Who had all the tools but just couldn’t make it?

[syz]

Rob Schremp win this ...

Skating wasn't good enough for a guy trying to break into the league right after the lockout. Maybe if he was born 10 years earlier.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Yakupov. Had all the tools but the IQ of a raisin.

 

[1989]

Definitely not fitting the exact parameters of this thread but I've always wondered just how much better Theoren Fleury's career would have been without the substance abuse and the demons behind it.

 

[Paddyjack]

I don't know if he was mentionned, but Nathan Beaulieu was someone I expected would have a much better carreer.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Ryan Johanssen. Had potential to be a top 20 player in the NHL when he was drafted but never really emerged into a franchise center.

 

[adsfan]

I don't understand what happened with Mark Jankowski. He had size, offensive acumen, defensively responsible and for a while he was an excellent 4th line with Mangiapane and Hathaway. He was scoring more short handed goals than he was contributing towards 5 on 5 goals at one point which was bizarre.

I don't get how he's not at least a bottom 6 mainstay like Hathaway. He looked solid for his first two full seasons and then cratered soon after his arbitration filing/covid season.

I don't think as highly of him as Weisbrod did, but I didn't expect him to be a league minimum deal calibre guy so soon into his career. He always seemed like he should at least by a solid bottom 9 option at C. I don't think it's skill or complete lack of IQ. I think it's something else. But what that is, I don't know.

Jankowski definitely seems like a AAAA player in the AHL. Last season he had 5 G and 5 A in 9 games for Milwaukee, followed by 1 G and 7 A in 15 playoff games with 16 PIMs. The Admirals made it to the Conference Finals. They could have been in the Calder Cup Finals with just a few more goals. The Ads lost the first two games on the road, but they scored 19 goals in the six game series against the Firebirds. Hershey scored only 14 goals in 7 games (after being shut out in Games 1 & 2) and beat the Firebirds. The Bears won three games in OT.

Jankowski is -8 in the NHL with 49 G and 43 A in 322 games (0.29 PPG).

 

[clydesdale line]

I'm still generally surprised Jeremy Morin didn't make it. Guy was a stud for USNTDP and Kitchener in the OHL. Was a PPG in the AHL one year, solid size at 6'1, 195 or so, great shot, good hands, solid hockey sense. Not a great skater but there's slower guys then him currently playing. Just bizarre he didn't at least have a decent NHL career.

 

[Dache]

Ales Hemsky, Sam Gagner. Both had decent careers but Hemsky could have been much more without injuries

 

[adsfan]

Ryan Johanssen. Had potential to be a top 20 player in the NHL when he was drafted but never really emerged into a franchise center.

In eight seasons in Nashville, he has never topped 26 goals. He seems like he could put up 30 or 40 goals a season.

Last season, Johansen scored 12 goals and 16 assists in 55 games with -13. Rookie Tommy Novak scored 17 goals and 26 assists in 51 games with +5. It should be the other way around.

 

[Fig]

Jankowski definitely seems like a AAAA player in the AHL. Last season he had 5 G and 5 A in 9 games for Milwaukee, followed by 1 G and 7 A in 15 playoff games with 16 PIMs. The Admirals made it to the Conference Finals. They could have been in the Calder Cup Finals with just a few more goals. The Ads lost the first two games on the road, but they scored 19 goals in the six game series against the Firebirds. Hershey scored only 14 goals in 7 games (after being shut out in Games 1 & 2) and beat the Firebirds. The Bears won three games in OT.

Jankowski is -8 in the NHL with 49 G and 43 A in 322 games (0.29 PPG).

57 of his 92 points are in the first 151 of 322 games too. That's going from .378 PPG to .205 PPG and in his first seasons, he often contributed towards a solid PK with his linemates. But those point totals also come with a confusing facet to Jankowski's game at the NHL level. He was absolute money for a while if the team was short handed. But he was inexplicably quite lost at 5 on 5 or if his team was on the PP. I've never seen a player play so well against the odds at an NHL level but be unable to put it together when the odds were in his favor. It's so strange.

 

[adsfan]

This thread cries out for Jason Krog

In Milwaukee, he is known as Squirrel Face.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Besides the other Devil prospects that were mentioned already, Jacob Josefson and Niclas Bergfors I had such high hope for Mattias Tedenby as well. Honestly thought he was going to be a MSL level player one day.

I also thought Joe Colborne was built to be an NHL player, and Beau Bennett would be a 1st line player.

 

[MS]

The most baffling bust I've ever seen is probably Peter Mueller.

Guy had all the tools AND the IQ and should have had a Jacob Voracek-type 1000-game, 800-point career. Scored 54 points in the NHL as a teenager. Had everything to be a long-term first-line NHL player but played his last NHL game at age 24.

Injuries were a part of it but he's been healthy for a decade and still playing in Europe. Just didn't seem to have the drive to keep getting better after his early success.

 

[Voight]

Sean Day comes to mind. Always had the size, skill to play the game. The hockey IQ that's always been the question mark with him.

IMO he was the victim of too hype early on. Being granted exceptional status puts you on a pedestal especially when Tavares, EKblad and McDavid preceded you and didnt disappoint. Theres rumours that Hockey Canada wanted him to represent them internationally (instead of the US) and that (allegedly) factored into the decision but regardless he was clearly one of the best players in his age group.

If Sam Bennett had any hockey IQ he'd still be a Flame and be putting up 90+ points a year.

I know this thread is more for people who didn't really make it and Bennett is a decent 2nd liner these days, but he should be such a better player than he is.

Yea I remember hearing about him when he was still in minor hockey. He shined on a team that included McDavid among others and played very well in once he reached the O.

Defensemen can still be valuable with out putting points up, more so than forwards at least.

They also peak later than forwards (typically in their late 20s/early 30s) in most cases so they have more leash in a way.

 

[Voight]

True enough! But Gretzky believed him to be the most skilled hockey player he ever faced — a point he repeated in numerous interviews. And Wayne played against some pretty decent talents…

To be fair Gretzky has said things like that about a lot of guys over the years

Seriously, anytime he's asked about a former player he played against its always he was the most ____ guy I ever played against / in the league.

 

[The Stig]

This thread cries out for Jason Krog

First name I thought of

 

[awegrzyn]

Damien Brunner
Gusev

 

[lowol]

The most baffling bust I've ever seen is probably Peter Mueller.

Guy had all the tools AND the IQ and should have had a Jacob Voracek-type 1000-game, 800-point career. Scored 54 points in the NHL as a teenager. Had everything to be a long-term first-line NHL player but played his last NHL game at age 24.

Injuries were a part of it but he's been healthy for a decade and still playing in Europe. Just didn't seem to have the drive to keep getting better after his early success.

Those injuries were bad though. He was out for a whole season and a half and I remember how unfit he was when he came back. Still had an insane shot but couldn't keep up with the pace and intensity of the game at all. You're probably right that a more driven player would have reclaimed more of their original conditioning.

My contribution, oddly enough, is the guy he got traded for - Wojtek Wolski. Another guy with the size, skill (those silky smooth hands...) and IQ who should have been a star. The lack of drive was extremely obvious with Wolski, though. You could revive his corpse with a healthy scratch once in a while and get one or two games where he'd actually bring it. I'll always remember one such instance where he completely took over a game against Vancouver and got 4 points. Still wonder what might have been.

 

[Your old Jofa helmet]

I attended a hockey Champions League game recently and saw Roman Cervenka. It made me think about him. A superstar everywhere he played. Still is a star at 37. It's inconceivable to me how he could not even stick for one season in the NHL but looks like lockout had something to do with it.

Linus Omark was an outstanding player, he simply lacked the size and the physicality for the NHL. I'm a big fan and loved watching him play for Sweden but it was always clear that his unique style of play would not be supported in the NHL. Nothing to do with a lack of desire or penalty-shoot spinoramas,

 

[Albatros]

I believe Červenka was paid significantly more in Europe than what he could get in the NHL. A late bloomer and the lockout indeed ruined his first NHL contract, close to 4 million dollar cap hit but maybe a few hundred thousand in actual pay.

 

[ElLeetch]

Brendl
Grachev
Christian Dube

 

[Fig]

I believe Červenka was paid significantly more in Europe than what he could get in the NHL. A late bloomer and the lockout indeed ruined his first NHL contract, close to 4 million dollar cap hit but maybe a few hundred thousand in actual pay.

Contract issues from the lock out and blood clot issues were what plagued Cervenka's debut. I wonder if he decided to play in Europe where there was less physicality which could help to keep his blood clot issues (health) in check. It certainly didn't seem like language helped and IIRC his stats are of him playing at C rather than wing which he was more comfortable at.

That was another one of Feaster's interesting debacles.

 

[doublechili]

In "honor" of Mike Milbury I'll add Oleg Kvasha and Brad Isbister.

I've seen a few mentions of Kent Nilsson, but he'd be a better pick for a "guy who had all the tools and made it but should have been an all time great" thread. And then Milbury picked his son over Zach Parise....

 

[McJedi]

Mikhail Grigorenko.

The 2012 draft had a couple good candidates for this dishonorable distinction.

 

[WillardJFredricks]

Thinking more of defencemen (as one poster pointed out, they're a bit under-represented on this thread) I'll say Mark Popovic. Seemed to have everything going for him to be at least a solid NHL d-man for several years (like his former team-mate Kevin Klein) but just couldn't stick. Going back a few years earlier, Brent Tully. Still have no clue how he didn't make the NHL.