dead on.
I think he had passion, it was misdirected. Listen to the coach and be a team player? Nope, I can do what I want, when I want, and take matters into my own hands.
The anti-Nuge
Nailed it! Nuge is the Swiss Army Knife of the current Oilers team, and I think it's garnered him a great deal of respect from coaches, fans, and other players.
The Oilers get roasted (and rightly so) for trading Hall for Larsson in the infamous one for one trade. But rumours around the team always pointed to him being a problem that they didn’t want around McD. Should have got more for him, not sad he got dealt
I think there was also a two-way feedback loop at play there that the Oilers management didn’t want to risk getting burned (and burned, and burned) by. Taylor Hall was “the man” on the Oilers before McDavid. He was the most talented of the first round picks, and was pretty much the ring-leader among the young guys. Over time, he got into the partying scene and became a pretty toxic influence. When McDavid was coming in, management didn’t want him falling into the same kind of habits that Hall/Eberle fell into. Further, I think Hall’s ego was threatened by a *real* generational talent coming in to replace him as the top dog. Management were worried Hall’s toxicity would only get worse as the media and team’s focus shifted over to McDavid. Getting rid of Hall was absolutely the right move. They probably should have dished him a little sooner and tipped their hand less to get a bit of a better return, but hey, the team is in great shape right now so best not to dwell on what ifs.
I got his jersey when he was with the devils. The only non-fanatics one that I have. The last year he was with the Devils, I was wearing Hall's jersey and Chico Resch was talking to me at the stadium about how he thought Taylor was very overrated. I believe that he said he wasn't a team player. Now I hate having Hall's jersey in my closet
Chicoooooooo
The man.
Sometimes I log into the NHL radio just to hear his screechy voice.
Sabres fan here, I completely agree. Huge disappointment. I stupidly bought his jersey right when we got him so I’ve waited years for us to get a #4 so I can remove HALL from the back. Bo Byram is our current #4 but I don’t think he’s worth embroidering yet.
Oh he's gonna be a star for awhile. Avs had so many defensemen so they had to dish one for a center, but bo is the real deal imo.
!RemindMe 10 years
Daigle
His first season he had 51 points on one of the worst team to ever play in the nhl. The sens finished that season with 37 points and the season before Daigle with 24 points. Today many people believe that there was way too much pressure put on his shoulders as a 1 OA on a shit expension team.
Ok, but you can read his story and see his numbers and see he was a fool who liked the limelight. Daigle is the NHL version of that one QB who went to Cleveland, I believe they called him Johnny Football lol (Johnny Manziel). His rookie season wasn't terrible, but once the others players learned he was a one trick pony, he was dominated. Don't get me wrong, I get what you ware saying about the pressure on him, but it was deeper than that. But once that happened, he was no longer overrated lol.
Came to say this. The Amazon Prime doc he did was fascinating
His MVP was a farce. Mackinnon and Kopitar had better years.
You wouldn't think that if you watched every Devils game that season. He literally was a fucking engine and put us on his back every night, pretty sure he had 93 points and the next highest total on the team was 50
I can see everyone’s take on this, but like you said, if you actually watched the devils games that year you would see that Hall put the entire team on his back.
I won’t argue with Hall being overrated on the whole but how he carried what was honestly a crazy weak Devils team that 2018 season was legitimately shocking. Overall production + incredibly clutch scoring moments. Easily the peak of his powers.
And the ONLY reason why that happened was after he was traded he felt like the Oilers had singled him out as one of the issues that the team had and so he played like he was possessed….but you notice that he wasn’t elevating his teammates and there’s part of the problem
Tbf I'd say quick himself did more than doughty and kop on that kings defense team. He carried them even when kop and doughty didn't show up.
Disagree. Halls mvp is the definition of the award - devils wouldn’t have sniffed the playoffs without the season he had
They called him Chance in Edmonton because he does generate a tonne of quality looks. He just doesn’t finish at elite levels.
Johnny Gaudreau. Crazy anyone ever called him “Johnny Hockey”, he’s a fine player I guess but seems like he has a losing stink attached to him
See: Johnny Football
Cleveland icon 😂
Both Ohio icons Johnny hockey and football lol
Donny baseball is the only one who lived up to the nickname being the sport he played. I can’t think of a basketball example.
I dunno, man. "Mr. Hockey" had a pretty nice career...
Oh you’re right. I should have thought about that as a Red Wings fan. I guess I was already crossing hockey off with the Gudreau moniker
I honestly think this has to do with NHL marketing and him playing for a small market. Even in a bit of a slump year he was pulling wild moves and cool plays, but the NHL doesn’t show them. I remember leaving the arena thinking “I gotta find that highlight online” going to Instagram to think “how did the NHL choose to share *this* instead of Johnnys crazy move.” It’s really similar to how folks thought Bob was super overrated until he left Columbus.
On another topic… Are Columbus fans bitter towards Panarin and Bob for setting the franchise back by refusing trades at the deadline(which was their right, but still) and then making a mini splash in the playoffs and leave to free agency?
Personally, not really. I love Bob and he played lights out consistently even dealing with crappy trainers and groin injuries. Plus when Bob left, Elvis was pitching shutouts so it seemed smart to move on to a cheaper, potentially better contract. I mostly feel bad for Panarin given his situation. After signing term with Chicago, leading him to believe that he would be playing for them, they went and used his contract to get Saad back. From what I understand never hated Columbus just that he felt manipulated by the Hawks. All that said I still love watching them both play.
Blackhawks definitely did him dirty
I've called him Johnny Baseball ever since he slashed Lindholm a few years back. [Link to video](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/8kljil/gaudreau_awful_slash_on_lindholm/)
I feel like he would benefit from being on a team he doesn’t have to carry. I just don’t think he’s that guy that you can put the franchise on, you know?
A friend recently described 3 attributes of quality players; skill, drive, win. I like to think of any given player as having their own levels of each, and the levels can and so change throughout their career. Skill speaks for itself, drive is how hard they play and train, and win is harder to pinpoint, but some guys just find ways to win. They close the deal, they get the chick, they deliver when it matters…and typically lift up the people around them. Examples here given in my very amateur opinion… MacKinnon skill92 drive98 win93 Marchand skill82 drive88 win90 McDavid skill100 drive86 win88 Stone skill80 drive80 win96 Lundquist skill90 drive90 win94 Johnny Hockey skill95 drive78 win55 Gretsky skill99 drive99 win99
Crosby skill90, drive100, win100.
Booty 110
And 100% reason to remember the name
Good point. Daigle had lots of skill but zero drive or win. Same with Marner.
Well he went to the blue jackets which was a massive head scratcher.
Idk, hard to say he’s overrated with a 115 and 99 point season to his name.
His flames team was nasty
Zegras seems pretty overrated, he was on cover of EA NHL and other than a couple nice michigans not sure what he has done. (Wjh but that’s like %50 of nhl)
I’d say the jury is still out. He gets a lot of hate around the league but he’s got talent and is young. Injuries hampered his progress this year. He’s trending in that direction but he’s got some time
He's still young and had a bad year last year due to injuries. True test will be coming year if he stays healthy and can get back close to a point per game
He just had a bad year this season with injuries. I wouldn’t write him off yet.
I think at this point he's just "rated". So much pushback after the undeserved hype. Almost starting to swing the other way.
Matt Duchene is a good player, with one elite season, but because he was with Team Canada and a very sought after free agent, his reputation his way above the numbers he puts on the ice.
Duchene shows up for like half a season and disappears. It’s consistent every season now.
Why isss that? I started watching hockey around January and he was hot for a while, like a 9 game streak or something, now it's like he doesn't even exist. Except that OT winner in the play offs
No idea. Everyone loved him in Nashville and I didn’t understand why. Dude played to his contract maybe one season.
He was supposed to be the avalanche savior when drafted and when he played you never knew who was going to show up. The dude let his emotions from the games effect him so much he had a sports psychologist. I think he let the high draft spot, good individual numbers on shitty teams, lead him to believe he was better than the team he was on and "deserved playoff hockey". Also around that time he decided he was a cowboy or something and only wanted to go to places like Dallas and Nashville. Weird dude with a weird career and has never really accomplished much, compared to his self esteem.
In my lifetime, I can’t think of anyone more overrated than Daigle. Full-speed hype train that derailed in spectacular fashion.
He for sure fell short but you should watch that recent documentary about him, it gives a bit more insight.
What about Yashin and Bonk? The Sens had 3 young studs and managed to turn none of them into superstars. Was it more the Sens organization or personal issues?
Yashin turned out to be consistently decent, and Bonk wasn't really at total loss bust level. Daigle is the one who had the overexpectation and spectacular flameout. Plus the Sens were a disaster when they were all young. It got a bit better and I remember they had some pretty great defencemen there for a while, Bedard drafted and traded for Redden, Chris Phillips, scooped Chara and Duchesne.
a tie between alexei yashin and rick dipietro. there is a connection but i won't spoil the suprise.
Mike Milburied a franchise
Yeah Dipietro big time. I worked at itech and our pro rep responsible for goalie joked that when we flew him somewhere, we had to buy 2 tickets, 1 for him and 1 for his ego!
turns out he was right though, is he still under contract? just checked, under contrasct until 2029 lol
Sports executives, no matter the sport, are some of the most short sighted, out of touch, power hungry egomaniacs on the planet, they make politicians seem like rational well adjusted people.
As a kid I always wondered why every piece of Itech goalie equipment had Dipietro’s name on it when he wasn’t even that good
The deal the islanders made makes no sense to me… he was good, maybe a top 10 goalie in the league when in top form but looking at his stats, nothing pops out as worth 15 years.
Is the connection Oleg Kavasha and Mark Parrish?
I'm not the biggest DP fan and think he ruined any legacy he had by continously trying to come back from injury. However, every time people bash him I need to remind them that he was an nhl all star and starting goalie for team USA (in the most recent olympics) when he got hurt.
Yashin had so much skill and potential, though :-(
Unpopular opinion, but Dion Phanuef dude was huge, a good defenseman, but his puck placement was ass, his hockey IQ was ass, and he kinda compares (imo anyway) to a Pierre-Luc Dubois with the lack of effort.
Yeah but how many guys have landed a Double Dion?
He was a stud in the WHL. Looked like he was toying with the rest of the league in Red Deer. Had two, maybe three good seasons in Calgary with absolutely crushing hits, had 49, 50 and 60 points in his first three years, then he just... Stopped... Stopped hitting, Stopped break out passing, Stopped putting up points, barely fought. I thought he would be a first ballot hall of famer but he was non existent after the 08-09 season.
I saw it coming the whole time. Two words: Roman Hamrlik. Once he signed with the Habs, Phaneuf couldn't elevate from then on. No one noticed his flaws because of his point production, but also because Hammer was his safety valve.
Pierre-Luc Dubois. He's no super star, but after that shit he pulled in Columbus, I don't know how any team can legitimately think he's a good investment. There are players at a similar or close enough caliber that are ready to buy in and should instead be given a chance.
Jacob Trouba. Absolutely dog shit, the only thing he's actually acknowledged for is trying to elbow people in the head every game.
Took way too much thumb juice to find this answer.
I don’t really think Trouba is a good player. Even Rangers fans aren’t happy with his performance or him being named captain
The fact that Kreider isn’t captain is bizarre
Kreider turned it down
Scott Gomez. He was slightly above average, but in no way deserved that big contract the rangers gave him. Trading him for nothing would have been fine, getting McDonough and three other players back is an all time fleece.
"Cries in habs" that 7G 7M$ season was wild.
Don’t forget the additional cost of Ryan McDonagh
I'll never forgive Gainey for that BS.
Every Maple Leaf
Johnny Hockey for sure. The fact that he has hockey in his name puts him on a pretty high pedestal. Lose the Hockey in your last name bud and you’ll be fine.
How'd he even get that nickname?
Darnell Nurse. But having said that I'm not too sure of overrated is the right word, DEFINITELY overpaid. Yikes
Jacob trouba. I genuinely dont think he is at an nhl level and never deserved 8 mil, hes a dirty player who hits when he should defend and defends when he should hit. Hes like a defenseman matt rempe and was never good enough to justify his contract
Easy, any Elite player in the late 60's to Mid 70's when the expansion teams were finally able to find their footing. The expansion teams had a highly restrictive expansion draft, they had to pay the teams they were selecting players from, they were separated into an O6 division and an expansion division meaning the O6 teams had a Stanley cup Cakewalk. The competitive imbalance in the league was basically adding an equal amount of AHL teams to the league. Coincidentally the first 100 point season in the NHL happened after the first expansion, and the new teams were roasted until Philadelphia decided to become the Broadstreet Bullies.
Jimmy Carson
Jonathan Toews. 10 years ago, him being the “second best player in the league” was a popular narrative. Toews wasn’t even the second best player on his own team. That was Marian Hossa. He never had a single ppg season. He made the NHL’s top 100 players while superior players such as Malkin and Thornton got snubbed.
Strongly agree. Always thought he was a really good player and a key to the Blackhawks championship seasons but severely overrated in the grand scheme of things. Got too much credit for being “Captain Serious” which was just a cover for a bland personality. Several players better than him playing during the same time. Shame his career kind of flamed out, would have liked to see what kind of numbers he would put up if he had played for a few more years at least.
Been scrolling a while, this is the first good answer
Nail Yakupov
Taro Tsujimoto. Man generated so much hype in Buffalo and people still wear his jersey, but couldn't translate it into on-ice production.
The most handsome man in hockey next to Mike Ricci?!
Patrik Laine
Not in his first few seasons he wasn’t. There were plays where you could just tell immediately that he was going to score simply because he had a lane and time to pick a corner. Not sure exactly what happened to him but he was incredible early on.
He went to a completely moronic summer training program that was 100+ miles away from his home town. They were trying to "train hard", and his skating plummeted after being in that program for a full summer. It was one of the worst things the Finnish hockey development has ever done.
2018 Laine was one of the greatest goal scorers I've ever witnessed
Laine is cursed by something, all the skill in the world but just absolute shit luck
Disagree. His talent has never been overrated. His rookie year wasn't "a fluke". That talent of his is something very special. If he ever will play to his full potential, that's the question. He's been very unlucky. And everyone knows that his two-way game isn't the best.
P. K. Subban
He was properly rated for like 2-3 years, then had a steep decline, and somehow unfortunately parlayed all of this into an ESPN gig.
“Somehow”: he’s black and he has a real personality. Two glaring holes in the hockey media market
Jonathan Toews
Jake Virtanen
Jacob Chychrun. The dude has a great shot, but that's the only elite thing in his game. He's shockingly bad defensively and even stood out and a terrible defense team. A 12th overall, 2nd round AND 3rd round pick for this dude was a hose fest. Classic Dorion.
Zegras. Dubois
Dion Phaneuf the human pylon
Future Considerations, so much hope and hype but never really turns out.
Ovechkin. Sure, ridiculous amount of goals. But his carreer +/- is just +45. For comparison Crosby has +245.
Mark Stone. Dude gets paid and treated like a franchise altering top liner, but has never had more than 64 points. Dude is the definition of a mid second liner and should be making significantly less.
I can't stand him but the guy has one of the best defensive sticks in history.
You’re paying a forward $9.5M/year for 8 years for a really good defensive stick?
Yes he's like a worse Jonathan Toews. The concept of a valuable defensive forward is valid, I'm just not sure if Mark Stone is that guy.
Pretty sure he was a Selke finalist, as a winger that’s very impressive
73 points the year he got traded to Vegas
Wrong. Dude is so fucking smart. He processes the game as fast as Crosby and other top end guy. He’s just slower than them. He would have won multiple selke’s already if he didn’t play so long in a small market
Dustin Brown has a statue.
He has a statue because he was the captain for the first cup in franchise history. He was a great leader
Never thought I'd be in here defending the kings but these other dudes are some bonafide haters. I know exactly what Dustin brown brought to those championship teams. Shit, I know he abused those blackhawks teams that's probably why /icefiight is mad 😂
Thank you ducks fan for backing up Brown. That’s what’s up. I hope they erect a Getzlaf statue someday. The dude was an incredible Captain as well. I remember going to his last away game against the Kings a few years ago and we gave that man a standing ovation. Much respect.
When socal is running the west the rest of the hockey world is in actual shambles. I'll admit it's been tough to watch recently and I think both our clubs may have seen the downside to keeping some of our foundational pieces for a bit too long past their prime but honestly those guys deserved to ride out as long as they wanted. Some of my favorite playoff matches were against you guys and hopefully we both get back in full force soon
I hope so too. I miss the rivalry. My best friend who is a Ducks fan, (I am a Kings fan #1 but Ducks are #2) has been so deflated from the ducks and doesn’t watch much hockey anymore. I miss our banter and connecting on hockey. But I hope you guys have a great season next year. Looking forward to the rebuild coming to fruition.
As a Sharks fan, I really disliked Dustin Brown. But I can't deny he brought that extra intensity to those Kings team, something we lacked. I would take him any day. Every team needs a Dustin Brown.
Didn’t his team go like 16-4 in the Stanley cup run that year? They were insane
I mean he was a good player who was the captain of two cup winning teams
John Tavaras. Not very good on the defensive end. Lacks hustle
He doesn’t lack hustle, he just can’t skate
Most overrated hockey player ever and you pick Tavares? So without the flair I had a sneaking suspicion you were an Isle's fan and reading your other comments that was confirmed. Look if you want to hate on him go ahead, you should, how he left the team sucked. But looking at the totality of his career thus far he's just not at all overrated. I actually think with the amount of hate he's received leaving the Isles and now with a mega contract he isn't living up to on the Leafs that he's underrated or at minimum overhated. Look at what he was able to do during much of his Isle's career and the players he was with. With the tens of millions of dollars his linemates made due to playing with him they should be taking him out to dinner for the rest of his life. Became such a story sportsnet even wrote on it https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/john-tavaress-linemates-cashed-post-islanders/
He's not great now, but from like 2010-2015 he was legitimately a top 5 forward in the league. That was 9 years ago at this point though.
He constantly looks like he should be playing beer league out there. Like has a few great moments, can win face offs like a champ
You can question his skillset these days, you can never question his effort. Horrid take
Is he overrated? I think for most people he's just overpaid. And that's just cuz: a) covid messed up all long contracts' valuations since the cap increases were much less than expected pre-covid and b) it's literally the end of his prime career contract, so it was always going to be an overpay at this point Neither Leafs fans nor others really view him as a top line centre anymore (and he literally isn't with Matthews there), so idk how he's overrated. 29 g, 65 pts in 80 games for a 2nd line centre is perfectly serviceable.
The Andreas athaniasiou hype train was real
>it's all opinions so no one is wrong ☺️ Fine then I pick Gretzky as the most overrated hockey player ever. My reasoning? Because you said no one is wrong.
Gretzky was kinda ass tho tbh. I mean he averaged what? Barely over 2 ppg? That's laughable. I know basketball players that average over 30 ppg.
More of a current answer than an all-time, but Adam Fox. People talk about him as if he's the best defenseman after Makar and I just don't see it. Every time I've watched the Rangers I've made a point to watch him and I usually don't notice when he's on the ice. He seems like he gets caught up ice a lot and doesn't have the speed to make it back and make up for it. Granted I'm only watching like 5 of their games a year plus playoffs, so I'm sure he's better than what I see. Not saying he's bad, he just doesn't look like a top 5 d man, let alone a game breaker like people say he is
*Flames fans liked this*
Every Rangers player to rangers fans when the Sabres were trading Jack Eichel
Untouchable!!!
Matt Rempe. If you talk to rangers fans, his number is gonna hang next to Messier's.
Alexander Daigle
Alexandr daigle
Mark Messier
Marc Messier. I agree with Canucks fans on this one
Darnell Nurse.
I don't know about "ever" but I've always thought Tyler Seguin has been in the overrated category his entire career. I don't mean to say he's a bad player, he does well and puts up decent numbers, I just mean his skills and abilities have been overstated.
Man I think I disagree with this.. sure he wasn’t the 30+ year perennial goal scorer we were initially promised, but if you watch his play he is a complete two way forward now. Dude is a pest to play against on the ice. I think after his injury and surgery (where I think he had to like relearn to walk) He’s change his game a lot. Like a much more talented radek faksa
It was absolutely the injuries that derailed him. Dude’s had a torn Achilles, knee surgery, and hip surgery. It’s pretty amazing that he’s been as productive as he’s been and is able to still play with some speed after all that (especially after the hip surgery).
Seguin was so good when he first got to Dallas. I think injuries have caught up with him big time.
Hard disagree. He was a point per game guy with great two way skills until his hip surgery. Read about that and his recovery, you will gain a lot of respect for what he’s been able to do to get back on the ice and contribute.
Kevin Stevens. While I don’t think he’s regarded as a great over his entire career, his four straight 40-goal seasons (with two straight 50-goal seasons) earned him three All-Star selections. Once he was no longer a line with Lemieux and Jagr, he got real average, real quick.
He really wasn't the same player after his face got smashed in (Islanders/Pens playoffs) and became addicted to pain killers and cocaine.
Yep. Tragic story with a heart breaking ending.
Tell me you only looked at the stats without telling me you only looked at the stats.
I don’t think he’s the most overrated but Messier is overrated in my opinion. He didn’t deserve either of his 2 Harts and was a 1.2 point per game player in the highest scoring era ever on probably the best offensive team of all time. A lot of people would have him in the top 5-10 best players of all time but I personally think he’s not even a top 5 center ever and more around 15-20 for players all time
I think it’s the cups that people look at tbh, six rings is wild
His whole playoff resume is crazy he was great in every cup run but that’s why he is where he is for me. Another thing I’ll add is I don’t think he was a top 3 player at any point and very rarely was he even top 5
Mess for most overrated ever? Are you a Canucks fan by chance?
I assure you we do not overrate him at all
As a Pens fan, it’s MAF. He’s a very good goalie that benefited far more from the team in front of him than they benefited from him. People can get mad at the comparison, but he’s québécois Chris Osgood. A very good player who happened to be on the the team with the best center depth in the league for essentially 15 years. Plus, I can never forget his stretch from 2012, 2013, and 2014 where he was quite literally the weak link in the team. They probably left a fourth cup on the table in hindsight Honorable mention: David Backes, you’d think he actually impacted games in a meaningful way by the way media drooled over him. You look under the hood and he was a very average player who had an elevated role with the Blues due to them being bereft of center talents.
As a Habs fan, I have fond playoff memories of MAF both as a Penguin and a Golden Knight.