The most uninspired prospect who's become a good/great player in the last 10 years

[Habsrule]

Ben Chiarot

He was drafted #120 overall in 2009. During his five year OHL career he never impressed me. He has 2 goals and 10 assists in 67 games in his draft year. I just remember him as a big body defenceman for Guelph who was not impressing at all. Finally in his overage year he broke out with 37 points in 64 games. He went on to play four seasons in the AHL with 24 ECHL games in there. Eight seasons later and he is traded for a 1st round draft pick.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Yeah, he's an NHLer but you hardly call him a good one. His NHL playoffs stats look especially impressive...

Bad, bad read.

 

[Stephen]

Carter Verhaeghe.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Carter Verhaeghe.

He was 2PPG in ECHL...

 

[Stephen]

He was 2PPG in ECHL...

Exciting prospects don't usually end up in the ECHL.

 

[Michoulicious]

Mark Streit comes to mind.

Went from being drafted in the 9th (!) round as an unknown 21 y old overager playing in Switzerland, to getting to play in the NHL sometimes as a 4th line forward with Montreal... to becoming an all-star D making 40+ millions USD in the NHL over his career.

Not bad.

 

[Leafshater67]

Came here to say Mason Marchment but he’s been listed so I’m taking Dustin Byfuglien.

Who expected an overweight, 8th rounder playing forward and not a ppg player in junior to be a near PPG defenceman and top 10 D in the league? Wild. And just like he came in, he went out and is off fishing somewhere and paying no attention to hockey.

Marchand went from bottom 6 energy guy to a star, getting better every year for a long time.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

This feels like it will be largely late draft/undrafted players. Does Kuzmenko count?

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Maybe someone like Jake Guentzel.

 

[Your Boy Troy]

Michael Ryder: After a solid final season for Hull in the 'Q', it took awhile for Ryder to adjust to professional hockey after a couple seasons of bouncing up and down from the 'A' and the coast. His skating was always considered a blemish. After a solid season for the Bulldogs during the 2002-2003 season, he made the Canadiens out of camp the next season and miraculously scored over sixty points in 81 games played in his rookie season.

Jamie Benn: He was kind of an unknown as he played in the BCHL during his draft year and questions were formulated on how dedicated he was to hockey as he was a talented baseball player. Jamie decided to decommit from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and join/make the Kelowna Rockets, where people started to recognize how gifted of a power-forward he was.

 

[RememberTheName]

Maybe Yegor Sharangovich? Drafted in his D+2, sub .5 PPG in the AHL in his D+4, then COVID hits and he puts up .5 GPG in the KHL and puts up 30 in 54 for the Devils that season.

 

[Oilers]

Jamie Benn for me. I remember reading he was one of the slower skaters of his draft class and a lot of his strength was just based around his shot.

 

[NYRKing]

Ryan Graves.

Real depth chart prospect. Nothing really screamed nhl quality, especially since he wasn’t a bruiser with his size.

 

[Boonk]

Marchessault came out of nowhere. He was an AHL tweener with Columbus and Tampa, made Tampas roster as a depth forward in 15/16 before going to Florida and breaking out with 51 points. Then, for god knows what reason they let Vegas take him for free in the Expansion Draft, and now he has a Cup and a Conn Smythe as an OG Golden Knight.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Ryan Graves.

Real depth chart prospect. Nothing really screamed nhl quality, especially since he wasn’t a bruiser with his size.

I always thought he was intriguing. I remember catching some flak for saying he'd be better than Skjei. Skjei's probably a little better at this point, but it's closer than it seemed to most at the time.

He had a big shot, an average puck game, wasn't a bad skater, and his defensive game was already passable with higher potential than passable. For a 6'5 220 pound player, it wasn't hard to see an NHL'er, if given a chance somewhere. Don't know why the Rangers refused to give it to him.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Blake Coleman.
Looked like a nothing in the AHL

He was great for Miami and some of us loved his game in the AHL, just had some bad injuries.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

The word you are looking for is "uninspiring". Uninspired means that the player himself wouldn't have had inspiration.

Carry on.

 

[Kshahdoo]

The word you are looking for is "uninspiring". Uninspired means that the player himself wouldn't have had inspiration.

Carry on.

Uninspired vs Uninspiring - What's the difference?

As adjectives the difference between uninspired and uninspiring is that uninspired is not inspired; dull or dry while uninspiring is...

wikidiff.com

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

Uninspired vs Uninspiring - What's the difference?

As adjectives the difference between uninspired and uninspiring is that uninspired is not inspired; dull or dry while uninspiring is...

wikidiff.com

Yeah, exactly what I just said.

Carry on.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Yeah, exactly what I just said.

Carry on.

I know my English isn't great, but if uninspired = dull, lacking interest or excitement, that's probably what I meant.

 

[Dempsey]

Troy Brouwer.

Draft season: 9 goals and 21 points in 59 WHL games. Passed over in the draft.
Draft +1: 49 points in 72 WHL GP.
Draft +2: 47 points in 71 WHL games. He can't be considered as having any sort of NHL scoring upside at this point.

Coming off a 47 point WHL season and turning 20, he returned for an overager season in the WHL. He put up good numbers but lets face it, almost all overagers explode offensively and it can be taken with a grain of salt.

He hit the AHL the next season and was great and became a productive NHLer with multiple 20-goal seasons.

 

[nbducksfan19]

Not much Rickard Rakell did as a prospect made me think he would put up points as an NHLer.

 

[Figgy44]

Micheal Ferland? 5th rounder.

He was all over the place stat lines wise, struggled with alcohol, got in a fight, almost quit hockey... then he got help and he started looking like he could be a Lucic styled power forward.

But then as soon as he started emerging... injuries (especially concussions) derailed him.

I still have a soft spot for Ferdaddy.

 

[JaegerDice]

Brad Marchant was a 3rd Round pick who was viewed as a potential energy guy on a 4th line. Thats certainly what I viewed him as - even after a solid WJC contribution.

Slowly but surely he added skills, confidence, panache. It culminated in being chosen to play in the Olympics, on a first line no less with Berg and Sid.

Suddenly his confidence was sky high. And he was the legit suoerstar we have today.

I never saw this coming. But I did think he would play in the show as a high-end mucker.

Uh, not to make you question reality or anything, but Brad Marchand never played in the Olympics…

 

[super6646]

I always thought he was intriguing. I remember catching some flak for saying he'd be better than Skjei. Skjei's probably a little better at this point, but it's closer than it seemed to most at the time.

He had a big shot, an average puck game, wasn't a bad skater, and his defensive game was already passable with higher potential than passable. For a 6'5 220 pound player, it wasn't hard to see an NHL'er, if given a chance somewhere. Don't know why the Rangers refused to give it to him.

This is the worst take I’ve ever seen in my life. This is like seeing Colton big ass Parayko and bobby orr on the ice together and saying the latter is better…

Do better. Skjei is a beast and a legend. Who tf is Ryan graves even? Someone who digs graves for a living? Certainly looks like it from his hockey picture.