The best current player, who was a high draft pick, that did NOT have a break out rookie season?
- Thread starter tib2d2
- Start date
Sam Bennett is we the first to come to mind. 140 points in 382 games as a Flame. Then plays for the Panthers he has 150 points in 228 games.
That’s a huge jump in production.
That’s a huge jump in production.
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,300
- 24,539
I submit Mikko Rantanan... 10th overall
9 pointless games and returned to AHL as a rookie
4 AHL games and 75 NHL ones after that
In his first two seasons he played 84 NHL games and got 38 points over 2 years
Year 3 he took off and never really looked back! 1.09 PPG Career average despite being a .0 ppg in rookie year and a .5 ppg sophomore (which isn't bad by any stretch)
9 pointless games and returned to AHL as a rookie
4 AHL games and 75 NHL ones after that
In his first two seasons he played 84 NHL games and got 38 points over 2 years
Year 3 he took off and never really looked back! 1.09 PPG Career average despite being a .0 ppg in rookie year and a .5 ppg sophomore (which isn't bad by any stretch)
PlayMakers
Registered User
Low key Quinn Hughes.
He had a good season offensively for a rookie. But he's become a top 5 player in the league when he's at his best. No one saw that.
He had a good season offensively for a rookie. But he's become a top 5 player in the league when he's at his best. No one saw that.
Our Lady Peace
Registered User
I'll throw Morgan Rielly in there. NHL debut as a 19 year old. Points go from 27-29-36-27 before he hit 52 in year 5. Did struggle defensively quite a bit then but that was during the Leafs lottery years and nobody good could carry him
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
??? This makes no sense at all.
You're saying no one saw that a 20-year-old defenseman who scored 53 points in 68 games(16 points in 17 playoff games) could possibly improve?
Read what i said. He was good but no one saw him becoming a top 5 player in the league., which is the level hes been playing at last year and into this one.
There's a world of difference between 'improve' and 'dominating analytics and tilting the ice more than almost any other player in the league.'
- Oct 31, 2007
- 40,627
- 47,208
Wasn't that due to usage though? Melrose was playing him on the 4th line, for some god awful reason
21 in 61 then 31 in 56. Now tbf those are the 2 years cut short by Covid so it would’ve been higher than 52 total but yeah. His rookie year was brutal. He was wayyyyyyyyy better his sophomore year and was great. He looked elite and had elite playdriving and microstats. The puck just wouldn’t go it.
Barkov was FLAs best forward day 1 as an 18 year old. Nick Bjugstad led that team in scoring with 38 points.
Primary Assist
The taste of honey is worse than none at all
- Jul 7, 2010
- 6,074
- 6,101
It's almost cheating to pick a goalie (let alone one on a dismal team) but people seriously doubted Fleury after he put up a sub 900 save percentage, GAA above 3, and twice as many losses as wins in his rookie season. And he was selected first overall in literally one of the most vaunted drafts ever.
Well, one epic playoff run, an all time save on an all time Swede, and his name punched on Lord Stanley later and he quieted all his doubters.
Not to mention all the success he has had since then.
Well, one epic playoff run, an all time save on an all time Swede, and his name punched on Lord Stanley later and he quieted all his doubters.
Not to mention all the success he has had since then.
Last I checked 6th round isn’t considered a high draft pick.
Jared Dunn
Registered User
Jack Hughes. Need some of the reactions to him signing 8x8 framed, going to go down as one of the biggest steals in history
Not exactly a stacked class though and his next three seasons were pretty pedestrian. There's a reason he signed one of the best value contracts of all time, dude was a 55 point player
Bear of Bad News
"The Worst Guy on the Site" - user feedback
- Sep 27, 2005
- 14,226
- 29,384
Nobody (*) seriously doubted a goaltender who put those numbers up in a season where he started year as an 18-year-old. There's a reason goalies don't regularly wander in and start in the NHL as a teenager.
(*) I'm sure someone seriously doubted Fleury, but not anyone relevant.
The question wasn't about his next 3 seasons.
MacKinnon won the Calder at 18 with a point total that was the highest for a teenager in the NHL for basically a decade between Kane and Matthews.
He did flip the switch and score at a high level/play top line minutes the second half of the year, but I’m not sure if the breakout was because of the increased minutes or his minutes were increased because he improved that much in-season. Probably a bit of both.
He had a tough rookie season and was undersized. Started off great his second year, but got Covid which made him lose all the weight he gained in the offseason and sunk his stats (though as you said micro stats were good). Year 3 he was a PPG player but was injured for a good portion. Year 4 was his breakout.
He might have been injured a lot in year 3 but that was definitely his breakout. He had a rough stretch after he returned from the first injury but then was as good as he was in 22-23. He had like 51 pts in 37 games or something outside that stretch. I also think his 2nd year has more to do with having spent a year in the league and learning what works than just his size because as you said he lost all the size he put on after getting Covid and still looked phenomenal
