Who Are The Worst Playoff Performers Of All Time?

[PuckG]

Why is this thread on the mains?

Leafs specific threads should stay in the Leafs subforum, no?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Fiala has to be getting there.

Visibly completely different player in the POs. He's completely invisible vs. the regular season guy who wants the puck and wont give it up, shoots from the slot every time, fires hard aggressive passes, isn't scared to make even stupid mistakes. In the POs he shies away from the puck and contact and passes it off to nowhere, doesn't try to dangle anyone, makes minimal contact. Completely deer in headlights.

 

[syz]

Honestly for a bit there I was getting ready to say Jason Robertson but he seems to be able to do well against Vegas at least.

1 goal in 7 games against the Flames in 2022
0 goals in 7 games against the Kraken last year
7 goals in 9 games against Vegas over 2 series so far though

 

[karltonian]

Except I wasn't talking about leading one's team in scoring --- I was talking about leading THE SERIES (i.e., both teams) in scoring. Thornton appeared in 33 playoff series, and exactly zero times he led both teams in scoring. Here are some historical comparisons:

Most Times leading a playoff series in scoring:
24 - Gretzky
10 - Kucherov / Sakic
9 - Lemieux / Bossy / Gilmour / Modano / Fedorov
8 - M. Richard / Lafleur / Howe / Savard / Brett Hull

(move way down the list...)
4 - Draisaitl / Bure / Drillon / Sorrell / Payne / Orr / Conacher / Giroux / Staal / Keeling / Marchessault / Straka / Leach / Ullman / Hawerchuk / Mats Naslund / H. Smith (+ many more)
0 - Thornton

Best %, "#1 PTS" in Playoff Series
57% - Gretzky
45% - Lemieux
44% - Draisaitl
38% - Kucherov
36% - Bure
33% - Sakic / McDavid / Scheifele
32% - Bossy
31% - M. Richard / Drillon / Sorrell
30% - Perreault / Guentzel / Lafleur

(move way down the list...)
20% - Marchand / M. Tkachuk / Zibanejad / Smyl
0 - Thornton

NHL forwards who have been in the most playoff series without ever being #1 in scoring in that series:
44 - Draper
43 - Carbonneau
32 - Keane
37 - MacTavish
36 - Shanahan
34 - Holmstrom / D. Hunter / Nystrom
33 - Thornton / Maltby / McCarty / Krushelnyski

This is false, so wherever you got all this info is invalid. Throw it away along with this garbage take. If you lead your team in scoring and win the series, there is literally nothing more than can be asked of you. Who cares if someone on the other team scored more? That's more on the team's defense and as a #1 center you probably had to help them out.

It's not a lazy narrative.

The Story of Joe Thornton can be shown in by "sorting order" of Regular season points, and Playoff points.

Thornton notoriously drops off in the playoffs, while Pavelski, Clowe, and Couture elevated.
Not once or twice but SEVERAL seasons Joe could lead the sharks in the RS, but then fell off in the playoffs.


He wasn't built for playoff hockey.

Regular Season Scoring: View attachment 861865

Playoffs Scoring: View attachment 861866

Lol his line is 2-5 and Pavelski was able to dominate lesser competition thanks to Thornton's line. This is literally how you win Cups.

 

[Frosty415]

This turned into a thread where people post players they don't like.

Saying McDavid isn't a good playoff performer because he hasn't won a cup is an insane take.

Both have been penguins fans, so it just shows how insecure Crosby fans are.

 

[Outl4w]

Take a pick of the core leaf's stars.

Jumbo Joe just always disspeared in the playoffs for a guy that was a top 5-10 center in the league for a while.

 

[Bileur]

I’ve seen a few Lalime posts.

I don’t think I that’s necessarily fair.

He certainly had at least two bad series against the Leafs but if you look at his overall playoff numbers they significantly improved over his regular season numbers.

Remarkably so. In fact he single-handedly won a few series, including having three shutouts in a five game win over Philadelphia. That’s insane.

He choked against the leafs but the flashes of playoff brilliance are actually what made his blunders all the more painful.

 

[Coffey]

Dionne and Matthews for sure.
Just based on their regular season dominance and being under a PPG in playoffs.

 

[Intermission]

Sean Burke exploded onto the NHL scene with the '87-88 Devils who made the playoffs on the last day of the season and rode him to the Wales Conference Finals.

That was the best that it would get for Burke.

In the later part of his career he became a band-aid acquisition for clubs desperate for a goaltender and ended his playoff career with a 12-22 record, 3.32 GAA, and an .880 save percentage.

 

[The Panther]

This is false...

Could you specify which part of my post was false?

 

[Gorskyontario]

literally how you win Cups.

So why did Thornton never win any cups? Also why are his playoff stats so terrible?

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

It's not a lazy narrative.

The Story of Joe Thornton can be shown in by "sorting order" of Regular season points, and Playoff points.

Thornton notoriously drops off in the playoffs, while Pavelski, Clowe, and Couture elevated.
Not once or twice but SEVERAL seasons Joe could lead the sharks in the RS, but then fell off in the playoffs.


He wasn't built for playoff hockey.

Regular Season Scoring: View attachment 861865

Playoffs Scoring: View attachment 861866

True, Wasn't built for speed, hitting, physicality (had the size, didnt use it), overall too easy going, no intensity

 

[JaegerDice]

Nyquist has 5(!!)G and 28pts in 75 playoff games

I feel like half of that output happened in that 2013 series against the Hawks.

 

[pnep]

Except I wasn't talking about leading one's team in scoring --- I was talking about leading THE SERIES (i.e., both teams) in scoring. Thornton appeared in 33 playoff series, and exactly zero times he led both teams in scoring. Here are some historical comparisons:

Most Times leading a playoff series in scoring:
24 - Gretzky
10 - Kucherov / Sakic
9 - Lemieux / Bossy / Gilmour / Modano / Fedorov
8 - M. Richard / Lafleur / Howe / Savard / Brett Hull

(move way down the list...)
4 - Draisaitl / Bure / Drillon / Sorrell / Payne / Orr / Conacher / Giroux / Staal / Keeling / Marchessault / Straka / Leach / Ullman / Hawerchuk / Mats Naslund / H. Smith (+ many more)
0 - Thornton

Best %, "#1 PTS" in Playoff Series
57% - Gretzky
45% - Lemieux
44% - Draisaitl
38% - Kucherov
36% - Bure
33% - Sakic / McDavid / Scheifele
32% - Bossy
31% - M. Richard / Drillon / Sorrell
30% - Perreault / Guentzel / Lafleur

(move way down the list...)
20% - Marchand / M. Tkachuk / Zibanejad / Smyl
0 - Thornton

NHL forwards who have been in the most playoff series without ever being #1 in scoring in that series:
44 - Draper
43 - Carbonneau
32 - Keane
37 - MacTavish
36 - Shanahan
34 - Holmstrom / D. Hunter / Nystrom
33 - Thornton / Maltby / McCarty / Krushelnyski

source:

All Time Leaders in Leading in Playoff Series (1918-2023)

All Time Leaders in Leading in Playoff Series, PTS* (1918-2023) * - tiebreakers: 1. Player with most goals. 2. Player with fewer games played. Most Times "#1 PTS" in Playoff Series Player Seasons TOT_SER #1_SER Gretzky Wayne 1979-97 42 24 Kucherov Nikita 2013-23 26 10 Sakic Joe...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[Avs2022]

Iginla. Overrated fake tough guy loser.

Sorry, but the year the Flames went to the finals against Tampa he was a beast. That run alone disqualifies him from the worst ever.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I feel like half of that output happened in that 2013 series against the Hawks.

3 of his 5 goals (now6) IIRC

 

[blundluntman]

Idk if I'd call Luongo the worst playoff performer of all time, but he's probably the most bipolar playoff goalie of all time.

Outcome	Wins/Losses	GAA	Sv%
Luongo in Games Won	34	1.43	.952
Luongo in Games Lost	35	3.65	.882

So you basically have a goalie that's Conn Smythe calibre when things are going well, and flat out unserviceable when things are going badly. I don't think I've ever seen such a stark contrast between games won and games lost before. Of course, it's obvious you'll likely play worse when you're losing, but as a goalie, you wanna at least keep your team in the game and make it difficult for the opposing team. It's basically a coin flip with him, but if your odds of a bad performance are even slightly above 50% in a playoff game, you have a goalie that simply can't be trusted from series to series to help you advance.

 

[canuckster19]

As a Canucks fan I remember the narrative on Naslund was always whether he would show for the playoffs or not. He never really seemed to carry the team on his shoulders the way Linden did, like the 07 playoffs for example, Linden willed that team to a game 7 win against Dallas. Now look at the 03 playoffs, Naslund pretty much disappears against the Wild games 5, 6 and 7. I still think Cloutier gets too much flak for that series.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

All time, for me, it's Thornton. He still put up some numbers in the playoffs that can give the appearance of him being an impact player - but he was absolutely dominant in the regular season and single handedly could dictate the outcome of games. I can't recall a single time I ever remember him doing that in the post-season. In every series I watched, I never felt as though he was the best skater on his line, nevermind his team.

For Vancouver, much gets said about Naslund, but for me it was Bertuzzi. There was an excellent post on HOH some time ago about Bertuzzi that summed him up well - he would start a series strong for a game or two, and then get sucked into the battle with whoever had been assigned to check him (Foote, Chelios, Jackman, Mitchell) and would get so focused on winning the battle that he forgot to win the war. Again, like Thornton, for a guy who shredded the regular season the way he did in 01-02 and 02-03, he was extremely disappointing in the playoffs that followed.

 

[EpochLink]

Todd Bertuzzi.

Always looking for personal battles instead of looking at the brighter picture. For someone who was ‘built for the playoffs’, guy was a floater and was all bark, no bite.

 

[Miro4Norris]

hf in a nutshell.

Anyways, gonna preemptively defend Thornton- dude was always hurt, and I blame his teammates. Jumbo was perfect.

Marner is making his case as an all-timer.

That Dahlin guy is a total no show as well.

 

[Alex1234]

Thomas Steen and his -6 game on April 25th 1984

 

[AndyWozniewski]

Mitch Marner has scored most of his playoff points in the first 3/4 games of each series. His career point totals are misleading. If you check series clinching games his numbers are quite abysmal. Matthews too I think.

 

[The Tourist]

Seguin is always hurt and being held together by tape come playoff time but he’s never been great in the playoffs. So a big part of it is health but still.

 

[Svechhammer]

Nic Castellanos in the 2023 NLCS