One Trick Pony players. Amazing at one thing.

[Indrid Cold]

Who were the best 'one trick pony' players in NHL history? Players that were incredible at one thing, and below average at everything else.

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[DaveG]

Konstantin Koltsov is one of the top 5 fastest players I've ever seen, quite possibly the fastest, and that includes having seen guys like Sanderson, Bure, Kapanen, McDavid, Necas, etc. If the guy had literally any other skill that was at league average for the AHL, yet alone the NHL, he would have had a 500+ game NHL career easily.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Steve Tambellini was one of the best skaters I've ever witnessed. Maybe not the fastest, but smooth and shifty. Probably should have joined the Ice Capades, because he couldn't really do anything else.

 

[Sam de Mtl]

Pierre Dagenais knew how to shoot the puck.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Brett Hull. Some even think he was better than Kurri, but I don't see it considering his overall game.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Marc Andre Bergeron - could shoot the puck. The incredibleness of Pronger is that he made MAB look like a legit NHL d-man for 1 year.

 

[Realgud]

Tomas Holmstrom in front of your net

 

[Breakers]

Tyler Myers and Taking Penalties

I remember during the covid playoffs Vancouver was eliminated and another round had been played and he still led the playoffs in minors

He is the only player I have ever seen take a penalty, serve it, get back on the ice, take another penalty, serve it,.............. then take another penalty.

 

[squashmaple]

Luke Glendening and faceoffs.

 

[wintersej]

There are a pile of net front guys in the Dave Andreychuk/JVR mold. There are a pile of pure snipers in the Mike Hoffman mold. There are a pile of pure face-off guys in the Yanic Perreault mold.

 

[Trash Panda]

Tyler Myers and Taking Penalties

Chaos Giraffe

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Mike Bishai and fighting in the oppsosing team's bench

 

[NVious]

JT Miller and breaking all of Gretzky's records in his rookie season

 

[SomeDude]

Craig Adams and getting coffee for Dan Bylsma.

 

[Kranix]

Andrew Mangiapane is a one trick pony but he's not amazing at anything.

 

[GMR]

Yanic Perreault.

Best ever at faceoffs. Decent player otherwise.

 

[Machinehead]

Erik Christensen and shootouts.

Christensen was hand-tailored for the shootout. He legit had world-class skill with the puck on his stick, in a vacuum.

He wasn't a good player in-game, because he wasn't a great skater, didn't process the game well, and didn't have the strength to handle any of the physical aspect of the game, but if you just put the puck on his stick with nothing around him, he was Patrick Kane.

Carl Hagelin also wasn't really good at anything, to be honest. He actually was a very good player in his day because he was faster than everyone else and played with a ton of grit, but literally all he could do was skate fast.

 

[TanguaySauce]

Tomas Holmstrom in front of your net

This dude was a menace

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Tim Kerr scoring garbage goals, he was a master. Same, to a much lesser extent, could be said about Brendan Gallagher.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Tomas Holmstrom in front of your net

Patric Hornqvist as well

 

[DitchMarner]

Konstantin Koltsov is one of the top 5 fastest players I've ever seen, quite possibly the fastest, and that includes having seen guys like Sanderson, Bure, Kapanen, McDavid, Necas, etc. If the guy had literally any other skill that was at league average for the AHL, yet alone the NHL, he would have had a 500+ game NHL career easily.

Wasn't Rico Fata another guy who was only good at skating fast?

 

[1specter]

Mike Zigomanis and faceoffs

 

[These Are The Days]

Stamkos deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as any and all all-time players when it comes to one timers. Otherwise he is quite the prize pony. He is alright and good at other stuff but my God is he freaking elite the big blast

 

[DaveG]

Wasn't Rico Fata another guy who was only good at skating fast?

yep, I think he got another season's worth of games in because he was a former top 10 pick. similarly useless outside of being REALLY friggin fast.

 

[BagHead]

Erik Christensen and shootouts.

Christensen was hand-tailored for the shootout. He legit had world-class skill with the puck on his stick, in a vacuum.

He wasn't a good player in-game, because he wasn't a great skater, didn't process the game well, and didn't have the strength to handle any of the physical aspect of the game, but if you just put the puck on his stick with nothing around him, he was Patrick Kane.

Carl Hagelin also wasn't really good at anything, to be honest. He actually was a very good player in his day because he was faster than everyone else and played with a ton of grit, but literally all he could do was skate fast.

As someone who got to see Erik Christensen and Petteri Nummelin both doing that within a few years of each other for the Wild, I give the edge to Nummelin, but both were cut from that same cloth. Both had just incredible skill if given time and space.

Freddy Gaudreau might be a good comparison to those guys, if he can't get his game back on track.