Best Top Six Players Who Weren't Stars?

DitchMarner

TheGlitchintheSwitch
Jul 21, 2017
11,062
8,018
Brampton, ON
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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BigBadBruins7708

Registered User
Dec 11, 2017
14,525
19,934
Las Vegas
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

TheGlitchintheSwitch
Jul 21, 2017
11,062
8,018
Brampton, ON
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

I'd kindly settle for a tall glass of milk.
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.
 
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DitchMarner

TheGlitchintheSwitch
Jul 21, 2017
11,062
8,018
Brampton, ON
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.
 
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carjackmalone

Registered User
Dec 30, 2023
318
150
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
 
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MadLuke

Registered User
Jan 18, 2011
10,624
6,147
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):

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

Registered User
Oct 6, 2017
697
1,440
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.
 
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MXD

Partying Hard
Oct 27, 2005
51,584
17,460
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.
 
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The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
20,027
16,989
Tokyo, Japan
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
 
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MadLuke

Registered User
Jan 18, 2011
10,624
6,147
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.
 

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