Players you thought were superstars as a kid

[saxonmiller]

Alex Tanguay will always be my favourite player, especially after his Game 7 SCF performance in 2001 when I was 7. He was always a really good player. I hear he's a pretty nice guy, too.

 

[mattihp]

When I was 7 me and my friends would always play NHL 05 and fight over who got to play as Calgary because of 85 overall animal Tony Amonte. He alway managed to tear it up for some reason so I thought he was the next coming of Gretzky. Also Steve Rucchin and Sergei Samsonov are honorable mentions.

Amonte was pretty darn amazing to be honest.

 

[blundluntman]

Curtis Joseph.

I could've sworn CuJo was pretty good

 

[BlackWallStreet]

Brian savage lmao

Also, practice brisebois

Those are the 2 off the top of my head. Probably a bunch of other funny ones

Maybe not "superstars" but I thought they were better than they were

 

[BigTruzz]

For me I thought Jamie Langenbrunner was one of the best lol

 

[Fixxer]

Milan Kraft, after seeing him at the world junior. Scoring in shootout, if I remember correctly. Thought he was going to be a star...

 

[Trocity]

Mike Fisher.

 

[DD03]

Benoit Pouliot.
Ty Rattie.
Brett MacLean (I mean he was good!)

 

[Hubie]

As a kid I thought Tony Hrkac must be a star player because I read in the back of a hockey card that he had 130 points the previous season. Of course what I didn't realize was that those were minor league stats.

Also thought Bob Errey must be the best player on the Penguins since he was so fast in NHLPA 93.

 

[Lempo]

ville nieminen

after all, he was playing on a line with forsberg.

Well, the Panthers organization at least should be grateful that some mopedcar boys did the same mistake in the Hakametsä parking lot and listened to his endless stories of the glorious NHL; they just signed Henrik Haapala (left in the picture). I don't know who the other guy is.

 

[Price is Wright]

Palffy was elite.

Yup. Three straight 40 goal seasons during deadpuck, PPG in his final season, 713 in 684.

 

[McShogun99]

I thought Bill Ranford was a god.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Haven't checked in on this thread in a while... Still about 75% of the players being named who were actually really good, and had a few seasons at least where they really were star player.

 

[syc]

One of the TSN guys was saying how TJ Oshie is considered the best or one of the best players in the NHL today among non hockey following Americans.

 

[Jets4Life]

Dale Hawerchuk.

 

[iDangleDangle]

You didn't see much NHL hockey in Finland during late 90's and early 00's, and news coverage revolved mostly around Finnish NHL'ers, lot f my player perceptions were based on the players' IIHF WC performances, EA Sports' NHL series and hockey mags

That might've played a role in me seeing guys like Leclair, Sykora, Langebrunner and whatnot as more elite than they actually were.

 

[Kimmo Timonen]

Anyone remember the hockey cards on the back of the Kraft Dinner boxes? As a kid, being on one of those cards meant you were a legend... Selanne, Jagr, Gretzky, Stumpel...

No disrespect to Jozef Stumpel, he was a good player for a long time in the NHL but he didn't quite measure up against those other names - definitely no superstar. But as far as I knew, he was on a box of KD so he must've been one of the greats.

 

[Patrik Barkov]

Dale Hawerchuk.

How was he not a superstar?

 

[Lempo]

Anyone remember the hockey cards on the back of the Kraft Dinner boxes? As a kid, being on one of those cards meant you were a legend... Selanne, Jagr, Gretzky, Stumpel...

No disrespect to Jozef Stumpel, he was a good player for a long time in the NHL but he didn't quite measure up against those other names - definitely no superstar. But as far as I knew, he was on a box of KD so he must've been one of the greats.

No, this is an Act of Dio.

"You may Stumpel and you're sure to fall."

 

[SI90]

My first favorite player. I thought Darius Kasperitis was the greatest.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Not really a star, and it was more tongue in cheek, but me and my old man always assured each other at the start if each season that this would be the year Tie Domi hit 20 goals haha. Back in the days when goons could actually contribute something other than face punching.

 

[Jets4Life]

How was he not a superstar?

The title says "Players you thought were superstars as a kid." Which would be Dale Hawerchuk growing up in Winnipeg in the 80s. There was no other Jets player that came close.

 

[Patrik Barkov]

The title says "Players you thought were superstars as a kid." Which would be Dale Hawerchuk growing up in Winnipeg in the 80s. There was no other Jets player that came close.

But in the op it says that you'd later found out that player wasn't a superstar.

 

[britdevil]

For me I thought Jamie Langenbrunner was one of the best lol

He was my hero as a kid, you aren't alone.

If I'm honest, I still miss him too.

 

[Legionnaire11]

You didn't see much NHL hockey in Finland during late 90's and early 00's, and news coverage revolved mostly around Finnish NHL'ers, lot f my player perceptions were based on the players' IIHF WC performances, EA Sports' NHL series and hockey mags

That might've played a role in me seeing guys like Leclair, Sykora, Langebrunner and whatnot as more elite than they actually were.

Leclair had three consecutive 50 goals seasons and was part of the most dominant line in hockey. Definitely one of the greatest American hockey players of all time.