How close was Ed Jovanovski to having a HHOF career?

[EpochLink]

His last 2 years in Vancouver was injury filed, 2001-2003 were probably his best offensive years but his defense was lukewarm at best.

Game 5 against Minnesota in 2003, he was a -4 plus was on the ice on the PK for another 2 goals. Guy was a train wreck that series.

 

[Dingo]

Special Ed.

ya, that was his moniker in my circles. Or Dead Head Ed.

 

[Voight]

His last 2 years in Vancouver was injury filed, 2001-2003 were probably his best offensive years but his defense was lukewarm at best.

Game 5 against Minnesota in 2003, he was a -4 plus was on the ice on the PK for another 2 goals. Guy was a train wreck that series.

So that's why he was banished to the NHL's version of the Phantom Zone

 

[MS]

He was kind of Dejardins-ish. Great, long career, top (or co-top) Dman on a top team for years, pretty decorated in accomplishments. But he never had that one season where his play (or the media narrative) put him in favorable Norris position.

Jovanovski isn't even on the same planet as Desjardins as a player, even if their careers look similar-ish statistically.

Was he really regarded as a 2 way dman though? I seem to recall he was an offensive dman that played with emotion, and fire. I don't think he was ever particularly known for his defensive play.

It's funny, because this was always said about Jovanovski - 'heart and soul guy', tons of emotion!

But actually to me he was mostly a lazy player who would occasionally get happy feet and check in for a game or a series of games here and there and have fans/media fawning over what he did a minority of the time while ignoring that he was a checked-out underachiever most of the time.

Kind of the D version of Shayne Corson, which is funny because Corson and Jovanovski hated each others guts.

 

[The Panther]

Jovanovski isn't even on the same planet as Desjardins as a player, even if their careers look similar-ish statistically.

Yeah, I realized after I wrote it that I was flattering Jovanovski a bit. Desjardins was clearly better.

 

[Albatros]

Jyrki Lumme would be a better comparable from those teams.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

ya, that was his moniker in my circles. Or Dead Head Ed.

also oopsie jovo

 

[MXD]

To me, He's quite a bit like Vladimir Malakhov (who didn't quite have the same physicality, but could ultimately play better defense)

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

His last 2 years in Vancouver was injury filed, 2001-2003 were probably his best offensive years but his defense was lukewarm at best.

Game 5 against Minnesota in 2003, he was a -4 plus was on the ice on the PK for another 2 goals. Guy was a train wreck that series.

The problem in games 5-6-7 of that series was Cloutier absolutely fell apart so I don't take a ton of info on defensive play for specific D from those games.

 

[Gorskyontario]

He completely owned Lindros in the 1996 series.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Jyrki Lumme would be a better comparable from those teams.

lumme and jovo didn’t overlap on the canucks

when jovo was traded to the canucks, they did very briefly have a killer top four of young dmen: him, ohlund, aucoin, and mccabe. they spent 26 games together before mccabe was traded in the summer for the pick that became the pick that became the pick that became daniel sedin. (the bottom pair was murray baron and jason strudwick.) a year and a half later, aucoin was traded for dan cloutier, regrettably.

to answer the question posed in the thread, if jovo had been pinned his entire career to an elite babysitter, say a dan hamhuis or willie mitchell, he had an outside shot at putting together a career where the question of how close he is to the hall of fame doesn’t get laughed out of the room out of hand. i think about shea weber, obviously a much better player than jovo but a guy who i don’t think makes the hall of fame if he didn’t go from hamhuis to ryan suter to josi to andrei markov in that first montreal year.

 

[Albatros]

lumme and jovo didn’t overlap on the canucks

Meaning that he played for the Habs like Desjardins and then for the Canucks and the Coyotes like Jovanovski. With Jovanovski they were pretty much identical tier players in both places, roughly at the same point of their careers.

Though Lumme was better than Desjardins when they were in Montréal together, but he was a few years older.

 

[vikash1987]

Jovanovski had a helluva start to his NHL career: #1 draft pick, Calder Trophy candidate, Stanley Cup Finalist, etc. And he made a big splash during that '96 playoff run, with all of his energy and big hits against the likes of Eric Lindros.

But, to be honest, the rest of his career didn't really match the lofty expectations of that first year. His physical play may have been elite, but he lacked the smarts, and he lacked the level of offense that was needed from him. I remember that this was an open question when he was traded in the Pavel Bure deal.

When talking about HHOF eligibility, it's usually not a good sign when the player in question is best remembered for his first season.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

He really impressed me as a rookie in that 96 playoff run; next to Vanbiesbrouck, he was their most valuable player, and I actually thought he had Denis Potvin-like vibes and would soon be a dominant force on the blueline, but he fell way short of my expectations. Chris Pronger emerged around the same time and became the player that I thought Jovanovski was destined to become. By the time he arrived in Vancouver my excitement had already been curbed so I wasn't exactly crushed that he wasn't a Pronger, although other Canucks fans had lofty expectations, and were harder on him when he couldn't deliver.

 

[Crosby2010]

He arrived in the 1996 playoffs against particularly the Flyers and Lindros. From that point you figured he was destined for a great career. It took him a while and then you just figured once he put everything together - offense, defense, positioning, physicality - he'd be dynamite. Even in the 2002 Olympics in which he deserved to be there you figured he was starting to hit his stride. The stats align with my memory as he was 6th in Norris voting. Sooner or later he was going to put it together you thought............right? He just never took that next step. In a way he had a career similar to Wade Redden. Another supposedly brilliant defenseman destined for big things, a high draft pick as well. Once he put it all together on a regular basis he was a blue chipper and an elite defenseman but it never happened either. He just sort of peaked at a level not as high as we assumed.

Jovanovski also aligns with a guy like Derek Morris. Another guy who started out hot and you just assumed as a defenseman he was only going to age like a fine wine. But Redden is his best comparable and while there was a time you had Redden pegged as a future HHOFer he obviously didn't fit the bill and it never worked out for him. So he's that close if you want to know. Which is not close.

 

[wetcoast]

I think he had just started playing hockey like 3 or 5 years before that. Might have been a reason. But I didn't see him before his NHL time, so I don't know.

Didn't have a great head for the game overall, which limited his upside.

Bingo, to me he was just a different version of Iafrate and the already mentioned Phaneuf, some attributes that made you look at them like there might be something there but a lack of hockey IQ at the end of the day IMO.

According to this article he started playing hockey at 11 and maybe his psychical skills made up for his lack of fundamentals and practice at a younger age?

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search

 

[wetcoast]

It's kind of funny how FLA has had two first overall picks and both have been used on defensemen who were pretty good but nothing too special (Jovo and Ekblad).

Sure but in 94 the Panthers made arguably the right choice as picks 2,3 and 4 were Tverdovsky, Bonk and Bonsignore.

Even with the Ekblad pick, 2nd was Sam Reinhart who had skating issues and Draisaitl 3rd who also had skating issues that he overcame and then picks 4-7 weren't that great either.

Just not 2 very good draft years.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Sure but in 94 the Panthers made arguably the right choice as picks 2,3 and 4 were Tverdovsky, Bonk and Bonsignore.

Even with the Ekblad pick, 2nd was Sam Reinhart who had skating issues and Draisaitl 3rd who also had skating issues that he overcame and then picks 4-7 weren't that great either.

Just not 2 very good draft years.

i remember for a long time the number one for the 1994 draft was jeff o’neill, with jamie storr as the other contender. then by midyear bonk emerged as the dude with bonsignore as the potential number two. tverdovsky had a very impressive wjc. so going into the draft i was like, who the fff is this jovanovski guy who might go number one?

but in that rookie year and especially playoff run, he sure looked like the right pick initially.

weird career, he stagnated and didn’t really develop his offensive game in the next few years in florida, and when we got him in the bure trade his ceiling was thought to be more of a rich man’s anton volchenkov (or very poor man’s later career scott stevens) than a phaneuf. but immediately after coming here his offence unlocked and he flirted with 50 DPE pts every year, finishing 13th, 6th, and 10th in dman scoring in his first three years in vancouver.

as for the ekblad draft, how weird that the top four picks were all in the finals a decade later.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

He got a late start and I think the game at the time pandered to some of his entertaining, but not necessarily useful traits.
For instance, he would probably have been a much better defensive defenceman if he hadn't constantly put himself out of position going for big hits. Although, he did dial down that thoughtless recklessness over time. His early years with Florida, it seemed like that was all he did.

 

[The Panther]

He completely owned Lindros in the 1996 series.

Wouldn't say he "completely owned" him, no:

Leading scorers in 1996 Panthers-Flyers series:
6 PTS - Stu Barnes, FLA
6 PTS - Eric Lindros, PHI

Lindros was also one of only five Flyers who wasn't a 'minus' in the series.

 

[Terry Yake]

I think he had just started playing hockey like 3 or 5 years before that. Might have been a reason. But I didn't see him before his NHL time, so I don't know.

Didn't have a great head for the game overall, which limited his upside.

he didn't play organized hockey until he was 11. but he grew up playing pond hockey, so its not like he had never played prior to joining his first team

 

[Jumptheshark]

A highly regarded physical, two-way defenceman, he was a runner-up for the Calder and played 1,128 games.

International accomplishments include the 1995 World Junior Gold Medal, 2002 Olympic Gold Medal, and 2004 World Cup win.

Despite his long tenure as an elite D-man, he was never a finalist for the Norris.

Did Jovo-Cop need more hardware? A higher "peak?" Curious to read your thoughts.

He was good but not overly special. I like him but nowhere near as some may want to push it

 

[Gorskyontario]

Wouldn't say he "completely owned" him, no:

Leading scorers in 1996 Panthers-Flyers series:
6 PTS - Stu Barnes, FLA
6 PTS - Eric Lindros, PHI

Lindros was also one of only five Flyers who wasn't a 'minus' in the series.

If you get free 30 mins watch that. Lindros may have still done well with 6 points but he could have dominated that series even more without Jovo's physical game. Lindros also had a 3 point night in game 2.

Oddly it was probably the best defense Jovo would ever play at the nhl level.

 

[Voight]

i remember for a long time the number one for the 1994 draft was jeff o’neill, with jamie storr as the other contender. then by midyear bonk emerged as the dude with bonsignore as the potential number two. tverdovsky had a very impressive wjc. so going into the draft i was like, who the fff is this jovanovski guy who might go number one?

but in that rookie year and especially playoff run, he sure looked like the right pick initially.

weird career, he stagnated and didn’t really develop his offensive game in the next few years in florida, and when we got him in the bure trade his ceiling was thought to be more of a rich man’s anton volchenkov (or very poor man’s later career scott stevens) than a phaneuf. but immediately after coming here his offence unlocked and he flirted with 50 DPE pts every year, finishing 13th, 6th, and 10th in dman scoring in his first three years in vancouver.

as for the ekblad draft, how weird that the top four picks were all in the finals a decade later.

When this as mentioned during the finals, it made wonder if this was the first time it ever occurred, which I think it was. Never say never, but I don't know if well see that again.