Players Who Became The Opposite Of What They Were?
- Thread starter DitchMarner
- Start date
MadArcand
Whaletarded
Jeff O'Neill kinda went from fast, defensively responsible playmaker* to slow, fat, defensively bad sniper.
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Michael Farkas
Celebrate 68
Stan Mikita from "don't tread on me" to Lady Byng.
Joe Thornton from net-driving, power forward-ish to softer playmaker type.
Sergei Gonchar from defense-less offensive defenseman to balanced two-way d-man towards the end of his career
Rick Nash from power-goal scorer, then adapted to become more of a NZ playmaker and facilitator in New York
Joe Thornton from net-driving, power forward-ish to softer playmaker type.
Sergei Gonchar from defense-less offensive defenseman to balanced two-way d-man towards the end of his career
Rick Nash from power-goal scorer, then adapted to become more of a NZ playmaker and facilitator in New York
Johnny Engine
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- Jul 29, 2009
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When it comes to Kadri, his junior playmaking didn't immediately translate to the NHL to the degree where you'd say "that's what Naz does, give him the puck, get open and watch out". Earlier Kadri was more like a comprehenively skilled forward who could create or finish if he had the puck, but a lot of his moves didn't work against real defensemen and his production was...decent.
When Babcock and Hiller arrived, they had him dial in a specific power play role, and threw he and Komarov at tough competition, and I think he responded pretty well. I think he was the same guy the whole time, but made use of his hands and chippy demeanor in a way that made sense.
Don't really know what precipitated his 59-assist outburst in his last year in Colorado, but he certainly never set guys up to that degree in Toronto.
Johnny Engine
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I remember seeing Doug Gilmour as a draft comp on here one time. I just can't imagine.
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
Joe Thornton went from a physical guy who put up big numbers a la Cam Neely to a pure finesse guy after Lindros KO'd him.
From 2001 to 2004 he had 313 pts, 441 PIM in 292 games
The Lindros fight was in 04 and after that season he barely sniffs 40 PIM in a season
From 2001 to 2004 he had 313 pts, 441 PIM in 292 games
The Lindros fight was in 04 and after that season he barely sniffs 40 PIM in a season
MadLuke
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- Jan 18, 2011
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Going more by reputation maybe (i.e. maybe he was super solid defensively), but Hamrlik was the first name that came to mind.
1st overall offensive star turned defensive star in calgary-mtl.
Joe Thornton being named is such a big turnaround he was post Bruins-Lindros for such a long time that we can forget.
Thornton missed a top 10 in goals finish by a single goal in 2003, by 3 in 2001.
Among people with 100 points or more from 01-03:
www.nhl.com
6th in pim per games, 20th in goal per games (like a Sundin-Hossa-Bertuzzi, Glen Murray, ONeil of that era, in that group just below the most elites)
1st overall offensive star turned defensive star in calgary-mtl.
Joe Thornton being named is such a big turnaround he was post Bruins-Lindros for such a long time that we can forget.
Thornton missed a top 10 in goals finish by a single goal in 2003, by 3 in 2001.
Among people with 100 points or more from 01-03:
NHL Stats
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6th in pim per games, 20th in goal per games (like a Sundin-Hossa-Bertuzzi, Glen Murray, ONeil of that era, in that group just below the most elites)
Crosby2010
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- Mar 4, 2023
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First name that came to mind for me was Stan Mikita. Scrappy type of player who put up a lot of points and turns into a back to back Lady Byng winner. Check this out, here are his penalty minutes around his transformation:
1964: 146
1965: 154
1966: 58
1967: 12
1968: 14
1969: 52
He won the Art Ross and Hart in 1967 and 1968 as well. Had another year of 85 PIM after this, but was generally around 40-45 PIM a season the rest of his career. I have no idea what happened after 1966. Did he just feel like he was better off being on the ice as opposed to the penalty box and he cleaned up? It sure helped the Hawks in the standings, they had 94 points in 1967, far and away the best in the NHL. I am just not sure why those two seasons stick out. He didn't rack up the PIM after 1968 or anything, but he also wasn't close to having that few of PIM in a season. Either way, a heck of a transformation.
Scott Stevens was already rightly mentioned but how about Red Kelly? Guy literally changed positions despite already having a lock cinch Hall of Fame career as a defenseman. Goes onto win 4 Cups as a forward and cements himself as the player with the most Cups in NHL history of a player who never played for the Habs. And look at those playoff numbers, 1962, 1963, 1964 especially. Red was a machine on that team.
How about Yzerman? Would post-1995 or 1996 come into play here? Goes from the wild offensive numbers to being still good offensively but willingly sacrificing offense for better team play and defense. But let me also throw this in here that Yzerman was never one dimensional. Killed penalties throughout his whole career, led the NHL in shorthanded goals 3 times, etc. Blocked shots and was probably a rare star that did it. And this is all before his mid 1990s change. He just sacrificed his offense and played a more well rounded game, but I never thought he was bad defensively.
Eric Lindros after the Stevens hit was different. I'll admit though he could still fight. We saw this in 2004 when he belted Thornton and probably ironically propelled him into his own transformation. But in a bad way Lindros became a shadow of himself after 2000. This was a Lindros that played the perimeter as a New York Ranger. Not the overpowering guy that threw his body around and struck fear into everyone even without the puck. He could still fight as we know, but he very much played like a guy on the ice who didn't want to get hurt again.
1964: 146
1965: 154
1966: 58
1967: 12
1968: 14
1969: 52
He won the Art Ross and Hart in 1967 and 1968 as well. Had another year of 85 PIM after this, but was generally around 40-45 PIM a season the rest of his career. I have no idea what happened after 1966. Did he just feel like he was better off being on the ice as opposed to the penalty box and he cleaned up? It sure helped the Hawks in the standings, they had 94 points in 1967, far and away the best in the NHL. I am just not sure why those two seasons stick out. He didn't rack up the PIM after 1968 or anything, but he also wasn't close to having that few of PIM in a season. Either way, a heck of a transformation.
Scott Stevens was already rightly mentioned but how about Red Kelly? Guy literally changed positions despite already having a lock cinch Hall of Fame career as a defenseman. Goes onto win 4 Cups as a forward and cements himself as the player with the most Cups in NHL history of a player who never played for the Habs. And look at those playoff numbers, 1962, 1963, 1964 especially. Red was a machine on that team.
How about Yzerman? Would post-1995 or 1996 come into play here? Goes from the wild offensive numbers to being still good offensively but willingly sacrificing offense for better team play and defense. But let me also throw this in here that Yzerman was never one dimensional. Killed penalties throughout his whole career, led the NHL in shorthanded goals 3 times, etc. Blocked shots and was probably a rare star that did it. And this is all before his mid 1990s change. He just sacrificed his offense and played a more well rounded game, but I never thought he was bad defensively.
Eric Lindros after the Stevens hit was different. I'll admit though he could still fight. We saw this in 2004 when he belted Thornton and probably ironically propelled him into his own transformation. But in a bad way Lindros became a shadow of himself after 2000. This was a Lindros that played the perimeter as a New York Ranger. Not the overpowering guy that threw his body around and struck fear into everyone even without the puck. He could still fight as we know, but he very much played like a guy on the ice who didn't want to get hurt again.
