Best Top Six Players Who Weren't Stars?

[DitchMarner]

If we call guys like Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid the biggest stars; guys like MacKinnon, Thornton, Matthews, Yzerman and Sakic superstars; and guys like Staal, Seguin, Recchi, Mogilny, Lecavalier, Federko, Bondra and Nash stars, then who are some of the very best top six players who weren't quite stars?

I'm thinking of guys like Tanguay, Damphousse, Steve Thomas, John MacLean, Voracek, Richer, Bellows - players who were productive over lengthy periods of time and accumulated a lot of goals and/or points in their careers but were rarely among the League leaders in goals, assists or points. Let's limit responses to players who didn't finish in the top ten in points more than once and weren't top ten in goals or assists more than twice.

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[Killer Orcas]

Mike Gartner maybe.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

This thread screams David Krejci.

Very good 2 way center, anchored the Bruins offense under Julien and just always made the right play. He also was a playoff monster leading the league in playoff scoring twice.

Career 235-555-786 in 1032 games and routinely was 1st or 2nd on the team in scoring and assists.

His best skill was producing no matter who was on his wing and also elevating their production. While Bergeron and Marchand were joined at the hip, it was Krejci who was given a revolving door of average wingers.

 

[DitchMarner]

Mike Gartner maybe.

I think he's generally overrated by the hockey community (although not so much by internet fans - more by people who over-value career totals and/or don't account for significant differences in scoring environments), but I would say he was a star player. At the very last, he stands out as a goal scorer with five top ten finishes in goals. That's quite a lot.

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

If we call guys like Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid the biggest stars; guys like MacKinnon, Thornton, Matthews, Yzerman and Sakic superstars; and guys like Staal, Seguin, Recchi, Mogilny, Lecavalier, Federko, Bondra and Nash stars, then who are some of the very best top six players who weren't quite stars?

I'm thinking of guys like Tanguay, Damphousse, Steve Thomas, John MacLean, Voracek, Richer, Bellows - players who were productive over lengthy periods of time and accumulated a lot of goals and/or points in their careers but were rarely among the League leaders in goals, assists or points. Let's limit responses to players who didn't finish in the top ten in points more than once and weren't top ten in goals or assists more than twice.

Brian Propp.

I'd say if it were for defenceman, Brad McCrimmon.

 

[DitchMarner]

This thread screams David Krejci.

Very good 2 way center, anchored the Bruins offense under Julien and just always made the right play. He also was a playoff monster leading the league in playoff scoring twice.

Career 235-555-786 in 1032 games and routinely was 1st or 2nd on the team in scoring and assists.

His best skill was producing no matter who was on his wing and also elevating their production. While Bergeron and Marchand were joined at the hip, it was Krejci who was given a revolving door of average wingers.

Krejci is pretty much a perfect answer, with two fringe top ten finishes in assists and none in goals or points.

He made me think of Danny Briere, who had one top ten finish in goals, one top ten finish in points and one top ten finish in assists and was also a strong playoff player.

 

[carjackmalone]

1.Brian Propp
2.Tim Kerr
3.Vincent Damphousse
4.Bobby Smith
5.Charlie Simmer

Honorable mentions

Danny Gate
Bernie Federko
Mike Roger’s
Al Secord

 

[MadLuke]

Those shortest giant type of thread are always quite subjective or where you put bar.

Mike Gartner made the all-star games 7 times I think, made the hall of fame and the top 100 player in 100 years in the nhl list.

I am not sure how valids the numbers are or the metric (has contract can be front-loaded or back loaded so looking at a specific year ranking can be misleading):

1992-1993 - Top 25 Salaries

Rookie Eric Lindros is the best-paid NHLer while Teemu Selanne wins the Calder Trophy and breaks the rookie scoring record with 76 goals.For the first time

www.hockeyzoneplus.com

in 92-93 he was #14th in salary according to that website, sandwiched between Roy and Stevens.

 

[Stephen]

Cliff Ronning. Nothing too exciting.

 

[DitchMarner]

Cliff Ronning. Nothing too exciting.

Those Canucks teams that had some success in the early to mid 90s had a few guys of that calibre.

You can add Geoff Courtnall, Trevor Linden (I know he's an icon in Vancouver... but), maybe Murray Craven.

 

[Dissonance Jr]

Steve Larmer and Rod Brind’amour all fit the criteria in the OP but to me those guys were still secondary stars.

The highest-scoring career player who never once played in an All-Star game or even sniffed an award is Steve Thomas and he’s a decent pick. Pretty anonymous player who was a solid top-6 option for a long time across quite a few teams.

 

[authentic]

Havlat, Hemsky, Yashin?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

esa tikkanen, claude lemieux, jere lehtinen, alex burrows, ondrej palat

guys in your top six who elevate your stars

 

[MadLuke]

Yashin was quite a big star imo, to the point that he got one of the biggest contract in the history of the league:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/yashin-receiving-record-pact-1.258640

 

[Hobnobs]

Ulf Dahlen
Slava Kozlov
Bryan Smolinski
Walt Tkzczuk
Stu Barnes
Donald Audette
Pit martin
Red Berenson
Ivan Boldirev

 

[MXD]

1.Brian Propp
2.Tim Kerr
3.Vincent Damphousse
4.Bobby Smith
5.Charlie Simmer

Honorable mentions

Danny Gate
Bernie Federko
Mike Roger’s
Al Secord

Errhmmm...
Odd answer. Bernie Federko is in the Hockey Hall of Fame and has more Top-10 scoring finishes than Auston Matthews.

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

Neal Broten is a good candidate. Only finished in the Top 10 in assists once, and points once. He was sort of a cuspy star I suppose.

Pat Verbeek is another one. Never finishing in the Top 10 for goals/assists/points.

Both played in two All Star games.

 

[Cotton Eye Joe]

Thomas Steen. 950 games. 817 points.

 

[The Panther]

I misunderstood the thread topic to be an NHL team that had the best "top six" forwards, but of whom none were stars.

I was going to nominate the c.1989-1990 Maple Leafs:
C: Olczyk / Fergus
RW: Leeman / Marois
LW: Damphousse / Clark

 

[SnowblindNYR]

What about Mikael Renberg on the Legion of Doom line?

 

[DitchMarner]

Ulf Dahlen
Slava Kozlov
Bryan Smolinski
Walt Tkzczuk
Stu Barnes
Donald Audette
Pit martin
Red Berenson
Ivan Boldirev

These are good.

In that vein:

Andrew Brunette
Mike Foligno
Geoff Sanderson
Cory Stillman
Vaclav Prospal
Petr Sykora

 

[MadLuke]

If your are an offensive scorer, it is hard to be a really good top 6 without falling into the star category.

Pat Verbeek could be a nice place to put that line, because he played on the very much followed Rangers squad, made team canada and won a cup with Dallas, he was very well known by all hockey casual, but would he have stayed in quite market, maybe he is Ray Whitney (one of the quietest great 1000 pts career, outside the 2006 Hurricans cup run).

Playing for so long, 80s Devils-Hartford, not much second round playoff action in his career before turning 30, make it possible to score 500 without really going over the star line.

Prospal-Sanderson is other good one I feel like, well all the named.

LW: Damphousse / Clark

If we go by jersey sales, out of market favorite, I feel he would be one of the biggest non superstars ever.

 

[Vilica]

The guy that immediately came to mind for me was Mike Knuble, who had a fair few years being the 3rd wheel on a bunch of top lines in Boston, Philly and Washington.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Mark Stone is rising through this category. Not saying he's the best, there's so many names to check.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Steve Larmer and Rod Brind’amour all fit the criteria in the OP but to me those guys were still secondary stars.

The highest-scoring career player who never once played in an All-Star game or even sniffed an award is Steve Thomas and he’s a decent pick. Pretty anonymous player who was a solid top-6 option for a long time across quite a few teams.

Brind'Amour is a star in my book.

I get that he's in that below-radar category of stars, but his name was too big to fit what the Op wanted.