What are the greatest Major Junior Careers of all time?

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

What are the greatest examples of Junior careers before turning pro? We can also include NCAA, swedish league prospects, etc. but Im particularly interested in players that had the most impact in their 3 or 4 years of CHL eligibility

Off the top of my head I can think of Brad Richards and Mike Richards?

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[buffalowing88]

Lemieux and Lindros are obvious answers. Orr and Lafleur and the guy in my avatar picture were incredible in juniors, too.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Folks will come up with better answers than this because there are better answers, but I always like to insert defenseman Bryan Fogarty into these discussions: Bryan Fogarty - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Not only did he lead his team in assists and was a First Team OHL All-Star in '87, he came back in '89 and literally Bobby Orr'd the league.

 

[PurpleMouse]

Patrice Lefebvre in the QMJHL.

 

[MadLuke]

In the Q,
Lafleur because of the draft year of the time played a lot of juniors which make him a great candidate, but did lead the league in points a single time.
Lemieux also did lead the league a single time despite playing 3 seasons.

Crosby had big lead the 2 season he played, but never won the memorial cup, second place to a very loaded Corey Perry-Bolland-Methot London Knights

 

[JackSlater]

Lafleur was the name that came to mind for me, but I'm open to others. Somewhat uneven playing field once the NHL started drafting players at 18, but that isn't Lafleur's fault. I also remember reading that Lafleur was making hundreds of thousands in 1970 just playing for the Remparts, which doesn't make hm better or worse but it does mean that he was surely having a great time.

 

[carjackmalone]

Dale Derkatch
Glen Goodall
John Tavares
Pat Lafontsine
Mario
Cliff Ronning

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Patrice Lefebvre has the QMJHL record for career points with 595 in 276 games.

 

[wetcoast]

Marcel Dionne hasn't been mentioned yet and some guy named Gretzky had a pretty good age 16 season in the OHL back in the day.

Not the best but Rob Brown was killer in the WHL.

Dale Hawerchuk was dynamite in the Q as a 17 and 18 year old and scored 80 points in 37 playoff games his 2 seasons there.

 

[seventieslord]

post-79, you're straddling the line between "guys who were so good that they went straight to the NHL after drafting" and "guys who played out their junior eligibility which generally means they weren't that good at 17-18 but at least they put in a good 4 years"

pre-79, lots of good answers, like Bossy, Lafleur and Dionne

 

[sr edler]

Europeans historically haven't had the same junior team structures as in NA, so you can't really compare it that way, but players like Bure, Forsberg, Jagr, et cetera, were all great young players. I think Bure was voted MVP in his first WJC in 1989 despite being younger than all of Mogilny, Fedorov, Modano and Roenick.

 

[daver]

post-79, you're straddling the line between "guys who were so good that they went straight to the NHL after drafting" and "guys who played out their junior eligibility which generally means they weren't that good at 17-18 but at least they put in a good 4 years"

pre-79, lots of good answers, like Bossy, Lafleur and Dionne

Do you think there is a bit of an apples to oranges thing here with comparing newer players and older.

How many of the best Canadians teens went the NCAA route 40 or 50 years ago?

Did the fact that so many NHL calibre players at age 18/19 stayed in the CHL pre-'79 affect the performances of 16/17 year phenom like Lafleur?

Lemieux and Lindros are obvious answers. Orr and Lafleur and the guy in my avatar picture were incredible in juniors, too.

Lindros played less than 100 games in the OHL.

 

[JackSlater]

Europeans historically haven't had the same junior team structures as in NA, so you can't really compare it that way, but players like Bure, Forsberg, Jagr, et cetera, were all great young players. I think Bure was voted MVP in his first WJC in 1989 despite being younger than all of Mogilny, Fedorov, Modano and Roenick.

That was my memory too but I don't think they actually did a media vote back then. The IIHF doesn't officially give out an MVP for the WJC but I think it's clear that Bure would have won it, just as Lindros won it as a 17 year old and the immortal Jesse Puljujarvi did as a 17 year old and their obvious heir.

 

[overpass]

Denis Potvin played his first games with the Ottawa 67s at age 14, when pro scouts were already calling him the next Bobby Orr. He signed with the 67s for home games only in the 1968-69 season, but ended up getting permission to travel and playing the full season in which he turned 15. Potvin went on to play five full seasons with the 67s, was named an OHA first team all star in the last 3 seasons at age 17, 18, and 19, and broke Bobby Orr's OHA record for points by a defenseman in his age 19 season.