i'll go to my grave saying ari ahonen never got a fair shake
He didn't clearly outplay Scott Clemmensen over a few AHL seasons, so I don't know if Ahonen really got dealt a bad hand.
My Devil "what if" is Christian Berglund; On an unrelated note, it made me feel old that his son was a 2nd round pick a couple weeks ago. My Cliff's Notes on Berglund:
- Spring 2001 - Ranked #20 on The Hockey News Future Watch, ahead of Brian Gionta. Devils didn't have the budget to retain Alexander Mogilny, but they thought perhaps Berglund/Gionta/Pierre Dagenais could crack the lineup soon.
- 2001-02 season - Berglund and Gionta both are AHL rookies. Berglund produces at a better clip than Gionta in the AHL and NHL. Patrik Elias missed a few games with injury and Berglund briefly took his spot on the top line with Arnott-Sykora. Coaching change #1 goes down as Larry Robinson is replaced by Kevin Constantine. Injuries to Sykora and Gomez forces Gionta/Berglund to get some playoff action.
- 2002-03 season - Coaching change #2 with Constantine replaced with Pat Burns. Devils swap Sykora for Jeff Friesen which opens up a RW spot for Gionta while putting another veteran LW in front of Berglund. Berglund opens the season as the 4th line LW and doesn't find traction. Gets sent down midway through the season and eventually misses the rest of the regular season after getting injured in the AHL. He was healthy enough to practice with the big club during the 2003 Cup run, but I don't know if he was ever considered to dress as the team used Jiri Bicek and Mike Rupp after Joe Nieuwendyk missed the finals with a back injury.
- 2003-04 season - Berglund and Gionta start on the 4th line opening night. Gionta would work his way up to the top line with Elias-Gomez by the end of the season. Unfortunately Berglund got hurt again. Desperate for offense, Lou shipped out Berglund at the deadline for Viktor Kozlov. In a brief cameo with Florida, Berglund pots 3 goals in 10 games. I was optimistic that Berglund could score 20 for them the following season.
- 2004-05 season - Coaching change #3 as Florida fired John Torchetti and GM Rick Dudley and replaced them with Jacques Martin and Mike Keenan. And then that pesky lockout happened.
- 2005-06 season - Out of the lockout, Keenan goes on a veteran signing spree adding Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, Jozef Stumpel, Martin Gelinas, and Chris Gratton. Berglund is offered a two way contract but chooses to stay in Europe since he's not promised an NHL spot.
- 2006-07 season - Keenan is ousted and Jacques Martin becomes GM/coach. Martin never expressed interest in bringing Berglund back.
At least for me, Berglund went from promising 21 year old to 26 year old afterthought in the blink of an eye. Lots of coaching/GM changes and a lockout during a make it or break it season was tough. Not sure if he would have been anything more than a 15-20 goal 3rd liner with some sandpaper, but I always wondered if he might have stuck around the NHL without the lockout. Kinda interesting to contrast Gionta who hit 1,000 GP while Berglund didn't crack 100.