The Laziest Player In The League...

[saintunspecified]

Pierre Engvall.

He has good size and good skating ability. When he's on, he's a pretty good middle-6'er. But it seems like he just does the absolute minimum for like half the regular season games.

He should feel shame for how little he produces with the natural gifts he has.

He's not lazy. He's just not a natural hockey player. If he were, he wouldn't be a forward. It's almost bizarre looking at his physical skillset & trying to figure how he some coach wouldn't make him a defender. But I guess whatever he was missing to pull that off is also what he's missing as a forward.

A lot of players people said were lazy weren't imo lazy. I think for me, for years, the one that stuck out was Yashin. A lot of that had to do with the Ottawa situation, but imo he was never lazy. He was slow, had an unusual personality, and should not have been a center.

Dubois stands out because he appears to have really good all around athleticism, and pretty decent hockey sense. But having a consistent motor, and the ability to pay attention consistently, is a talent. I wonder how many of these "lazy" hockey players are ADHD, and simply cannot maintain the focus over seasons, or stave off mental burnout, especially without meds.

 

[57special]

I guess that's fair. At least he tried hard and was willing to get physical offensively. Some forwards don't even do that.

Wendel Clark is another guy who threw a lot of hits and worked hard offensively but often seemed disinterested in his own end. I don't really hear many calling him lazy, though. He's cited as an example of the type of player the Leafs need more of these days.

Clark had terrible back problems from very early on in his career. It might've made him look lazy, when in fact it was often a miracle that he was able to go out there and play.

Punch Imlach, and some others, accused Frank Mahovlich of being lazy. What I saw was a player with long, graceful strides that made him look slow/disinterested, but in fact, he was one of the fastest players in the league, and obviously, a HOF'er. I always thought Imlach was a jerk.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

He's long retired, but I always thought Pierre Dagenais was lazy

 

[Fishy McScales]

Dustin Penner would turn it on every now and then, but in between, which was most of the time, he looked pretty lethargic.

 

[BFLO]

J .Skinner. Not even bother to show up to playoffs

Came here to post Skinner. Not disappointed or surprised to see someone else beat me to it.

Skinner is so lazy he's never had to play a playoff game.

 

[DitchMarner]

Can’t even say that Ovi works hard in any zone nowadays. He just floats around ineffectively.

I don't know the guy, but he doesn't strike me as the type to not care if people ridicule him or he can't come through for his team.

I mean, when you've had a career like that, you have to have a considerable amount of professional pride.

I honestly think he just can't be more effective in certain situations anymore. He's 38. Not many players can play in the NHL at all at that age. In his prime, he had good endurance and stamina. He could get in fast on the forecheck, cause some disruption and throw big hits. Now he is much slower and is unable to consistently be a forechecking threat. I think he's aware of that fact and he tries to converse energy and to take a more tactical approach when his team doesn't have the puck. However, it seems that style doesn't come naturally to him and he's not that effective at it. The result is a guy who looks like he can't be bothered to try. In reality, the game is passing him by... it happens to all of them eventually.

 

[JianYang]

It was Armia for us, hands down, until he was sent down

He cameback with the right idea to never be sent down again it seems, because he played with an edge after that

I think sometimes the lines get blurred between lazy and enigmatic.

I'd say armia has generally been more of the latter.

Another thing armia had this year which never seems to have is health. He's been struggling mightily with injuries for several years.

 

[kilowatt]

PLD in that Columbus-Tampa series or against Toronto was a sight to behold. I don't know if it is laziness but something is up. It didn't look like his game would depend on youthful energy. Just great two way play. But whatever the reason it comes across as laziness. He could be better.

Instead LA got elite no-way play

 

[JianYang]

Kyle Wellwood

I think this one is tough to beat.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I think this one is tough to beat.

Kyle puts the eat in beat.

 

[L4br3cqu3]

Barkov

Da f*** ?

 

[Prairie Habs]

Willy Nylander has to be up there

Tried for the reverse mark stone, but was forced to play when it became matthews turn

 

[nowhereman]

Kyle Wellwood

Gets me every time...



Imagine just the thought of someone calling you a "man possessed" makes your coach laugh so hard he can barely keep it together

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Alexei Kovalev? that guy could be the best player in the NHL..... when he wanted to be

Kovalev would look like Mario Lemieux one shift, and then look like he was holding in a squirty diarrhea on the next shift.

 

[BB79]

Pierre-Luc Dubois, who is known as Le Planeur at my house, cannot possibly be compared to anyone else. He is in a class by himself.

Pierre-Luc Dubious

 

[kingsholygrail]

PL Doesn't do anything.

 

[DRW895]

Shame on you for missing this one

 

[MNRube]

PLD is the new Vanek.

 

[GrizzGreen]

Pierre Engvall.

He has good size and good skating ability. When he's on, he's a pretty good middle-6'er. But it seems like he just does the absolute minimum for like half the regular season games.

He should feel shame for how little he produces with the natural gifts he has.

Feel like he just doesn't have good hockey sense

A lot of wingers (this is not specifically about Engvall) seem like they have low effort because they're bad at being active without the puck. This has a range of Ovi/Kessel/Boeser/etc (looks like he's floating sometimes or standing around when really he's waiting to be open) to guys who really just don't have a great hockey sense and are trying so hard to stay in position that they look like they're not working hard.

Real: PLD as people have mentioned but I'll throw in a hater vote for Zegras

 

[Icarium]

Who is the laziest professional hockey player

A wild guess but probably someone who never made it anywhere near the NHL.

 

[Ceremony]

I suppose he's technically not in the league any more but Ryan Johansen is the laziest I've ever seen. It was clear he was physically incapable of playing in the NHL any more which is fair enough, never mind being able to play in a team as fast/aggressive as the Avalanche, and that's fine. It was obvious in the odd burst that the skill was there and even the willingness to be physical, when opponents happened to be near him. But when he actually had to move? Man went at his pace and that was that.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Ovi’s 38 year old goal scoring style doesn’t translate to the playoffs.

 

[chris kontos]

This should be an official nhl end of the seaon award like the lady byng- fir the most shiftless, lazyest and apathetic player of 2024, the inauguaral pierre luc dubois award goes to...

Who else? Pierre luc dubois ! Setting a new standard in professional negligence and apathy! And all this for only8.5 million dollars a year

 

[dalewood12]

No longer active, but Alexander Semin comes to mind.

 

[DFF]

Not every Bruins fan will agree with me on this but many will.

Nick Ritchie.

He is still in the league?