Is Kopitar the most underrated player?

[King'sPawn]

I think underappreciated is more appropriate. Nobody ever doubted his talent and have respect for his career.

But for most of his career, a subset of Kings fans have complained about him not doing more than he already did, and very rarely would non-Kings fans want to have him be a core player on their team.

 

[Osprey]

I think he's better than just a first ballot-er. I feel he's better than Toews and is a top five player of that generation that includes Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin. That's my opinion of correct rating. If the NHL does another one of those all-timer lists, Kopitar should be there with Malkin this time.

That's fine, but calling him a 1st-ballot HoFer doesn't mean underrating him. It's not like there's an earlier ballot.

 

[Greatzsky 99]

Not underrated by people who follow hockey, I would say overshaddowed. LIke Zlatan for example was overshaddowed by Messi and Ronaldo.

 

[HanSolo]

I'd say Kopitar is well appreciated on here, especially the past few years.

Personally when it comes to Kopi's generation I'd say Getzlaf and Giroux are more underrated.

From what I've seen, Getzlaf seems to fade into memory a bit, and a decent amount of people seem to have a lower opinion of Giroux than is deserved.

Fade into memory? He was drastically underappreciated while he was playing. If anything he started getting more acknowledgement and appreciation after retiring.

As to Kopitar I think he's usually fairly rated when people talk about him. The problem is he's not talked about often enough. He's been a rival star for pretty much my whole adult life so far, but having watched him so much, I feel pretty confident that if he wasn't playing in the pacific time zone and was in a more mainstream market he'd be regarded right up there with a guy like Patrice Bergeron and rightfully so. Unbelievably complete player and a hell of a competitor.

 

[ExarKun80]

Always was and phuck Nonis for not drafting him. A Sedin-Kopitar-Kesler C trio would have been lethal.

 

[Jericho111091]

it's so storybook, with an assist from Dustin Brown and around an HoFer in Pronger and a top-tier Conn Smythe goalie in Giguere

And it's such a prototypical Kopitar goal, just shield the puck and make a simple move.



yeah funny timing for this thread because every time I want to say "ok maybe he's not underrated anymore" a prominent writer says something like Kopitar might have an interesting case to be an HoFer and I bang my head on the desk

Iirc the other assist was Cammalleri, wasn't it?