Worst NHL Player in NHL History

[Bear of Bad News]

ftfy

You only said that because you know I'm a Kraken fan.

 

[Crow]

Jared Tinordi got walked every game he played in last year it seemed. Worst player in recent memory for me. Seemed like a good guy though.

Wasn't there a zamboni driver who beat the Leafs?

Canes beat Leafs with Zamboni driver in goal - Toronto | Globalnews.ca

David Ayres was sitting in the stands with his wife at Scotiabank Arena when Hurricanes goalie James Reimer went down with an injury.

globalnews.ca

I know he got the win, but he wasn't even like a professional hockey player.

My first answer would have been an EBUG.

Second has to be some goon who was only good at that.

 

[Neil Racki]

Enrico Ciccone .. was a side show

 

[DaveG]

Bill Mikkelson, as mentioned, is a decent choice. But that +/- is also a mark of playing on the worst team in history. He had 22 points in 147 games. Which isn't great, but...

Whenever I think of "bad player" my mind immediately goes to Jeff Shantz. Maybe because the Avs had him at the end of his NHL career. He played a very respectable 642 games, scoring 211 points, so it's not him. But he left an impression.

there's a lot of guys like that throughout the league's history, guys that might have been serviceable in whatever their role was at one point but somehow kept getting contracts well past their career's expiration date. Craig Adams is a perfect example of this, went from an effective energy line guy/PKer with bad hands when he was with Carolina from 2000-08 or so to... well... I'll let some Pens fans give their thoughts on how the guy was by the time he retired.

 

[DaveG]

Enrico Ciccone .. was a side show

still my most hated player ever to play for the Hurricanes

even for a goon of the mid-late 90s era he was useless.

 

[vandymeer13]

I don't remember ever seeing him throw hands either. Should we have the "actually tried to play hockey" guys vs. the "get paid to punch face/be face punched" guys?

You don't remember Joel the wrecker Rechlicz having fought. Just look him up on youtube.com guy was fun to watch.

 

[Chainshot]

You don't remember Joel the wrecker Rechlicz having fought. Just look him up on youtube.com guy was fun to watch.

No, I don't remember him. I can tell from his stat line what he was around to do, just that I didn't see him do any of it.

 

[vandymeer13]

still my most hated player ever to play for the Hurricanes

even for a goon of the mid-late 90s era he was useless.

Worse he became a turncoat anti fighting

 

[Silky Johnson]

Now? Travis Hamonic. He WAS a good player but now he is worse than a pilon.

 

[McShogun99]

Just go back to goon hockey of the 70's and 80's. There were some players that made an average beer leaguer look like an NHL all star.

 

[CTHabsfan]

Ratis Ivanans. Not a great fighter and a horrible hockey player. He wasn't even good in the UHL.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

Now? Travis Hamonic. He WAS a good player but now he is worse than a pilon.

Pylon. Pilon was an ok NHL player. Not great. But good at defense.

 

[SimpleJack]

David Rundblad

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

In terms of the modern era, and excluding goons and EBUGs, my first 2 thoughts when it comes to the Oilers, who saw a lot of bad players during the decade of darkness, are Alex Plante and Chris Vandevelde.

Plante was a first round pick who put up a whopping 2 points in 36 games in his draft +1 WHL season. He was a horrible skater, and couldn’t handle the puck. He’s a prime example of why I don’t like drafting defensive defensemen. If it wasn’t for his draft position, he likely never would have come close to the NHL. He spent most of his pro career playing in South Korea.

Vandevelde was a mediocre AHL bottom 6er (finished 12th in points amongst forwards on the Oilers AHL team his last year in Edmonton) who got a couple injury call ups in Edmonton, before Philadelphia decided for some unknown reason to play him in the top 9. He wasn’t particularly awful at anything, but he didn’t do anything well. He had a career year and Philadelphia still didn’t extend him, after which he ended up in the Finnish league where he continued to be a bottom 6er. Usually even depth players at the NHL level can light up lower leagues, he couldn’t even play as a second liner in lower leagues.

You have it right here, I'll go along with you. Chris Vandevelde, who for some reason Dave Hakstol LOVED.

 

[Cup or Bust]

The worst I can think of off the top of my head was Steve McIntyre. I think if he played without a hockey stick it would be tough to tell the difference compared to when he did.

 

[Summer Rose]

Nail'd it.

This post deserves more attention, so here's a random quoting of it.

 

[Figgy44]

I think the way I'd try to find the worst other than players who barely played in the NHL, is to find someone who basically barely played for a season or two, but seriously reduced the careers of other NHLers by several factors more than their own career.

Like, something similar to Sestito where he got 27 penalty minutes vs 1 second of TOI once in a game... but someone with that concept that extrapolated for an entire career and caused a ton of man games lost.

Like... is there someone who played a handful of games in the playoffs or something who injured the opposition star player, then never played again?

 

[wolfgaze]

Dale Purinton?

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I can only mention the worst one I remember on the Leafs: John Kordic. And the Leafs gave up Russ frigging Courtnall for him. That said, it's like rating a female TV or movie star. Even the "less" hot ones are still way out of my league. Same goes for NHL players. Guaranteed the worst player in the league would light up a men's league without trying.

 

[zenator]

One of the EBUGs that got into a game

If we're counting non-emergency players, probably someone that played 1-2 games with the 75 Capitals or 93 Sens or Sharks.

Or perhaps a team was insanely decimated at a position and using a low-end ECHL player who is like the last guy in the organization.

Or a cementhead goon in the 80s that was a good fighter but was the NHL's worst skater.

 

[DitchMarner]

Ben Ondrus was terrible. This guy got in 52 games for the Leafs in the 2000s for some reason and he had no goals and two assists.

Look at these possession metrics lmao...

 

[Bouboumaster]

Based on my extensive review and reading of HF Boards boards over the years, the worst NHL player in history is clearly either Erik Karlsson or Tim Stutzle.

Just because Stützle is the single worst diver currently playing in the NHL and the poster child or everything that is wrong with the sport doesn't mean that he's a bad hockey player.

You ain't getting no violon for this Victim Complex answer

 

[north21]

Derek Boogaard was pretty bad at hockey, missed his ufc calling.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

That player being drafted by Sabres, never played a game so no points. His name -Taro Tsujimoto. Wasted pick.

 

[Master P]

Not sure if he's the worst but this sure is an impressive stat.

Maybe worst season?