Players most underappreciated by their own fanbase?

[nbwingsfan]

Admittedly my only real sample size is from here at hfboards but most Wings fans seem to think of him fondly. There's some debate about HHOF worthiness or not, but consensus he was great for us in 2008 and 2009.

For former players I'd say honorable mention to Dan Cleary. The last Holland contracts at the end of his career seem to have wiped away the player he was before that for a lot of fans.

In guilty of that with Cleary

It’s easy to forget he was an absolute workhorse for them and was great anywhere he played for a few years. Didn’t matter if it was the 1st of 4th line

 

[Salsa Shark]

Rangers fans have underappreciated the following players lately (15ish years)

Michal Roszival
Henrik Lundqvist
Tom Poti
Kreider (was guilty of this at times before he became a 40-goal scorer late in his career)
Gaborik
Zib currently

 

[inthe6ix]

Slavin in CAR

On our team, Morgan

 

[Gliff]

Fowler for the Ducks. He is a solid #3 that has been forced to play as a #1 in every situation against top lines, and he hasn't had a legit top 4 partner since 2011-2012 when he was with beauchemin.

His usual linemates over his career:
Lybushkin
Klingberg (post Dallas version)
Kulikov
Shattenkirk
Del Zotto
Hakanpaa
Bieksa (post vancouver version)
Lovejoy
Bryan Allen
Lilja
Mara

Manson was the best guy he played with and he and Fowler never really clicked like Manson did with lindholm.

Put him on a team where he can be on the second pairing with an actual top 4 partner and not play the PK and he will flourish. A 40-45 point #3 is pretty nice to have.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

In guilty of that with Cleary

It’s easy to forget he was an absolute workhorse for them and was great anywhere he played for a few years. Didn’t matter if it was the 1st of 4th line

yeah I would argue he had 6 really good years for the Wings before injuries and age took their toll.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Brett Kulak. He’s still seen as the next cap casualty but easily earns his contract and seems a calming influence for his D partner. Both Ceci and Desharnais looked better with Kulak than with 9.25m Darnell Nurse.

 

[Peltz]

Tony DeAngelo.

Just kidding. f*** that guy.

 

[Fourier]

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the Oilers. At the first sign the team is struggling he becomes a scapegoat for at least 1/3 of the fan base.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Devil fans would shit on Cory Schneider no matter what happened, he could make 40 saves and lose 1-0 and they'd still blame him for the loss. They never truly appreciated how good he was until they were forced to watch Jon Gillies and the ghost of Andrew Hammond attempt to play net.

 

[winnipegger]

It's only when Scheifele is hurt when we realize how completely barren the jets center depth is without him.

 

[Shane Diesel]

Mikko Rantanen.

You'd think I'm joking, but I'm not.

 

[benfranklin]

Mikko Rantanen.

You'd think I'm joking, but I'm not.

So true. He's so good that we expect superhero stuff from him and the second he has a bad game, he gets torn into. And likely he still had 3 assists in that game somehow.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Fowler for the Ducks. He is a solid #3 that has been forced to play as a #1 in every situation against top lines, and he hasn't had a legit top 4 partner since 2011-2012 when he was with beauchemin.
His usual linemates over his career:
Lybushkin
Klingberg (post Dallas version)
Kulikov
Shattenkirk
Del Zotto
Hakanpaa
Bieksa (post vancouver version)
Lovejoy
Bryan Allen
Lilja
Mara


Manson was the best guy he played with and he and Fowler never really clicked like Manson did with lindholm.

Put him on a team where he can be on the second pairing with an actual top 4 partner and not play the PK and he will flourish. A 40-45 point #3 is pretty nice to have.

I find the most underrated players are always defensemen being forced to play heavy minutes for a struggling team.

You really can't win in that situation.

 

[NYRfan85]

For the Rangers, it's most definitely Kreider. He's only the 3rd all-time leading goal scorer in Rangers history, and is only 103 goals away from passing Rod Gilbert for #1 all time.

He's had a lot of moments where he came up huge for them, particularly in the playoffs (see 3rd period of Game 6 vs Carolina this year--that's a Messier-like all-timer right there).

 

[Salsa Shark]

For the Rangers, it's most definitely Kreider. He's only the 3rd all-time leading goal scorer in Rangers history, and is only 103 goals away from passing Rod Gilbert for #1 all time.

He's had a lot of moments where he came up huge for them, particularly in the playoffs (see 3rd period of Game 6 vs Carolina this year--that's a Messier-like all-timer right there).

The leading scored having 400ish goals is kind of a comment on the teams offensive woes for the better part of a century

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

This is the kind of stuff I’m talking about. You guys had the third best PP in the league last year and Zibanejad is your biggest shooting threat. It would be stupid to take him off the top PP. You’d have to revamp the entire setup to accommodate another lefty.

Another lefty (one who actually shoots, unlike Kreider who is only there for netfront front) would add a whole nother dimension. How many teams use 4rhs and net front guy?

Zibanejad used to be good on the Pp. He was ass last year, clearly the weak link.

Maybe he bounces back but I’m not holding my breath.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Fowler for the Ducks. He is a solid #3 that has been forced to play as a #1 in every situation against top lines, and he hasn't had a legit top 4 partner since 2011-2012 when he was with beauchemin.

His usual linemates over his career:
Lybushkin
Klingberg (post Dallas version)
Kulikov
Shattenkirk
Del Zotto
Hakanpaa
Bieksa (post vancouver version)
Lovejoy
Bryan Allen
Lilja
Mara

Manson was the best guy he played with and he and Fowler never really clicked like Manson did with lindholm.

Put him on a team where he can be on the second pairing with an actual top 4 partner and not play the PK and he will flourish. A 40-45 point #3 is pretty nice to have.

If I could nitpick one part of your post, I feel like Beauchemin is the best Dman with whom Fowler has ever been partnered. They played together early in Fowler's career with Lydman and Visnovsky rounding out the top 4. However, that was also back when Cam was still a rookie/sophomore being force fed top 4 and even top pairing minutes for which he wasn't ready.

Otherwise completely concur. The guy spent such extensive time playing #1 minutes/matchups with the likes of Lovejoy and aging Bieska as his partner. You'd have to be the most elite of defenders to do better than tread water in those circumstances. Fowler's strengths are more in the transitional game, he's just not the defensive stalwart the Ducks have continually asked him to be.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Maybe Marner ? It was Nylander, but it might be Marner now.

He's a high-end forward with some crazy skill.

I'm not sure he was looked down upon in Boston, but Rich Peverley was underrated league wide.

 

[ello]

Yeah, I find hockey fans in general are harder on Stamkos than he deserves... It's sort of crazy because he's a definite Hall of Famer and the team has had great success while he's there and he's been the team captain. It's like... What more did people expect?

The guy has had seven 40-60 goal seasons for Tampa (would be nine but for injury / work-stoppage), two Richard trophies, and four top-5 scoring finishes (six times top-10). He's the 2nd best goal scorer of an entire era of NHL history.

Unless you were expecting Stamkos to be Crosby (which no one should have), he's fulfilled all realistic expectations. He also deserves credit because he recovered from his severe leg injury -- he was never quite the same after that, but he adapted his game and continued to put the puck in the net. Which is not easy.

There's also this whole "sucks in playoffs" narrative about Stamkos, which has been way over-stated. He was a little disappointing for a while, but has had some solid runs, too. People need to realize that Kucherov is as good a player as Crosby -- you can't expect Stamkos, post-leg injury, to match Kucherov's production in the playoff runs. Stamkos has had four 16+ point playoffs, and there's probably only a handful or two of guys who've done that, currently. Stamkos's playoff numbers aren't great, but they're not bad either.

This is a long-winded way of saying... I agree.

This made me realize how overrated I find Stamkos

His team won a Cup without him. He just never looked the same to me after his injury, and frankly I think he got so lucky having Kucherov just randomly develop into the best raw playmaker in hockey

Without Kuch I think he’s a 35 goal, 75 point guy. He just doesn’t scare me when my team plays against the Bolts

Will be very interesting to see what he does this year

 

[Ncit3]

How Avs fans talk about Mikko Rantanen like he’s a not a 100 point scorer I would say him. He’s prone to disappear at times but you don’t score 100 points if you aren’t a superstar and some people treat him like he’s the reason we lose games.

 

[McJedi]

This one is too easy. Mitch Marner. Elite player the fan base hates.

 

[Spilot23]

Rantanen for sure. Every offseason there's talks about trading him or even not re-sign him next year. He's so good when he's on but sometimes tend to be lazy/floating and that's what our fanbase (I'll include myself there) notices more. Dude has a 4 points game and you will be asking yourself "HOW?".

 

[LiseL]

Add one Mitchell Marner to this list. Toronto fans seem to forgotten what it was like watching non talented bums play nightly for 8 years.

Marner has his faults, but is a great player and helped make Toronto relevant again.

As someone looking in from the outside, I think both Marner and Tavares are picked on due to their salaries and lack of playoff production.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

Mike Matheson and it's not even close.

Remove this guy and I don't think we have a single soul over 50 pts last season.

 

[CanadienShark]

Ferraro



Tough to name one. Evans?