Players whose stupid antics overshadowed their ability as hockey players

[Petey But Really Jim]

Auston Taylour Matthews with his criminal act and his childish joke moustache.

 

[VanIslander]

Tikkanen.

 

[Big Phil]

Auston Taylour Matthews with his criminal act and his childish joke moustache.

I always say that the worse Matthews plays the angrier I get at his moustache. He doesn't have the look, period.

 

[Big Phil]

Sorry. This is probably like the 10th time I've repeated this here over the years and I get a bit exasperated with it.

It's just taken as total fact by the entire hockey world seemingly that all of Mogilny's big seasons were in contract years when that couldn't be further from the truth, and is so easy to actually fact-check. It's the 1990s equivalent of the 'Bill McCreary never played another game after hitting Gretzky!' thing.

His biggest year in Buffalo was a contract year, yes. But he also shattered his leg at the end of that year plus lost Lafontaine as a linemate in ensuing years, so it's pretty easy to explain why he might have fallen off there. Plus that season was notorious for huge scoring totals, and scoring league-wide dropped 30% in the next 5 years.

Other than that, the only big season in his career that was in a contract year was his 2001 season in NJ. His big seasons in Vancouver and Toronto were not contract years, nor were the two other seasons in Buffalo where he scored at a ~100 point pace.

I think the knock on Mogilny is that you never knew what kind of player you were going to get, season after season or even game after game. That's what drove you nuts about him, even in his time in Toronto, it is like if he wanted to he could have taken over any game he played in. That's why I'd never vote for him to get into the HHOF. He had a string of some really mediocre years in what should have been his prime years.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

There I was liking a bunch of the comments until I came across a post of mine and realized this thread was a couple of years old.
Anyway, since it's been revived, I'll add Tom Barasso. Borderline HoF goaltender, largely being kept out because he's a first ballot HoF asshat.

 

[57special]

Maybe Eddie Shore would be an example?

Can I say "Ted Lindsay"? I get it: his talent was hard to overshadow (this also goes for Howe and Richard), but still I wish he wasn't so violent and just played hockey.

Both of those guys are NOT examples of players whose notoriety overshadowed their talents, as they both are considered all time greats, especially Shore. No argument that they were violent players, but according to some older guys I have talked to, hockey was a very violent game post from the depression era well into the 50's.

 

[The Panther]

Tikkanen.

I don't think Tikkanen's "antics" ever over-shadowed his hockey ability. I mean, the guy wasn't getting suspensions, high-sticking people, starting brawls, or saying off-color stuff to the media. He was just pesky to star players on the ice, which was one of his jobs.

Tikkanen was central to four Stanley Cup wins (won five total), played at Rendezvous '87, scored 630 RS points and 132 in the playoffs (43rd all time), was a Selke finalist four times, and had his number retired by Jokerit in Finland.

 

[Petey But Really Jim]

There I was liking a bunch of the comments until I came across a post of mine and realized this thread was a couple of years old.
Anyway, since it's been revived, I'll add Tom Barasso. Borderline HoF goaltender, largely being kept out because he's a first ballot HoF asshat.

Tom bar of soap

 

[VanIslander]

I asked Esa in Seoul (when he coached Anyang Halla here): "What defines your success?" And he said: "Never stop." (grin)

That sums it up.
If one wonders how he repeatedly was a clutch playoff scorer in Edmonton, Vancouver and New York, this explains it.

The HHOF is poorer for keeping him out of it.

 

[Zine]

I think the knock on Mogilny is that you never knew what kind of player you were going to get, season after season or even game after game. That's what drove you nuts about him, even in his time in Toronto, it is like if he wanted to he could have taken over any game he played in. That's why I'd never vote for him to get into the HHOF. He had a string of some really mediocre years in what should have been his prime years.

Mogilny's play reflected his personality. He was as laid-back as one could get.

I'd say, more than any other player, his defection from the Soviet system was due to his personality conflicting with Tikhonov's structured and rigorous routine. Mogilny was an individualist, not always the hardest worker; the absolute antithesis of a military man.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Bob Probert

 

[McGarnagle]

Todd Bertuzzi was one of the league's best players for a few years there, but it's all overshadowed by the Steve Moore attack

 

[The Macho King]

I honestly think Marchand's ... Marchandness may end up being what keeps him out of the Hall.