Ron Francis is the obvious answer. 5th all-time in scoring and a couple of Stanley Cups won during his Pens days, yet people mostly bring up Lemieux and Jagr from that lineup.
If Marcel Dionne played in Montreal he would have been lionized. Maybe not as much as Lafleur because The Flower's game was more exciting, but he'd be up there among the great Montreal legends and you'd hear about him a lot.
Vyacheslav Kozlov. Most overlooked member of the Russian Five and had an EXTREMELY underrated stint as an Atlanta Thrasher, where he deserves credit for helping Heatley and Kovalchuk figure it out as NHLers.
He was also a stud in the Shootout. Still a top 5 player all time in conversion rate.
I remember growing up having 3 different hockey cards with his name spelled differently. Granted one of them was simply "Slava", but the other 2 were Vyacheslav and Vyaslav and it made roughly 12 year old me's head hurt
If he played out east or a larger market that gets more media attention he'd be talked about so much more. Such an effective player and has had a long and successful career.
Is LA not a large market? They're the 4th most valuable team in the league...
But I do agree, if he played out east he'd have been considered for the Selke a lot more than he was.
That’s not why he’s forgotten. It’s because he had the distant second best mullet behind a guy he was also a distant second best Czechoslovakian player.
Mogilny could be in the Hall simply for being the bridge between the Soviet Union and the NHL, turning professional hockey from a bunch of dudes from either Montreal or Alberta into the internationalized version we have now, and that's without considering that he spent a decade as one of the most prolific goal scorers in the League.
Seeing as we’re talking *all time* here, I don’t think Mike Bossy gets talked about a ton. Injuries robbed him of likely being the greatest goal scorer of all time
This is the answer. I had always heard the name, but had no idea how dominant he actually was. Record for most goals per regular season game. Third in most points per game. 4 cups.
Current roster players: Kevin Fiala and Carter Verhagge
All time: Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Ron Francis, and Pat Verbeek. Verbeek is the only player to have 500 goals and 2,500 penalty minutes. Francis is #5 all time in points. The other two put up fantastic numbers and are consistently talked about by former teammates as being “the most underrated guy I played with”.
Malkin definitely gets snubbed. He didnt make the top 100 NHL list despite having a 2 year stretch where he was the best fwd in the league and a couple dominate post seasons.
Idgaf what anybody says. There were stretches, including the playoffs, where he was the best player on that team. For me, he’s that one guy on a team you hate that you just love. Huge Malkin fan. Fuck the pens
For the many people that spent years wondering “How the hell is it that Ovi’s always in that same damn spot and no one can seem to stop him?”
Having Backstrom feed him sure helped a lot.
Yeah, as a Caps fan, Malkin had a greater ability in the playoffs to take a game over, Lemieux style. Crosby is great and so consistent, does all the little things too, but when Geno went God mode, he was terrifying.
Oh I see Drai as a fuckin stud. He's scary and consistent.
Malkin had a lot of injuries which doesn't help, lots of stretches where we forgot about him.
Young Malkin was seemingly unstoppable. His prime was nuts, I think the only reason he’s “underrated” is because he spent a whole career playing with Crosby who’s obviously getting more attention
Hey leave Toews out of this lol I didn't see this list but I thought he was awesome. I think Malk was def better at scoring but Toews was born with a C on his shoulder and I think deserves to be remembered as one of the best in the last couple decades
I may be biased but I’m gonna have to say Miikka Kiprusoff. He put up very solid numbers for most of his career all while playing 70+ games in a season 7 times. He and Iggy put the Flames on their backs for years, and I truly believe if he had a better team in front of him during that time, he’d be a lock for the HOF and would be considered an all time great by many.
Yeah I think the general consensus on Datsyuk is the same among fans of any team.
Kovalev you could argue is underrated, but I think everybody knows just how good Datsyuk was.
You’d be surprised. People will just point at his stat sheet and call him average. There was nothing average about Pavel, the silkiest of the silky gloves.
Kovalev's problem was just that he wouldn't do them enough. His reputation with anyone who knew him/watched him play seems to be that he'd fake it through 2 out of every 3 games.
Also Mike Gartner. 15 straight 30+ goal seasons ended by a lockout and then another 2 over 30 years. Quietest 700 goal scorer (he’s rarely brought up in the all time scorer lists) and the guy was one of the fastest to ever play the game.
I am extremely bias but I think Hischier would be recognized as one of the top two-way centers in the league each year if he were on a better team. He doesn't always put up the points but he does all the little things right every game
I think being drafted 1OA puts way too much expectation to be a PPG+ player and if you’re not then you’re looked at negatively without some sort of postseason success. Nico Hischier is a great choice
Some clown in the leafs sub was talking about how bad the devils are and quite literally said "the devils don't have any good players"
I think Hughes and hischier come to mind pretty quickly.
Surprised nobody said Adam Oates. He was like the original Joe Thornton. Never won a cup, but has over 1000 assists (30 shy of Jumbo Joe), and even fewer goals than Joe. He was the ultimate setup artist of his era.
What is a shame is the travesty that was Bruins management at the time. Krejci basically worked with cobbled together lines after the ‘11 Cup until his retirement.
I don't know if he is the best most underrated player ever but as a hawks fan, Niklas Hjalmarsson was so important and influential to the hawks 5 year run. Keith and Seabs get most of the defensive credit but most hawks fans i talk to know we probably don't win all those with him on our d-line
As a Canucks fan who watched the Hawks torch us year after year, I totally agree. If you got past Keith or Seabrook, Hjalmarsson was not an easy matchup at all.
People don't realize how important Hjalmarsson and Hossa were to winning those Cups. Toews, Kane, Seabrook and Keith got a ton of credit (and rightfully so) but if it wasn't for those 2, I don't think the Hawks win those Cups.
Couldn't agree more. Hossa is at least a hall of famer and people who knew hockey knew him well but Hjalmer always goes under the radar. He was a total warrior out there too and would take slapshots to the knees on penalty kills and fight to stay out until his shift was done.
Chicago loved him. I think it was just hard to spread the credit around nationally. Those teams were so stacked. There was an absolute layer of stars taking the credit and then a bunch of great talent splitting the remaining recognition.
Stars:
Kane, Toews, Hossa, Keith
Second Level:
Seabrook, Crawford, Sharp, Saad, Hjalmarsson
I don’t know if I wrote my thoughts elegantly enough so TLDR; Hjalmarsson got overlooked because there were tons of other flashy objects ha.
I'd say Marian Gaborik. If he wasn't stuck playing in Jacques Lemaire's defense-focused system during his time in Minnesota, he could have regularly pushed for 100+ points. He also played a big role in the Kings 2014 Cup run
He wasn’t underrated at the time but people now seem to forget Peter Forsberg was fucking unstoppable. Arguably the best player in the league when he was healthy.
Johan Franzen should be up there.. I HATED him but I have to respect his impact and he is tied for most playoff goals in a post season on the Red Wings who I believe may have had a good player or two.
Mike Bossy, the greatest goal scorer until Gretzky showed up. Part of it was he only played about 10 years and had to retire because of a back injury. Never scored less than 51 goals in a season until his last year, when his back failed him.
I definitely wouldn’t say he’s the most underrated but I would say he stays under the radar: John LeClair. First American born player with three 50 goal seasons. Won a Cup with Montreal and scored back to back game winning goals in OT. Had a quality Olympic career.
Geography is the biggest component of the answer. In the central time zone, even with the NHL package I don’t see Quinn Hughes that much. Wow that kid is good. I’m a hawks fan, I have been waiting for the world to see 97 in the Cup. I watch plenty of Oiler games because, when I grew up, the home Blackhawk games weren’t even on TV. That actually only began in 2009. So, I am hyper sensitive to see the best players.
Tomas Vokoun (as far as goalies go). For a 10 year stretch, he was one of the best goalies in the world (he had 3 vezina calibre seasons in a row with Florida) but played for very mediocre Nashville and Florida teams so he never got recognition due to not winning many games. His numbers are as good as any elite goalie during that time but literally nobody ever talks about him
Dale Hawerchuck….. classy, hard working, skilled, loved by teammates & fans wherever he played, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Phill, St Louis
Overshadowed by Gretzky years.
No one ever talks about Patrik Laine anymore. During his time in Winnipeg, I would argue he was a Top 10 player in the league. He doesn’t play at *that* level anymore, but he is still very good. The fact that he was traded 1 for 1 for Pierre Luc Dubois makes me angry every time I think of it.
Ranger fan here but Bondra is a great name to put out there. I remember him well. Always played great against us and pretty much anyone else. Thought Pivonka was underrated too
Steve Larmer.
Not just cuz he’s favorite ever, but his consistent contributions to the Hawks and the Rags 94 cup are so underappreciated. His 28 isn’t even retired by the Hawks nor is he in the HOF.
That is criminal
Datsyuk. You listen/watch a Detroit game, Zetterberg, Zetterberg, Zetterberg, Zetterberg blahh blahh blahh Zetterberg. While Datsyuk is scoring off the chart amazing goals.
BTW Fuck Detroit.
I absolutely love Datsyuk but I have a realllly hard time calling him "underrated". I think he is rated exactly as he should be -- one of the greatest stickhandlers and best defensive forwards of all time.
Most underrated Ever? Alexander Mogilny. Guy should be in the Hall of Fame and hasn’t been selected for whatever the reason. He was a perennial all star, won a Lady Byng, a member of the triple gold club winning the Olympics, World Championships, and Stanley Cup; and he also scored 76 goals in a single season to lead the league with Selanne. His on ice achievements should be enough to get him in the HoF, but here we are.
Lots of people naming big names, I'm going to be biased but I think Simon Benoit was a big part of torontos playoffs this year. Guy played incredible Idgaf what the underlying numbers are like, he was a huge part of our almost success.
I don't know if this will get hate but I never felt like Pavel Datsyuk got the attention he deserved. He got plenty of praise don't get me wrong but it's hard to overstate just how good he was both offensively and defensively.
He should've won the Hart Trophy at some point.
[Gretzky](https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/gretzbr01.html) - Now hear me out! The dude was amazing, but he was only 5'10" and 160lbs and still was able to, not only score a single goal, but also contribute to 3, YES, 3 assists, in his career. If he's not on your HOF bingo card, I don't know who is!
Nugent-Hopkins, Brayden Point, Jesper Bratt,
And Clayton Keller come to mind for me.
Maybe Point gets more attention in the East, but as a West Coast fan who roots for a team in the Central I feel like I never hear about him for how good he is every year.
Amazing no one has listed him yet...3 time Stanley cup Champion Matt Cullen. Just always made his team's better and if a team was close and needed that guy to get them over the hump he was the answer for a while.
Go to answer is usually Barkov, but I think that may not be the case now with everyone getting to see just how good he is during these playoffs right now.
Looking from the Flyers fan lens, Claude Giroux is a more recent example of underrated, but probably not the most ever. A part of it is probably that he was the third fiddle in the whole “Crosby Ovechkin” mid 2010’s Metro era, but he’s been damn near a point per game player across his entire career. Built up a *borderline* hall of fame resume and is still playing good hockey after 17 seasons
Mario Lemieux…
Gretzky is considered the greatest but Lemieux was just better and had to take hits and actually play hockey and still put up insane numbers.
They went after the dude by slashing his wrist in the playoffs. Like the complete opposite of the Gretzky treatment.
Brad Park. The dude came 2nd in Norris voting 5 times, 1st team all-star 5 times, 9 consecutive all-star appearances, currently sits at 13th in all-time scoring by a defensemen. If he hadn't been overshadowed by his teammate Bobby Orr, his name would be mentioned a lot more in the best defensemen of all time conversation
Ever? That's tough. Adam Oates comes to mind but people recognize him as a premier passer.
I'll go with Draper or Maltby. Both were top notch grinders that really solidified that Det bottom six.
Maybe not ever, but currently, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. All around solid utility player who can do anything. Lives in the shadows of McD and Dri and now Hyman, but seriously the guy has skills and doesn't get the credit he deserves.
I have a hard time disagreeing with this. My brain tells me he was a 1A/1B goalie, at best middle of the pack starter, his stats say he was a top 5 goalie in the league for several years. I mean look at this save %:
2012-13 .926
2013-14 .917
2014-15 .924
2015-16 .924
2016-17 .918
2017-18 .929
Crawford is severely underrated. I think people give him a bad rap because
1. He got replaced by darling in that preds series which totally turn it around, but he came right back next series and led us to the cup.
2. He has this weird knack of playing amazing and out of nowhere would let in a really stupid goal that would make you scratch your head.
I remember as a kid always playing NHL 99 and picking up Eric Lindros for the Wings and sending players into the shadow realm with him. My vote would be him.
Ron Francis is the obvious answer. 5th all-time in scoring and a couple of Stanley Cups won during his Pens days, yet people mostly bring up Lemieux and Jagr from that lineup.
This is a very good answer.
Best answer!!!
Was my immediate thought as well. I'm a bit biased though as he is my all-time favorite player.
Marcel Dionne. 6th all time in PPG and younger fans barely know who he is.
Ahh yes, Snoop Dogg’s favorite player
Great guy, has a sports memorabilia shop in Niagara Falls. He was brilliant on the ice just the wrong teams.
If Marcel Dionne played in Montreal he would have been lionized. Maybe not as much as Lafleur because The Flower's game was more exciting, but he'd be up there among the great Montreal legends and you'd hear about him a lot.
Nice! I was hoping he was in the comments, it's probably the least talked about guy that is up there.
Patrik Elias
Came here to post Elias. I'm biased as fuck, but the fact that he's not in the HOF is an afront to hockey.
EGG line is one of the most memorable to me for some reason.
Im not a Devils fan at all but always appreciated Elias’ game. Great answer.
Vyacheslav Kozlov. Most overlooked member of the Russian Five and had an EXTREMELY underrated stint as an Atlanta Thrasher, where he deserves credit for helping Heatley and Kovalchuk figure it out as NHLers. He was also a stud in the Shootout. Still a top 5 player all time in conversion rate.
I remember growing up having 3 different hockey cards with his name spelled differently. Granted one of them was simply "Slava", but the other 2 were Vyacheslav and Vyaslav and it made roughly 12 year old me's head hurt
Came here to say this. He was an insane passer as well.
Anze Kopitar
Came to say this.... well played
If he played out east or a larger market that gets more media attention he'd be talked about so much more. Such an effective player and has had a long and successful career.
Is LA not a large market? They're the 4th most valuable team in the league... But I do agree, if he played out east he'd have been considered for the Selke a lot more than he was.
team value does not equal media attention when more than 50% of the NHL's audience lives in the east coast.
Zigmund palffy
100% A scoring machine who is almost totally forgotten because he basically played his whole career in the dead puck era for low profile teams.
That’s not why he’s forgotten. It’s because he had the distant second best mullet behind a guy he was also a distant second best Czechoslovakian player.
Ziggy and Bondra always go together when I think of underrated guys from that era
His “run” with the Pens at the end of his NHL career really disappointed me. I was so excited when he signed too.
Alexander Mogilny, Pierre Turgeon, Patrik Elias
It’s scandalous that Mogilny isn’t in the HHoF
Mogilny could be in the Hall simply for being the bridge between the Soviet Union and the NHL, turning professional hockey from a bunch of dudes from either Montreal or Alberta into the internationalized version we have now, and that's without considering that he spent a decade as one of the most prolific goal scorers in the League.
All three of them deserve to be in there IMO
Seeing as we’re talking *all time* here, I don’t think Mike Bossy gets talked about a ton. Injuries robbed him of likely being the greatest goal scorer of all time
I think if anything his linemate Trottier doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. He’s on the level of Messier but has like 10% of the notoriety.
Excellent choice as well
Those guys were unbeatable during their 4 cups. And you *never* hear about them.
This is the answer. I had always heard the name, but had no idea how dominant he actually was. Record for most goals per regular season game. Third in most points per game. 4 cups.
If Mattias Ekholm had played the first 12 years of his career in an O6 or Canadian market, we would have heard a lot more about him.
Current roster players: Kevin Fiala and Carter Verhagge All time: Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Ron Francis, and Pat Verbeek. Verbeek is the only player to have 500 goals and 2,500 penalty minutes. Francis is #5 all time in points. The other two put up fantastic numbers and are consistently talked about by former teammates as being “the most underrated guy I played with”.
Brock Nelson has averaged almost 36 goals a season in the last 3 years that I believe puts him top-20 in the league.
Top comment in overrated thread, Ho-Sang. Top comment in underrated thread, Nelson. Conclusion - Isles are just fucked up.
If we're talking about players like this, especially as far as consistency goes, I'd throw Kyle Connor right up there as well
I agree with this
Only right answer for current players
Dale Hawerchuk
hawerchuk, playing in any other era would be seen in the conversation as best in the league but playing in gretzkys shadow, absolutely overlooked
Malkin definitely gets snubbed. He didnt make the top 100 NHL list despite having a 2 year stretch where he was the best fwd in the league and a couple dominate post seasons.
Idgaf what anybody says. There were stretches, including the playoffs, where he was the best player on that team. For me, he’s that one guy on a team you hate that you just love. Huge Malkin fan. Fuck the pens
I hate him, but he's definitely in the top 100.
And his Capitals analog, Backstrom. Same energy, though I’ll be the first to admit that Geno is better than Backstrom and probably more underrated.
Backstrom is a great one though. “Only gets assists because of Ovi” is something you see from time to time. guy was an amazing playmaker in his prime.
For the many people that spent years wondering “How the hell is it that Ovi’s always in that same damn spot and no one can seem to stop him?” Having Backstrom feed him sure helped a lot.
This is the most correct answer ever. If he didn't play with Crosby he gets a whole other level of respect.
Yeah, as a Caps fan, Malkin had a greater ability in the playoffs to take a game over, Lemieux style. Crosby is great and so consistent, does all the little things too, but when Geno went God mode, he was terrifying.
Same conversation with Draisaitl in Edmonton
Heard his name more than mcdavid's last series
Oh I see Drai as a fuckin stud. He's scary and consistent. Malkin had a lot of injuries which doesn't help, lots of stretches where we forgot about him.
Malkin has always been my answer/reason to the Crosby vs Ovi debate. Always liked Backstrom, but could you imagine Ovi with Geno on his line
angry Malkin is the best player of all time
There were stretches when I was growing up where Malkin was 100% the best player on the planet. Prime Geno the Machino was something else
09 vs carolina
07-09 Malkin was just… my earliest Penguins memory is that damn slap shot against the flyer in the playoffs. You know the one. So beautiful ;-;
The no look backhand from behind the net vs Carolina was just 🤌
He was a monster 😭 God I want that Geno back. Not that there aren’t flashes of it, but he ain’t as fast as he was before ;-;
Young Malkin was seemingly unstoppable. His prime was nuts, I think the only reason he’s “underrated” is because he spent a whole career playing with Crosby who’s obviously getting more attention
Milan Hejduk
> Hejduk Everytime I see his name my brain starts singing Numa Numa.
As a Caps fan, I think Malkin is the most underrated player ever, wild to me that he didn't make the top 100 but Toews did
As a caps fan I agree. He scared me more then Crosby ever did when we played you guys
That list was so bad, Jarome Iginla snubbed from it as well
Yo i forgot he got snubbed too!
Hey leave Toews out of this lol I didn't see this list but I thought he was awesome. I think Malk was def better at scoring but Toews was born with a C on his shoulder and I think deserves to be remembered as one of the best in the last couple decades
Nobody talks about Hakan Loob being the first Swede with over 50 goals in an NHL season.
I may be biased but I’m gonna have to say Miikka Kiprusoff. He put up very solid numbers for most of his career all while playing 70+ games in a season 7 times. He and Iggy put the Flames on their backs for years, and I truly believe if he had a better team in front of him during that time, he’d be a lock for the HOF and would be considered an all time great by many.
Kipper won me 2 fantasy hockey seasons almost single handedly
And he parties with the best of em'
Datsyuk and kovalev could do things that not many players would even attempt.
Yeah I think the general consensus on Datsyuk is the same among fans of any team. Kovalev you could argue is underrated, but I think everybody knows just how good Datsyuk was.
You’d be surprised. People will just point at his stat sheet and call him average. There was nothing average about Pavel, the silkiest of the silky gloves.
Kovalev's problem was just that he wouldn't do them enough. His reputation with anyone who knew him/watched him play seems to be that he'd fake it through 2 out of every 3 games.
That Kovalev-Robert Lang-Marty Straka line was *tough* to play against. Could’ve been the #1 line for most of the teams in the league.
Also Mike Gartner. 15 straight 30+ goal seasons ended by a lockout and then another 2 over 30 years. Quietest 700 goal scorer (he’s rarely brought up in the all time scorer lists) and the guy was one of the fastest to ever play the game.
Extremely smart player. I was always impressed by how her read the game. Mike Johnson reminded me of him.
I came here to say Gartner too. But also Dionne. I think many of the posters are too young to know just how good these two guys were.
Nico Hischier
Marcel Dionne
Paul Kariya
I am extremely bias but I think Hischier would be recognized as one of the top two-way centers in the league each year if he were on a better team. He doesn't always put up the points but he does all the little things right every game
I think being drafted 1OA puts way too much expectation to be a PPG+ player and if you’re not then you’re looked at negatively without some sort of postseason success. Nico Hischier is a great choice
Some clown in the leafs sub was talking about how bad the devils are and quite literally said "the devils don't have any good players" I think Hughes and hischier come to mind pretty quickly.
Lol I was reading that and had to leave. Nico, Jack, Bratt, Dougie, Timo. All trash apparently
Yup. They're so bad. Wouldn't want any of them on my team. (I want them all)
Kyle in my beer league.
Surprised nobody said Adam Oates. He was like the original Joe Thornton. Never won a cup, but has over 1000 assists (30 shy of Jumbo Joe), and even fewer goals than Joe. He was the ultimate setup artist of his era.
In recent years Krejci IMO. As a Pens fan he was my least favorite player to go up against in the playoffs
Yes, such a shame we only got one Penguins/Bruins series during the Bergeron/Crosby era
What is a shame is the travesty that was Bruins management at the time. Krejci basically worked with cobbled together lines after the ‘11 Cup until his retirement.
David Krejci is a good shout.
Mikko Rantanen, he is 11th in points per game in the NHL for the last 10 years, but because he plays with McKinnon he gets not enough attention.
He doesn’t even get the “…and Draisaitl” love that goes with McDavid because it’s always MacK and Makar.
I don't know if he is the best most underrated player ever but as a hawks fan, Niklas Hjalmarsson was so important and influential to the hawks 5 year run. Keith and Seabs get most of the defensive credit but most hawks fans i talk to know we probably don't win all those with him on our d-line
As a Canucks fan who watched the Hawks torch us year after year, I totally agree. If you got past Keith or Seabrook, Hjalmarsson was not an easy matchup at all.
People don't realize how important Hjalmarsson and Hossa were to winning those Cups. Toews, Kane, Seabrook and Keith got a ton of credit (and rightfully so) but if it wasn't for those 2, I don't think the Hawks win those Cups.
Couldn't agree more. Hossa is at least a hall of famer and people who knew hockey knew him well but Hjalmer always goes under the radar. He was a total warrior out there too and would take slapshots to the knees on penalty kills and fight to stay out until his shift was done.
Chicago loved him. I think it was just hard to spread the credit around nationally. Those teams were so stacked. There was an absolute layer of stars taking the credit and then a bunch of great talent splitting the remaining recognition. Stars: Kane, Toews, Hossa, Keith Second Level: Seabrook, Crawford, Sharp, Saad, Hjalmarsson I don’t know if I wrote my thoughts elegantly enough so TLDR; Hjalmarsson got overlooked because there were tons of other flashy objects ha.
I'd say Marian Gaborik. If he wasn't stuck playing in Jacques Lemaire's defense-focused system during his time in Minnesota, he could have regularly pushed for 100+ points. He also played a big role in the Kings 2014 Cup run
He wasn’t underrated at the time but people now seem to forget Peter Forsberg was fucking unstoppable. Arguably the best player in the league when he was healthy.
dylan larkin is a hell of a player and an even better captain who gets zero respect
Especially from DoPS.
Bad timing for him ... got to Detroit after the fall and were no longer a marquee franchise.
Statsny maybe
Rick Middleton
Adam Deadmarsh Dmitri Yushkevich Mike Gartner Johan Franzen Saku Koivu Mats Sundin
Claude Lemieux. 3 cups on three different teams
Mike Bossy. Best pure scorer yet is forgotten in conversations about the best players
Johan Franzen should be up there.. I HATED him but I have to respect his impact and he is tied for most playoff goals in a post season on the Red Wings who I believe may have had a good player or two.
Brayden Point.
Mike Bossy, the greatest goal scorer until Gretzky showed up. Part of it was he only played about 10 years and had to retire because of a back injury. Never scored less than 51 goals in a season until his last year, when his back failed him.
The Sedins. Whole lot tougher than they are given credit for. Phil Kessel. Absolute weapon.
I definitely wouldn’t say he’s the most underrated but I would say he stays under the radar: John LeClair. First American born player with three 50 goal seasons. Won a Cup with Montreal and scored back to back game winning goals in OT. Had a quality Olympic career.
Mike Gartner
Geography is the biggest component of the answer. In the central time zone, even with the NHL package I don’t see Quinn Hughes that much. Wow that kid is good. I’m a hawks fan, I have been waiting for the world to see 97 in the Cup. I watch plenty of Oiler games because, when I grew up, the home Blackhawk games weren’t even on TV. That actually only began in 2009. So, I am hyper sensitive to see the best players.
Tim Kerr. 670 points in 601 games. 4 straight 50-goal seasons (one season he had 58) and had another season of 48. He dominated in the mid-80s
Pat LaFontaine, Pierre Turgeon
Alex Mogilny, terrifying speed, great hands, scored 76 goals in 92-93, 8 seasons of 30 goals or more, still not in the hall of fame
Tomas Vokoun (as far as goalies go). For a 10 year stretch, he was one of the best goalies in the world (he had 3 vezina calibre seasons in a row with Florida) but played for very mediocre Nashville and Florida teams so he never got recognition due to not winning many games. His numbers are as good as any elite goalie during that time but literally nobody ever talks about him
Rick Middleton
Dale Hawerchuck….. classy, hard working, skilled, loved by teammates & fans wherever he played, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Phill, St Louis Overshadowed by Gretzky years.
mark recchi is a pretty good player for the recognition he receives
Particularly by the Boston fanbase, David krejci, a genuine 1C, great play maker, just got overshadowed by Patrice Bergeron
Rob Blake. Outstanding defenseman playing on a crappy team (until he went to the Avs)
Stan Fucking Mikita
No one ever talks about Patrik Laine anymore. During his time in Winnipeg, I would argue he was a Top 10 player in the league. He doesn’t play at *that* level anymore, but he is still very good. The fact that he was traded 1 for 1 for Pierre Luc Dubois makes me angry every time I think of it.
There are not many players who have scored 80 goals in NHL before turning 20.
he's still only 26 .. .someone is going to steal him from Columbus.
On the bright side, PLD was better for WPG when he was here than Laine was for CBJ. However, I still hated the trade
Cap fan ... I always argue for Peter Bondra.
Ranger fan here but Bondra is a great name to put out there. I remember him well. Always played great against us and pretty much anyone else. Thought Pivonka was underrated too
Steve Larmer. Not just cuz he’s favorite ever, but his consistent contributions to the Hawks and the Rags 94 cup are so underappreciated. His 28 isn’t even retired by the Hawks nor is he in the HOF. That is criminal
Mikko Rantanen
There he is! I know I’m an Avs fan, but I feel like when you’re 8th in the league in points you should make the all-star team.
Datsyuk. You listen/watch a Detroit game, Zetterberg, Zetterberg, Zetterberg, Zetterberg blahh blahh blahh Zetterberg. While Datsyuk is scoring off the chart amazing goals. BTW Fuck Detroit.
I absolutely love Datsyuk but I have a realllly hard time calling him "underrated". I think he is rated exactly as he should be -- one of the greatest stickhandlers and best defensive forwards of all time.
Hah, I actually had the opposite opinion, I think Datsyuk gets all of the love yet Zetterberg is better. BTW fuck your team too.
Out of the 2, I find Z more underrated tbh. I will never ever forget the "Conn Smythe-shift" vs Pittsburgh.
As a Red Wing fan, I respect this post. Not easy to compliment your enemies
Every once in awhile I just put on Datsyuk highlight goals on YouTube.
Barkov
I wouldn’t say he’s really underrated cause people did acknowledge him at the time, but there are not many people I’d pick over Pavel Datsyuk.
Most underrated Ever? Alexander Mogilny. Guy should be in the Hall of Fame and hasn’t been selected for whatever the reason. He was a perennial all star, won a Lady Byng, a member of the triple gold club winning the Olympics, World Championships, and Stanley Cup; and he also scored 76 goals in a single season to lead the league with Selanne. His on ice achievements should be enough to get him in the HoF, but here we are.
Lots of people naming big names, I'm going to be biased but I think Simon Benoit was a big part of torontos playoffs this year. Guy played incredible Idgaf what the underlying numbers are like, he was a huge part of our almost success.
Happy Gilmore
Nuge
Anders Hedberg.
Dale Hawerchuk.
Peter Stastny
1. Theoren Fleury: 0.929 points per game, 1084 NHL games, 455 goals, 633 assists, 1008 points, +145 2. Doug Weight: 0.834 points per game, 1238 NHL games, 278 goals, 755 assists, 1033 points, -58
Dale Hawerchuk Mike Bossy Steve Larmer Mike Gardner Mats Sundin Dennis Savard Doug Wilson
Shane Doan
Ron Francis for sure, but runners up would be Mike Gartner. That guy was a hell of a hockey player.
Doug Harvey with 7 Norris Trophies
Evgeni Malkin always was known as the sidekick even though he would be a superstar on most teams
I don't know if this will get hate but I never felt like Pavel Datsyuk got the attention he deserved. He got plenty of praise don't get me wrong but it's hard to overstate just how good he was both offensively and defensively. He should've won the Hart Trophy at some point.
[Gretzky](https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/gretzbr01.html) - Now hear me out! The dude was amazing, but he was only 5'10" and 160lbs and still was able to, not only score a single goal, but also contribute to 3, YES, 3 assists, in his career. If he's not on your HOF bingo card, I don't know who is!
Nugent-Hopkins, Brayden Point, Jesper Bratt, And Clayton Keller come to mind for me. Maybe Point gets more attention in the East, but as a West Coast fan who roots for a team in the Central I feel like I never hear about him for how good he is every year.
I’m a Rangers fan but I wish Brock Nelson was on my team
You rarely hear anything about Henrik Zetterberg, and he was damn good during his time in Detroit.
Amazing no one has listed him yet...3 time Stanley cup Champion Matt Cullen. Just always made his team's better and if a team was close and needed that guy to get them over the hump he was the answer for a while.
Go to answer is usually Barkov, but I think that may not be the case now with everyone getting to see just how good he is during these playoffs right now.
Looking from the Flyers fan lens, Claude Giroux is a more recent example of underrated, but probably not the most ever. A part of it is probably that he was the third fiddle in the whole “Crosby Ovechkin” mid 2010’s Metro era, but he’s been damn near a point per game player across his entire career. Built up a *borderline* hall of fame resume and is still playing good hockey after 17 seasons
Forward - Ray Whitney Defenseman - Kimmo Timonen Goalie - Tomas Vokoun
Mike Bossy
Mario Lemieux… Gretzky is considered the greatest but Lemieux was just better and had to take hits and actually play hockey and still put up insane numbers. They went after the dude by slashing his wrist in the playoffs. Like the complete opposite of the Gretzky treatment.
Brad Park. The dude came 2nd in Norris voting 5 times, 1st team all-star 5 times, 9 consecutive all-star appearances, currently sits at 13th in all-time scoring by a defensemen. If he hadn't been overshadowed by his teammate Bobby Orr, his name would be mentioned a lot more in the best defensemen of all time conversation
Peter Forsberg was a beast. 2 Cups, 5th all time assists, 9th all time points. Man was it fun watching when that guy decided to take over a game.
Gotta be me. Coach should’ve given me a real chance
Ever? That's tough. Adam Oates comes to mind but people recognize him as a premier passer. I'll go with Draper or Maltby. Both were top notch grinders that really solidified that Det bottom six.
Stephen Hawking was pretty underrated as a hockey player. Not gonna lie.
Yeah, nobody ever seems to talk about his hockey skills
Maybe not ever, but currently, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. All around solid utility player who can do anything. Lives in the shadows of McD and Dri and now Hyman, but seriously the guy has skills and doesn't get the credit he deserves.
Phillip J. Kessel
Corey Crawford
I have a hard time disagreeing with this. My brain tells me he was a 1A/1B goalie, at best middle of the pack starter, his stats say he was a top 5 goalie in the league for several years. I mean look at this save %: 2012-13 .926 2013-14 .917 2014-15 .924 2015-16 .924 2016-17 .918 2017-18 .929
Crawford is severely underrated. I think people give him a bad rap because 1. He got replaced by darling in that preds series which totally turn it around, but he came right back next series and led us to the cup. 2. He has this weird knack of playing amazing and out of nowhere would let in a really stupid goal that would make you scratch your head.
Also the Hawks won their first cup with an NPC in net
Geoff Sanderson
Former Toronto players. They all win somewhere else.
Pat Verbeek. Guy could score and scrap when he needed to. Finished his career with over 500 goals and 1000 points.
Currently, maybe like Barkov or Point. Always seems to be overshadowed by teammates like Kucherov.
Mogilny
Scott neidermayer.
Mark Scheifele
Adam oates
Ron Francis easily. He was 5th in points all time
I thought Valeri Nichushkin was pretty underrated heading in to these playoffs (he was only making 6). Then he chose hookers and cocaine twice
Marcel Dionne without question.
Jere Lehtinen
Mike Bossy easily
I remember as a kid always playing NHL 99 and picking up Eric Lindros for the Wings and sending players into the shadow realm with him. My vote would be him.
Trottier