How do mediocre players achieve lengthy careers in the NHL?

[amnesiac]

you can just be very consistent and not wear down a la Ray Whitney. Depends on how hard you play, how well you train, nutrition, etc

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

There's times when I watch a game and the commentator mentions a name that I did not expect to hear after such a long time because the player seemed so vanilla to me when they entered the league. But somehow they found a niche and role to play, perhaps not even living up to their orginal expectations potential. Name them.

Media guys, who are overwhelemingly aveage themselves, love these guys. Take us here in Ottawa, Don Brennnan will write column after column on Mark Borowiecki or Curtis Lazar's character, but will write barely a sentence on Mike Hoffman or Erik Karlsson. It's basically lowest common denominator pap. And then they guys get re-signed even though many of them are replacement-level scum.

 

[Braunbaer]

Because if you compare them to other hockey players around the world, they aren't mediocre anymore.

 

[ricky0034]

Coaches and/or GMs get weird fixations on certain players sometimes

 

[DonskoiDonscored]

It truly baffles me that Chris Neil is about to play 1,000 games. I don't understand it.

 

[Ceremony]

There are a bunch of things that will keep limited players in the league long-term. The keys tend to be a very professional attitude to give young players wisdom, knowing your role, be fairly specialized at less glamourous things (shot blocking, penalty killing, toughness, and faceoffs). Also, if a player is fairly limited, being a quality to good skater always helps aging, some guys when they lose a step in their late 20's/early 30's are shot, as the game increasingly gets quicker. For example, this is how someone like Jay McClement has a shot at hitting a 1000 NHL games.

Jay McClement is one of the finest defensive forwards of his generation and belongs absolutely nowhere near this thread.

 

[babblemoth]

I think part of your answer is in your question. They look vanilla, which to me meanss they've been able to figure out some part of the game that they can play well in a standard ho hum way.

That said, that isn't necessarily easy, and you need some guys like that to fill your roster, and if they have experience then that's hard to replace.


Players who are highly skilled have left the league or failed to make it because they couldn't adjust their skill set or didn't want to. These players wouldn't even look vanilla, you'd be asking "what are they doing out there?".

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Intangibles. I know people scoff at that term, but it is most certainly true. Lesser guys that have long careers it is because of things like leadership, being a professional, penalty killing, faceoffs, limiting mistakes, work ethic, attitude, knowing your role, mentoring young players, reasonable contract demands... etc. Mediocre players are often glue guys and are vital to the chemistry of a team.

I think this is the problem. Most coaches on the league are in the older side and have outdated views. Back in the day before people knew better intangibles were just as important as tangibles. If those intangibles are legitimately good then they'll manifest themselves in a tangible way. I also don't think PKing, faceoffs, and limiting mistakes are intangibles.

 

[roto]

To OP: It's simple. If everyone were Crosby or McDavid, then all players would be average guys. Because some players are better than others and NHL has 30 teams, some players must be mediocre (as you call them).

Mediocrity is always relative too. A mediocre player in NHL wouldn't necessarily be mediocre in KHL, and a mediocre player in Team Canada wouldn't be mediocre in NHL team.

 

[Sens Rule]

It truly baffles me that Chris Neil is about to play 1,000 games. I don't understand it.

Because he is one of the best players at his "role" in the history of the NHL.

He is still effective 8 mins a game at what he does last season and so far this season.

 

[Machinehead]

I don't think an NHL coached and managed by forum posters would do much better.

Wouldn't do any worse than some of the worst coached teams.

I think you think too highly of yourself.

I wouldn't give Tanner Glass over 500 games in the NHL. If that's thinking too highly of myself then the bar is too set too low.

 

[SenzZen]

Attitude is everything. If a player sees an opportunity for longevity by putting team needs first, and is willing to adjust to meet those requirements- they will stick around much longer than guys who are "top 6 or busters".

Stupid coaches, stupid GM's.

We know this **** goes on and yet there's a constant appeal to authority on this site.

The main difference between an HF poster and somebody in the game is connections. They're not any smarter than we are.

Humility may be another difference. Hard to say.

 

[Machinehead]

Humility may be another difference. Hard to say.

Humility has nothing do with it. Explain to me why they're so much better than us.

Explain to me why on the Canucks board Jim Benning knows nothing about hockey and Willie Desjardins has the IQ of a 5 year old, but in threads like this they're so much smarter than all of us.

Alain Vigneault continues to play objectively garbage players; everyone knows it and everyone sees it . Explain to me what he knows that nobody else does, you know since he's so brilliant.

Explain Mike Milbury.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Stupid coaches, stupid GM's.

We know this **** goes on and yet there's a constant appeal to authority on this site.

The main difference between an HF poster and somebody in the game is connections. They're not any smarter than we are.

The average NHL exec is not smarter than the average HFboards poster.



That's some funny ****.

 

[BHD]

Coaches (and GMs).

 

[Wayward Son]

I still wanna know what kind of compromising information Tanner Glass has on Alain Vigneault. It's one of hockey's great mysteries

 

[Deaner]

Thorburn has been around far too long
Apparently he's great in the room and tries hard (with the odd fight)

For emphasis, Chris Thorburn is Number 1(!?!?) in games played for the Thrashers/Jets franchise. He is very diligent about tapping his teammates' shin pads with his stick on the way to the dressing room, win or lose.

 

[JaegerDice]

Im with MachineHead.

Ultimately it comes down to idiots in position of authority and the faulty assumption that any person in a position of authority must merit that position.

 

[Raspewtin]

Because NHL coaches and GMs value things certain things that don't matter and certain players benefit from them.

 

[Machinehead]

I'm not saying it's all coaches or even most coaches. There's some brilliant minds in the NHL.

I'm talking Torts, Roy, Eakins, Hartley, AV, Johnston, TORTS - you know, the real ****ing homo-habilis on the human evolution chart.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Because NHL coaches and GMs value things certain things that don't matter and certain players benefit from them.

We see it with some of the older fans here that value the same **** that these coaches do even though there's tons of data saying that this stuff doesn't matter when it comes to winning and sometimes hurts it. These guys may be smart but they're also flawed like everyone else and being older are set in their ways.

 

[Helistin]

Why wouldn't they. If you are an average NHL player then you are pretty good at hockey and you can have long career as an average player in the NHL.
Makes sense.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I'm not saying it's all coaches or even most coaches. There's some brilliant minds in the NHL.

I'm talking Torts, Roy, Eakins, Hartley, AV, Johnston, TORTS - you know, the real ****ing homo-habilis on the human evolution chart.

I honestly think that you could put together a better lineup than AV. That said he's not bad when it comes to the system, I think. At least offensively.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Humility has nothing do with it. Explain to me why they're so much better than us.

Explain to me why on the Canucks board Jim Benning knows nothing about hockey and Willie Desjardins has the IQ of a 5 year old, but in threads like this they're so much smarter than all of us.

Alain Vigneault continues to play objectively garbage players; everyone knows it and everyone sees it . Explain to me what he knows that nobody else does, you know since he's so brilliant.

Explain Mike Milbury.

We're obviously smarter than some of the clowns who run the show, but we couldn't do what Babcock, coach Q or Yzerman do.
If you were the GM of a team and I was your head coach, we might not be dead last if we had a decent roster but I doubt we'd be able to elevate whatever we got to top contender status unless we started with a stacked team.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

We're obviously smarter than some of the clowns who run the show, but we couldn't do what Babcock, coach Q or Yzerman do.

The only thing is, I'm pretty sure Babcock and coach Q make decisions that boggle the minds of their fans too out of either loyalty or some outdated value judgments or players.