Fabian Brunnstrom (and other players greatly hyped before becoming NHLers)

[DitchMarner]

I remember there was a lot of hype for Brunnstrom and he lived up to it at first, scoring a hattrick in his NHL debut.

However, he quickly faded into irrelevance, scoring just two goals in his second season in the NHL.

After that, he played just five more games in the National Hockey League.

For those who followed the Stars: What went wrong with this particular player exactly? Was he overhyped to begin with?

Who are some other guys that have been greatly hyped, only to end up being nothing special in the NHL?

 

[Staniowski]

In the '90s there were many guys - like Jason Bonsignore, Robert Dome - who were identified at young ages (well before their draft year) and didn't end up being good players.

I think one factor at that time was that the hockey world had become very interested in young prospects, but scouting was not yet sophisticated enough to keep up. There wasn't yet enough knowledge of European leagues, especially.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Brunnström had size, speed, skill and a hard working attitude. He was described as the next Alfredsson. He had all the potential in the world. Atleast his first season in SHL and NHL. Then something happened with him. Could been a injury or something mental.

https://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdXFfDtNCOOg&ved=2ahUKEwjcsNPBh_uLAxXCERAIHVRCFK44HhCjtAF6BAgJEAY&usg=AOvVaw0te2ZMSYtRV7PwStK6354q

 

[Brodeur]

Matt Gilroy was touted by some to step in from the NCAA to be an immediate top 4 NHL defender. Gilroy was a bit unusual being that he was 25 and finishing up college since he wanted to play with his brother.

Something that gets a little lost with Brunnstrom was that the CBA rules changed in 2005. Before that European (trained) players had to be drafted into the NHL regardless of age. So that's why we saw teams spend draft picks on guys like Roman Cechmanek (29 years old), Johan Franzen (24), and Mark Streit (26) before 2005. Guys like Daniel Alfredsson and Pekka Rinne would have been undrafted free agents by the post-2005 rules.

The NCAA talent pool started getting better around this time too and the Ducks had just won the Cup with contributions from Andy McDonald, Chris Kunitz, and Dustin Penner. So the competition for the "free wallet" UFAs got a bit more intense as teams were understanding they needed useful guys on ELCs in a cap environment.

Unfortunately for Brunnstrom, he was one of the first high profile undrafted Europeans of the post-2005 era. Mix in higher amount of online media coverage as well.

I remember finding a copy of The Hockey News when cleaning up my childhood room and Florida signing Dan Boyle as an undrafted free agent was just a blurb you'd read about two weeks after it happened. Now we'll keep track of where guys like Drake Caggiula and Will Butcher are visiting prior to signing.

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And then on the note of older Europeans, Jiri Dopita was often cited as the best player not in the NHL in the late 90's. After Cechmanek had success in Philadelphia, he convinced Dopita to give North America a chance. But it seemed like Dopita (and his wife) never got adjusted.

Devils fans got a little too excited for Nikita Gusev a few years back. I think there was a little too much hockeydb "scouting" to try to tout him as the next Panarin. Gusev didn't have the wheels to play the type of game he was trying to execute. And then mix in the pandemic plus his wife having their first kid and I think it was just a chaotic time.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Brunnstrom was just not that good of a player. I recall him well because I was one of the few that saw him and then had to fight everyone to not have him be at the top of the Stars prospect list when I was a writer here many years ago haha

 

[sonic92]

Roman Cervenka

"Best player not in the NHL"

Ugh.....

 

[FrozenJagrt]

The free wallet era was ridiculous. Bidding wars over players like Gustavsson, Gilroy, Bozak, Brunnstrom and Hanson.

Sometimes it worked out, as in the case of Bozak who had a pretty solid career. But it was rare.

Jonas Gustavsson had HUGE hype before he was signed. His SEL numbers were pretty mind boggling. When he eventually chose to sign with the Leafs over Dallas he was expected to take the starting job away from Toskala. And he did. Because Toskala sucked. Unfortunately, Gustavsson wasn't much better.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Orca and Ocean Wiesblatt were both hugely hyped as Midgets. They are both still playing in the depths of the minors.

 

[DitchMarner]

Orca and Ocean Wiesblatt were both hugely hyped as Midgets. They are both still playing in the depths of the minors.

Too bad.

They should be playing for the Canucks and Sharks or Kraken, respectively.

 

[Brodeur]

Roman Cervenka

"Best player not in the NHL"

Ugh.....

Now that I'm older, I have a little bit more sympathy for the older Europeans who come over in their late 20's / early 30's. Off the ice it can be a big adjustment especially if you have a wife and kids.

The free wallet era was ridiculous. Bidding wars over players like Gustavsson, Gilroy, Bozak, Brunnstrom and Hanson.

"Was" implies that it's over (unless you're specifically referring to Brian Burke's time with Toronto). Teams will still pursue guys like Collin Graf and Maxim Tsyplakov last spring. Those guys are on ELCs (aside from Gilroy who was 25) so there's not so much bidding as much as it is recruitment. We're a week or so away from teams starting to sign NCAA free agents (but it's supposedly a weak class, so there won't be as much fan fare).

There's not much downside to signing these guys. Nobody gives Florida flack for signing guys like Matt Kiersted or Anton Levtchi.

 

[shello]

Mikael Granlund and David Runblad were incredibly hyped around these boards back in the day

 

[Brodeur]

Mikael Granlund and David Runblad were incredibly hyped around these boards back in the day

When the Turris for Rundblad+2nd trade happened, so many people were shocked that Turris was worth more. Definitely some shiny new toy syndrome there, some posters acted like Turris was a finished product and weren't aware he was only 14 months older than Rundblad.

Rundblad was on the same Swedish club as Adam Larsson during the latter's draft year. Rundblad put up monster numbers compared to Larsson, so the faulty logic was that if Larsson was a potential #1 overall pick that must mean Rundblad had superstar potential.

Although admittedly I would have expected Rundblad to have had a better NHL career than he did.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Jiri Dopita is the first one of these that comes to mind:

Jiri Dopita - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Jiri Dopita, 1968-12-02 Sumperk, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the Czechia2 with HC Olomouc. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Debuted with the Flyers at 32, traded after one year to edm then was out of the NHL.

Also Vadim Shipachyov comes to mind, who wasn't willing to play in the AHL and went back to the KHL in Vegas's first season.

 

[Summer Rose]

When the Turris for Rundblad+2nd trade happened, so many people were shocked that Turris was worth more. Definitely some shiny new toy syndrome there, some posters acted like Turris was a finished product and weren't aware he was only 14 months older than Rundblad.

Rundblad was on the same Swedish club as Adam Larsson during the latter's draft year. Rundblad put up monster numbers compared to Larsson, so the faulty logic was that if Larsson was a potential #1 overall pick that must mean Rundblad had superstar potential.

Although admittedly I would have expected Rundblad to have had a better NHL career than he did.

I definitely bought into the David Rundblad hype train. I was even named after him on this website once. Never seemed to be able to put it all together for the Coyotes. A lot of it, if I recall, was his defensive play, and you can only shelter a young defenseman so much at even strength and pray to God he provides enough offense to justify his place on the team at all.

 

[Brodeur]

Jiri Dopita is the first one of these that comes to mind:

Jiri Dopita - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Jiri Dopita, 1968-12-02 Sumperk, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the Czechia2 with HC Olomouc. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Debuted with the Flyers at 32, traded after one year to edm then was out of the NHL.

Also Vadim Shipachyov comes to mind, who wasn't willing to play in the AHL and went back to the KHL in Vegas's first season.

Mentioned Dopita earlier, if I recall correctly his wife gave up a good job to come over to North America with him and was really unhappy in their short time here. Being traded (to another country) probably didn't help the situation.

Shipachyov was a tough situation. His family just moved to Vegas and then the concert shooting happened. Then he's asked to play in AHL Chicago to get adjusted. He didn't seem thrilled with the idea of leaving his family indefinitely.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Now that I'm older, I have a little bit more sympathy for the older Europeans who come over in their late 20's / early 30's. Off the ice it can be a big adjustment especially if you have a wife and kids.



"Was" implies that it's over (unless you're specifically referring to Brian Burke's time with Toronto). Teams will still pursue guys like Collin Graf and Maxim Tsyplakov last spring. Those guys are on ELCs (aside from Gilroy who was 25) so there's not so much bidding as much as it is recruitment. We're a week or so away from teams starting to sign NCAA free agents (but it's supposedly a weak class, so there won't be as much fan fare).

There's not much downside to signing these guys. Nobody gives Florida flack for signing guys like Matt Kiersted or Anton Levtchi.

I don't think there's nearly as much hype attached to these guys now. The coverage of guys like Gilroy and Gustavsson was ridiculous

 

[DitchMarner]

I don't think there's nearly as much hype attached to these guys now. The coverage of guys like Gilroy and Gustavsson was ridiculous

I guess after so many of them busted in the NHL, expectations became tempered.

I remember I used to get excited for these guys, but after so many Hansens and Soshnikovs, I don't expect much when some player I've never heard of who plays in a European League is signed to an NHL contract.

 

[Brodeur]

I don't think there's nearly as much hype attached to these guys now. The coverage of guys like Gilroy and Gustavsson was ridiculous

Sometimes it just depends on the teams involved. Anaheim signing somebody like Jonas Hiller didn't get much fan fare as I remember it but Toronto being interested in Gustavsson made it a higher profile thing. I seem to remember Andrei Kuzmenko pre-signing threads on the main board, but those mostly devolved into fans arguing about why their team had the better future.

The Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes were covered heavily, albeit he was an August 15th UFA so that's usually a time when there's nothing really going on in the NHL other than a handful of unsigned RFAs. So the August 15th guys can get a bigger spotlight than the typical NCAA free agents who'll be signing as the NHL season is wrapping up.

Gilroy was definitely an anomaly. He didn't start college until after his NHL draft eligibility had expired.