Why Did Sylvain Turgeon Peak So Early?

[DitchMarner]

His best three years (by far) are his first three - as an aside, I wonder how many players you can say that about. Early on he definitely showed promise, but after his third season, he never again reached the 50 point mark. He did have four more 20+ goal seasons, which is decent but nothing special for a guy drafted second overall, especially in the 80s and early 90s. By the time his brother Pierre was drafted, he had already peaked. I assume he ran into injury trouble starting in year four?

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[JackSlater]

He had a nagging abdominal injury, which began in his fourth season, and other injuries eventually followed. He wasn't the guy who was going to lead a team somewhere but he could have been an excellent complementary player on a strong team, assuming a smart and responsible centre. Not sure that there was much room for improvement even if he'd stayed healthy, but he could have been a solid scorer for a long time.

 

[Staniowski]

Yeah, it's not that he peaked early, he was just always injured. His career kind of looks like Mike Palmateer, Paul Reinhart, Craig Hartsburg. None of them could even develop properly in their early and mid 20s due to injuries.

He wasn't as talented as his brother, but would've scored lots of points if healthy in that era. He played with Francis and Dineen for a while.

 

[Michael Farkas]

In a better league, maybe he isn't in the NHL as a junior aged player...finds a more sustainable game, has better strength/build for pro seasons, etc.

 

[JianYang]

I just remember him consistently injured, but it was later in his nhl career.

 

[The Panther]

His numbers in year 4 look pretty good, too (remembering that scoring dropped off noticeably in 1986-87, and the Whalers were in a tough division). Looks like he scores 40 goals again if he plays that full season healthy. It's really year 5 when his stats drop off.

(A guy who very clearly peaked in his first three seasons was Jimmy Carson!)

 

[reckoning]

In 1990 Montreal traded Claude Lemieux to New Jersey straight up for Turgeon. Two years later the Habs left Turgeon unprotected in the expansion draft. That's one steep decline.

When Ottawa took him in that draft, he was the only player they had who the average casual fan had actually heard of. The local media talked about him like he was their skill player who would be their core until the prospects and picks joined the team, but he was never much of a factor in Ottawa.

While he likely wouldn't have made the team anyway, he was selected to attend Team Canada's training camp for the 1987 Canada Cup. He had to leave early when his arm was injured by a Ron Hextall slash in practice. Hextall insisted it was an accident. Mike Keenan said he had a talk with Hextall afterwards about being more careful with his stick.

 

[mobilus]

I think the poster boy for early peak has to be Jimmy Carson.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Yeah, it's not that he peaked early, he was just always injured. His career kind of looks like Mike Palmateer, Paul Reinhart, Craig Hartsburg. None of them could even develop properly in their early and mid 20s due to injuries.

He wasn't as talented as his brother, but would've scored lots of points if healthy in that era. He played with Francis and Dineen for a while.

Yep. Great skater, big shot, solid build. Made for the 80's.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

In 1990 Montreal traded Claude Lemieux to New Jersey straight up for Turgeon. Two years later the Habs left Turgeon unprotected in the expansion draft. That's one steep decline.

When Ottawa took him in that draft, he was the only player they had who the average casual fan had actually heard of. The local media talked about him like he was their skill player who would be their core until the prospects and picks joined the team, but he was never much of a factor in Ottawa.

While he likely wouldn't have made the team anyway, he was selected to attend Team Canada's training camp for the 1987 Canada Cup. He had to leave early when his arm was injured by a Ron Hextall slash in practice. Hextall insisted it was an accident. Mike Keenan said he had a talk with Hextall afterwards about being more careful with his stick.

While I get that Hextall was really competitive, he probably should have kept that to actual games, and not training camp where people might be your teammate.