Players who performed poorly against a specific team, line and/or player

[Felidae]

Are there any notable instances where a player consistently performed poorly against a specific team, line, and/or player throughout their careers?

I'm sure there are stats on this, but im also curious about what fans have observed over the years, even if the stats don't necessarily show poor performance.

I'm also interested in the "why", especially with instances of someone performing badly against a specific player. Maybe there are some star players that don't perform to their standards against an otherwise average player, relatively speaking.

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[pnep]

I'm sure there are stats on this

Player WL DIF and W% VS Other Player and Franch. (Reg. Seasons 1917-2024)

Player VS Player Adj. WL DIF (Reg. Seasons 1967-2024) https://tinyurl.com/2xs5jeku Player VS Player WL DIF (Reg. Seasons 1942-1967) https://tinyurl.com/282qng36 Player VS Player WL DIF (Reg. Seasons 1917-1942) https://tinyurl.com/29ayagw6 Player VS Player W% (Reg. Seasons...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[DitchMarner]

I'm not sure how often they shared the ice, but in head-to-head meetings:

Lemieux sucked against Gretzky.

McDavid has dominant stats against Crosby's Penguins.


For a while, Phil Kessel struggled massively against the Bruins. He went up against Chara during that time. I guess the combination of Chara's size and physical play, BOS' defensive system and Bruins' fans chanting, "thank you, Phil" rattled him and threw him off his game.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Neely owned Roy

 

[Kshahdoo]

Ken Dryden vs Soviet teams.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

not historical, but quinn hughes is a top five player in the world against everybody unless he’s playing against his brothers or makar

it’s bizarre, but the boy loses so much face

 

[Crosby2010]

Patrick Roy vs Philly. But strangely only as a Hab. You've got me as to why.

Post Leclair trade, I know the Habs just melted every time they went up against Leclair and Philly. 32 goals in 38 career games vs. Montreal. He did well, Montreal did not.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

For a while, Phil Kessel struggled massively against the Bruins. He went up against Chara during that time. I guess the combination of Chara's size and physical play, BOS' defensive system and Bruins' fans chanting, "thank you, Phil" rattled him and threw him off his game.

Pretty much everyone in the league had difficulty scoring against Chara at his peak, his reach being something like an extra 25% of a normal player was absolutely unfair.

Phil spent most of those peak years as the only notable player on the leafs, so it makes sense he saw a lot of chara.

Patrick Roy vs Philly. But strangely only as a Hab. You've got me as to why.

Post Leclair trade, I know the Habs just melted every time they went up against Leclair and Philly. 32 goals in 38 career games vs. Montreal. He did well, Montreal did not.

My theory goes if you had a team with a lot of good accurate goalscorers at forward, some small aspect of Roy being a great percentages goalie would go out the window when every shot is aimed well, and late 80s early 90s philly fit that description well, but became a different team after the Lindros trade.

The evidence for this is in how Roy had so much trouble with Hull in both Dallas and Detroit, because Hull was the best at watching Roy carefully and pulling accurate one-timers into his weak spots. If youre just an average player that aims high-low, and get the shot away quick youre going to have to fire a lot of shots at Roy before you find those holes.

 

[Albatros]

Hašek was below .900 and never had a shutout in his 21 games against the Canucks.