Biggest Goaltending Bust of all time??

Soundgarden

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Jul 22, 2008
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Chet Pickard, 2008 Draft. Stings for Predators fans because he was the pick when the Predators traded down while the Senators traded up for Erik Karlsson. At least Nashville got Josi in the 2nd round.
It's very likely we don't draft Josi if we drafted Karlsson, we came into the draft with the mindset of getting a top center, defenseman and Goalie prospect because we were forced to move Vokoun, Hartnell and Timonen.
 

Soapdodger

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Dec 31, 2007
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As a Kings fan it is Jamie Storr.
He had an excellent junior career and was drafted 7th overall but was never more than a decent backup.

I would add Jack Campbell to the list. Also great in juniors and also in LA and Toronto but horrible the rest of the way.
 
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Jumptheshark

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Oct 12, 2003
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Tyler Parsons.

Absolute money for the London Knights before going pro and falling down an alt-right conspiracy hole (at least that’s what it sounds like).

Necro-threads rule.


There was a reason why went mid 2nd. When you look who was on the knight you have to ask, was it him or the team he played on.


For me a bust is someone who went in the first 20 picks. When you get beyond that point it is a crap shoot
 
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VanIslander

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Who's are some highly touted goalies who dominated in junior and AHL and never turned out in the nhl?
Steve Rexe.

2nd overall in the NHL draft, the first-ever pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise.

Rexe became backup or third-stringer for several international Canadian teams, but never set skate on ice in the NHL, his only claim to fame being an AHL title 8 years after the NHL draft.
 

Bear of Bad News

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Steve Rexe was both the first goaltender selected in the 1967 amateur draft *and* the last goaltender selected in the 1967 amateur draft.

I'll add Ray Martyniuk to the pile (although something tells me that he was probably mentioned pages ago).
 
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JianYang

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Sep 29, 2017
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Mika noronen was pretty highly touted from what I recall. He did have some seasons in the nhl but mostly in Europe

Upon a closer look, it seems noronen fell off a cliff right after the year long lockout.
 
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IComeInPeace

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Jun 16, 2009
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I know it’s titled ‘Biggest Bust’…
…but changing gears just a bit to ‘Biggest Disappointment

…I was still very young at the time but when Dryden retired big things were expected of Michel Bunny Larocque (considering where he was drafted and the numbers he was putting up as Dryden’s backup)…

I know the Habs were about to start their descent from their peak years at the same time but it seemed like he was really disappointing as a starter and failed to live up to expectations/hopes.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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DiPietro was going to be really good...it's a shame he got hurt. He had the talent to be a positive impact player for a while...

Oh certainly, no disagreement. This thread is littered with bad talent evaluations, but this one was actually a good talent find, but a horrible result...that their accounting team is reminded of every two weeks in perpetuity...

necro reply but as much as drafting and investing in dipietro wasn’t bad talent evaluation, trading luongo to draft and invest hard in dipietro was terrible talent evaluation.

without even getting into the opportunity cost of passing up gaborik/heatley and the calamity of adding jokinen to only get parrish and kvasha back, dipi could have overachieved on his ceiling and still not been as good as luongo, peak, prime, or career. on the list of best goalie prospects to enter the draft luongo doesn’t have a lot of challengers, and i don’t think dipietro was one of them.
 

buffalowing88

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Mika noronen was pretty highly touted from what I recall. He did have some seasons in the nhl but mostly in Europe

Upon a closer look, it seems noronen fell off a cliff right after the year long lockout.

I liked Noronen. Miller seemed pretty shaky still when the lockout began and Biron was a known commodity (average). I don't think anyone thought Miller would get on a hot streak or that Biron would also over-perform in the following year.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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I know it’s titled ‘Biggest Bust’…
…but changing gears just a bit to ‘Biggest Disappointment

…I was still very young at the time but when Dryden retired big things were expected of Michel Bunny Larocque (considering where he was drafted and the numbers he was putting up as Dryden’s backup)…

I know the Habs were about to start their descent from their peak years at the same time but it seemed like he was really disappointing as a starter and failed to live up to expectations/hopes.
Like point-producers in Boston in the 1960s to 1990s, goalies in Montreal from the 1970s to early-1990s often looked very average when they left town. If you were an NHL-level goalie there was no better place to be than Montreal during that (extended) era.

Rick Wamsley
Shared a Jennings trophy in Montreal (1981-82 Habs were the #1 defensive club of the entire 1980s)... was average otherwise. To be fair, he did have a couple of good seasons in St. Louis, but by the late-80s he was already a sieve.

Denis Herron
A good goalie with a fine career in Pittsburgh, but came to Montreal and in two out of three seasons had the #1 save percentage in the NHL, including a staggering .911 in 1981-82 (albeit as a back-up to Wamsley), which must "adjust" to about a .950 today. Then Montreal sent him back to Pittsburgh where he had three seasons with around a 4.80 GAA and an .865 save percentage.

Bunny Larocque
As mentioned above...

Brian Hayward
An .864 with a 4.28 GAA after four seasons with a not-bad Winnipeg club in the early/mid-1980s. Comes to Montreal and immediately has the #1 GAA in the NHL, matching Patrik Roy's stats for two seasons in a row.

Even Patrick Roy never had statistically-dominant seasons again after leaving Montreal. (Fortunately, he made up for it in other ways.)
 
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IComeInPeace

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Like point-producers in Boston in the 1960s to 1990s, goalies in Montreal from the 1970s to early-1990s often looked very average when they left town. If you were an NHL-level goalie there was no better place to be than Montreal during that (extended) era.

Rick Wamsley
Shared a Jennings trophy in Montreal (1981-82 Habs were the #1 defensive club of the entire 1980s)... was average otherwise. To be fair, he did have a couple of good seasons in St. Louis, but by the late-80s he was already a sieve.

Denis Herron
A good goalie with a fine career in Pittsburgh, but came to Montreal and in two out of three seasons had the #1 save percentage in the NHL, including a staggering .911 in 1981-82 (albeit as a back-up to Wamsley), which must "adjust" to about a .950 today. Then Montreal sent him back to Pittsburgh where he had three seasons with around a 4.80 GAA and an .865 save percentage.

Bunny Larocque
As mentioned above...

Brian Hayward
An .864 with a 4.28 GAA after four seasons with a not-bad Winnipeg club in the early/mid-1980s. Comes to Montreal and immediately has the #1 GAA in the NHL, matching Patrik Roy's stats for two seasons in a row.

Even Patrick Roy never had statistically-dominant seasons again after leaving Montreal. (Fortunately, he made up for it in other ways.)
Seeing Wamsley and Hayward’s name makes me think of Steve Penney who was (for one spring season anyways) the next great Habs goalie.

It’s kind of ironic how Penney would go on to struggle to live up to the promise he showed in the playoffs…but that same season while Penney was proving to be anything but the next great Habs goalie, Patrick Roy made his very limited debut in a Habs uniform.
 

Jets4Life

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Dec 25, 2003
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Does anyone know why the Islanders even drafted a goalie with the #1 pick Overall, when they had Roberto Luongo (top 5 pick 1997), in their system?

My selection for bust, would probably be Leland Irving. I was following the Flames closely after their 04 run, and many Flames fans were high on Irving, who was drafted as their 1st round pick in 06. Some were claiming that he would be Kiprosuff's replacement eventually, but he only played in a handful of games, then went overseas.
 

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