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Best players to just not get the shot in the NHL

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Slats432 said:
So, I was doing a dive on a goalie. Brandon Maxwell who is working with a cognitive company. He looks like it was working, but he had lost his job in DEL and was playing in DEL2. I thought, if things are going well, how did he get demoted.

He lost his job to Kristers Gudlevskis. I looked at his stats and could understand why. Kristers has fantastic numbers. I looked back at his previous stats and found his NHL career although extremely short was kind of nuts.

View attachment 895058

This guy has no losses and GAA and SV that are crazy.

Are there any other guys out there with under say 10-20 games that look like they should have played?
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He has fantastic numbers until you take a closer look and realize he was rarely a number 1 goalie and his save % in the AHL was about average.

Also he played 3 games in the nhl and only won 1 game
 
mattihp said:
Mika Nieminen. His skills with the puck was incredible. His speed of thinking the game was made for the NHL.

Kimmo Rintanen was one of the best stickhandlers ever in Finnish hockey. There was rumours of a PTO with the Rangers towards the end of his career that he didn't accept.

Toni Rajala got a shot, but he matured and got so much better when it comes to puck control and drawing attention from the opposition.
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It was only a matter of time before the CPU generated Mikko Rantanen out of all that talent.
 
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If you can’t cut it in lesser leagues impressive stats over a short period of time in the nhl is likely just a fluke

kind of like the zamboni driver
 
Someone mentioned Kharlamov.
We can add Tretiak, Mikhailov Vasiliev and the rest of the Soviets.

There must be some pretty good Swedes, Czechoslovaks, and Finns who haven't played a single game in the NHL. Rundqvist? Johansson? Kihlstrom? Jarvenpaa? Arbelius? Valek? Stavjana?
 
DangeRouss said:
Stephane Da Costa, one of the most skilled player in the KHL since years
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During his stint with the Senators, he and Erik Karlsson together were able to create lanes and passing plays that were beyond their on ice teammates. He had some highlight worthy plays, and there is an undercurrent of Senators fans who still wonder what if.

The pre-season trolley tracks hit on Da Costa by Phaneuf, which was replayed over and over again by TSN, made him look like he didn't belong. He wasn't a physical centre by any means, and early on, and had to learn how to become dependable on the breakout. He was also culturally an outlier as a Frenchman who would allegedly ride his bicycle to games in Kanata. A Bryan Murray type he was not. But the skill was there. Kyle Turris being the soft, skilled top 6 centre for Ottawa during that time, however, made him redundant.
 
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Deadpool8812 said:
What was that thank you for?
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Probably for years of service in their minor league system.

Mark Van Guilder Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Mark Van Guilder, a hockey player from Roseville, MN born Jan 17 1984 who was active from 2002 to 2021.
www.hockeydb.com

Neil Little was similar with the Flyers - he'd backed up 43 different times with the Flyers across several years before they gave him a start as a token of appreciation:

Neil Little Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics and Records of Neil Little, a hockey player and coach from Medicine Hat, ALTA born Dec 18 1971 who was active from 1989 to 2006.
www.hockeydb.com
 
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Always thought Stan Galiev should have been given more of a shot. Unfortunately he got caught up in a numbers game between 2014-16 when the Caps were a wagon and had no open slots. He finished 2016-17 in Hershey (where he scored 20+ goals in ~50 or so games) then went to the KHL.
 
Brodeur said:
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.
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He was a bruise kind of player, with a little bitnod playing sense. When he returned to Sweden he was almost actually bad though - not at all that fearsome and hardnosed player he was at his early 20s.

I think lost "what ifs" are european players, when NHL was still with conservative coaches.

My take is Esa Keskinen - he was NHL talent, just maye wouldnt want to play in NA? Such a smart player and a great passer, he would score 60-70 p in todays NHL.

Other what ifs Mika Hannula - the guy who crosscheked a 18 year old Crosby in the neck at WC in the semis. Fast skating player with a great shot, would score some at NHL level too, Im sure. Baxk then it was 26 teams, a bigger cut of playing over there talentwise...

Patrick Erickson - like many euros, a magican with the puck. Maybe he declined fast with age? At 20, he was a NHL talent.

Mika Nieminen - I dont know if he played at NHL? Extreme talent, big body, he was the Lemiuex In SHL some seasons.

Björn Nord - In sweden the D with Lidström in the lead just boomed, and a lot of Ds where coming every other year
Nord was always kind of the 9-10th best D in Sweden, never got the attention he should had. Scored 17 goals in just 35 games one year- while being actual good at D. Tjats great numbers at SHL, the scoring record for. Ds is just 22 goals or something. Great skater, great great shot. Offensive minded D but could play defence as well. And could lay the body as well. Even underrated at national teams. Probably the most underrated swedish player in the 90s.
 
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Albatros said:
Patera did too little to use the chances he was given, in Dallas he got to play with good linemates but couldn't adjust, probably didn't help that he didn't speak English and there weren't any other Czechs in team, refused to join the farm team when sent down. Later in Minnesota he had plenty of Czechs and Slovaks around him, but it didn't work in a bad team with lesser linemates either, got an extension for another year but again chose to not to stay after being sent down.
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The culture diffrence from NA and european players got to much some times. If you are not speaking close to at all, while being homesick, its getting even harder. There is still major diffrences from europe and NA in values.

But Patera played his best together with Martin Prozazchka (name?).
Another player that comes to mind is Pavel Rosol, such a dirty dirty player...
But also scoring goals. Only 172 cm probably didnt help I guess.
 
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