Best change of scenery stories?

Patrick Sharp

Drafted in the 3rd round by the Flyers in 2001
Doesn't do much in his limited time there over 3 seasons:
66 games - 10 goals

Traded at age 24 to Chicago in December of 2005

-becomes an All-Star and Selke candidate
-key part of 3 cup wins
-fan favorite
-Seasons with 40, 38, 38, and 37 goals
Think he was 3rd in pts for the hawks in the 10, 13, 15 cups.

Super underrated piece on that team
 
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Kessel very publicly feuded with the Toronto media regularly and had a very bad relationship with them. Before and during his last season in Toronto he was openly lamenting the media treatment of players in Toronto, especially his teammate Dion Phaneuf. He was put under a microscope and was clearly not happy with the treatment he and his teammates got in Toronto. You could see it in his body language and interviews.

When he won his 3rd cup with Vegas in 2023 he literally called out the Toronto media.... Of course fans piggy-backed with the hot dog memes and whatever, but the media pretty obviously had negatively affected him quite a lot for him to be calling them out 8 years after he's even been in Toronto.
It was literally Steve Simmons

Again it was Steve Simmons, not the entire Toronto media

It was the fans of literally every single other team always telling us how Kessel sucks and is fat lazy 1 dimensional, too soft, he would never win anything.

But then switched their narrative up completely when he was traded.
 
It was literally Steve Simmons

Again it was Steve Simmons, not the entire Toronto media

It was the fans of literally every single other team always telling us how Kessel sucks and is fat lazy 1 dimensional, too soft, he would never win anything.

But then switched their narrative up completely when he was traded.
It was most than just Steve Simmons, man. Not everyone was quite as brash as Simmons or, but Kessel was pretty obviously not happy with the media in general there and being under the microscope that comes with playing in Toronto. You can look back at old articles written by more than just Simmons that were critical of Phil.

Plenty of fans in TO liked him, but he got a lot of flak too. Just happens in a high pressure market like Toronto.

Regardless of who specifically, he clearly wasn't happy with his treatment there and the change of scenery made a world of difference for him.
 
It was most than just Steve Simmons, man. Not everyone was quite as brash as Simmons or, but Kessel was pretty obviously not happy with the media in general there and being under the microscope that comes with playing in Toronto. You can look back at old articles written by more than just Simmons that were critical of Phil.

Plenty of fans in TO liked him, but he got a lot of flak too. Just happens in a high pressure market like Toronto.

Regardless of who specifically, he clearly wasn't happy with his treatment there and the change of scenery made a world of difference for him.
He was elite here and elite in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh just had a significantly better team. Glad he won 2 cups there, had a legitimate case for a Conn Smythe as well.

I just strongly disagree with this idea that the Toronto media (most of it) was against him, also strongly disagree that change of scenery made him a better player. Obviously he won the 2 cups, but in terms of how good he was, it was the same in Toronto we just had a shit team.
 
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Rene Robert was not given a real chance by the Leafs and Penguins and was looking at a middling career. Traded to the Sabres by Pittsburgh for Eddie Shack he became a point-per game player for Buffalo for the next eight seasons and one of the members of the French Connection.

My Best-Carey
 
Both Alex Kovalev and Petr Nedved after their trade to the Penguins - ironically, they were traded for each other. Both developed their games in Pittsburgh playing behind Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.
 
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It was the fans of literally every single other team always telling us how Kessel sucks and is fat lazy 1 dimensional, too soft, he would never win anything.

I can remember my narrative which was that you can't have your franchise player be a finesse winger and be a Cup contender.

This opinion was not really well-received in Toronto, as you can imagine.

Meanwhile, that kind of player is perfect on a team with two generational centres on it.
 
He was elite here and elite in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh just had a significantly better team. Glad he won 2 cups there, had a legitimate case for a Conn Smythe as well.

I just strongly disagree with this idea that the Toronto media (most of it) was against him, also strongly disagree that change of scenery made him a better player. Obviously he won the 2 cups, but in terms of how good he was, it was the same in Toronto we just had a shit team.
Whether it was just him or the team in general, it was pretty apparent that he didn't like how the media interacted with the players and it really affected his attitude.

I don't think it particularly made him a better player, when I said it made a a world of difference in his attitude, general happiness, and the way he was perceived around the league.
 
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Devan Dubnyk!

Dubnyk was slowly getting worse for years in Edmonton. Then he bounced around a bit even hitting the AHL and looked like he was out of the league.

He gets traded to a desperate Wild team and starts 38 consecutive games going 27–9–2, making the playoffs when it seemed impossible. That year Dubnyk was 3rd in Vezina voting, 4th in Hart voting, and won a Masterton! He went on to be a workhorse goalie for Minny for the next 4 years, was a 3 time all-star, and started more games than almost anyone league wide while posting great numbers.

You won't find many bigger swings than going from AHL cast off to Vezina and Hart votes after a change of scenery.

Just to mention, Dubnyk was still bad when he was in Nashville (after the Oilers). His resurgence IIRC was due to goalie coach Sean Burke when he was a member of the Yotes (just prior to Minnesota).

I remember this one because Burke was a goalie coach I had hoped Calgary would try to quietly steal. Dubnyk's resurgence under him was part of the evidence that Burke was an elite goalie coach.

Would Tanner Jeannot fall into this after fumbling around the minors for a few seasons?

I guess it depends on what the OP means by washed up? Jeannot might be a better example of late bloomer than washed up?

Marchessault was on 3 NHL teams/lots of AHL time for 5 years and on a league minimum contract prior to being taken by VGK in the expansion draft.
 
Devan Dubnyk!

Dubnyk was slowly getting worse for years in Edmonton. Then he bounced around a bit even hitting the AHL and looked like he was out of the league.

He gets traded to a desperate Wild team and starts 38 consecutive games going 27–9–2, making the playoffs when it seemed impossible. That year Dubnyk was 3rd in Vezina voting, 4th in Hart voting, and won a Masterton! He went on to be a workhorse goalie for Minny for the next 4 years, was a 3 time all-star, and started more games than almost anyone league wide while posting great numbers.

You won't find many bigger swings than going from AHL cast off to Vezina and Hart votes after a change of scenery.

This might be the best case study of playing environments for goalies in modern day NHL.

When Dubynk was in Edmonton, he had a pretty poor defensive team in front of him. Meanwhile Minnesota had the #1 defensive environment in the NHL during Dubnyk's tenure. In fact it wasn't even close, it was silly how insulated their goalies were during this stretch.

Looking at goals saved above expected (min 30 games played).

10-11 - 13th/39 (EDM)
11-12 - 10th/42 (EDM)
12-13 - 3rd/22 (EDM)
*insert GM Craig McTavish's infamous offseason quote after being asked if Dubnyk was the Oilers starter: "If you have to ask the question, you already know the answer"*
13-14 - 38th/38 (EDM/NAS)
14-15 - 2nd (ARI/MIN)
15-16 - 27th/42 (MIN)
16-17 - 28th/41 (MIN)
17-18 - 30th/42 (MIN)
18-19 - 42nd/48 (MIN)
19-20 - 45th/45 (MIN)
He then played two more seasons on other teams with a combined 0.895SV% and was out of the league at age 35.

So what we're seeing was a goalie that was underrated in his time in Edmonton, had an awful season after getting publicly questioned by his GM and his name in trade rumours all year, followed by a season where he got hot, followed by playing below average on the best defensive team in the NHL. The reason why he was able to start so many games was because his game to game workload was less than every other starter and Minnesota practiced with a 3rd goalie.

I actually remember being on these boards during his tenure in Edmonton and the math guys were trying to explain this on HFOil, this was well before analytics were mainstreamed. Ironically when analytics started being validated, the Kevin Woodleys of the world used Dubnyk as the poster boy for a trade target not to acquire as his numbers would drop off on a new perspective team.
 
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Elias Lindholm when he was traded from Carolina to Calgary.

In four seasons with the Canes, his career high was 45 points.

His first year in Calgary he scores 78 points, followed by 54, 47 (56 GP), 82 and 64 points.

Of course playing with Gaudreau and Tkachuk helped, but he deserves some credit.
 
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Not that he wouldn't be great in Chicago, but getting traded to Tampa probably changed Brandon Hagel's life.

Bonus: Pat Maroon went from fourth line scrapper with the Ducks and Oilers to winning three straight Cups

Oh, and Ben Bishop went from just a random goalie on the Senators to one of the best of the early 2010s with the Bolts, too.
 
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Devan Dubnyk was a 14th OA pick who got ran out of town from Edmonton even though the roster was trash and ended up coming 3rd and 5th for the Vezina.
 
Patrick Sharp

Drafted in the 3rd round by the Flyers in 2001
Doesn't do much in his limited time there over 3 seasons:
66 games - 10 goals

Traded at age 24 to Chicago in December of 2005

-becomes an All-Star and Selke candidate
-key part of 3 cup wins
-fan favorite
-Seasons with 40, 38, 38, and 37 goals
Am I missing something? Where did you get those goal totals? I don't think he's ever scored 40 goals....for that matter, he hasn't scored 38 or 37 goals either.

I'd have to give this some more thought. The Sharp example, could simply be natural progression vs. total change in career due to change in scenery, but same could be said for a lot. When he was traded to CHI, he had 5 goals and 8 points in 22 games....not far off of the 9 goals and 23 points he scored in 50 games with CHI. The following full season he had 20 goals and 35 points....very small improvement and then took a big jump the following year.....to me, that's probably just a guy going from 24 to 25 to 26 and advancing his game.

Other examples are guys that just have a bad year and bounce back the next year, or guys that move to new place and are hot for a period of time but then settle back to their norm.
 
Zach Bogosian. I'm not sure if there was a signle Sabres fan who didn't celebrate his departure, and a few moments later he was a very well liked player in Tampa's Cup winning team.

Going from being a 20+ minute a night defenseman into the husk of what he was when Buffalo cut him loose is a downfall. That Tampa was able to plug him in as their #6 for their playoff run isn't a renaissance so much as properly slotting him into what his abilities could handle. His use and performance last year in Minnesota is more akin to what the Thrashers/Jets thought they had when they paid him. What he was like in Tampa in 21-22 was the shitty player he had become in Buffalo.
 
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One player who seemed to wake up after being traded and by his own admission started taking the game seriously was when Bertuzzi moved from the Islanders to Vancouver. It matured him a bit into taking his preparation seriously.
It was literally Steve Simmons

Again it was Steve Simmons, not the entire Toronto media

It was the fans of literally every single other team always telling us how Kessel sucks and is fat lazy 1 dimensional, too soft, he would never win anything.

But then switched their narrative up completely when he was traded.

Simmons wasn't the only guy who was talking up Kessel as all the one-dimensional stuff. There was still the kerfuffle from the draft combine stuff detailed in "Future Greats and Heartbreaks" by Gare Joyce that had continued to dog Phil in Boston and then upon arriving in Toronto.
 
Mikael Granlund is a very recent example. Poorly deployed and in the midst of a divorce so never really contributed in Pittsburgh (5 points in 21 games). Was a cap dump in the EK65 trade and played at a near PPG pace for the Sharks (105 in 121). Recently traded to DAL and has played at a PPG pace this far.
 
There have been many success stories in Colorado.

Lehkonen and Nichushkin were already mentioned, but a lesser example is Burakovsky. ~65 point player with them, ~35-40 point player elsewhere.

GPGAPPPG
Washington3286283145.44
Colorado1916189150.79
Seattle152255176.50
 
There were a couple of players that became good when they came to Uniondale and played with John Taveras. P J Parenteau was a 9th round pick by Anaheim and bounced around, looking like a career AHL player3-6-9 in 27games with Chicago and the Rangers. But at age 27 he scored 53 and 67 points for the Islanders and played decently for a few more teams.

Matt Moulson, a 9th round pick by Pittsburgh in 2003,played a few games with the Kings but scored 30 goals three time in four years with the Islanders. He then became one of the worst free agent signings ever by Buffalo
 
This entire thread could be dedicated to Mad Mike Milbury

Roberto Luongo
Olli Jokinen
Todd Bertuzzi
Zdeno Chara
Jason Spezza
Bryan Berard
Brian McCabe
Wade Redden


My Oilers had some horrible giveaways:
Miro Satan
Adam Graves

Canucks had some notable horribad ones:
Mike Peca
Cam Neely

But they also got Marcus Naslund from Pittsburgh, and Todd Bertuzzi from Mad Mike.
 

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