Beck Malenstyn's Goal shows us that...

[matter2003]

Often hear people who are great at pickup basketball say they could take NBA players who are bench players that never play, but then get absolutely crushed by them in a "no-contest" type way when they get a chance to play them.

That reminded me of Malenstyn scoring on that play...while there are probably a lot of people that think they are way better players and scorers in their leagues than someone like Malenstyn who is a 4th line player, the truth is he would dominate them and their league and score at will, like 5-10 goals a game any game he wanted. 

The difference in offensive skill between the best "pickup" hockey players and NHL 4th liners is still night and day and I think we forget that sometimes.

Edited 52 minutes ago by matter2003

[Doohickie]

Even Matt Ellis would skate circles around anyone that posts on this forum.

[mjd1001]

It kind of reminds me of the discussion that comes up... Could the best college football team beat the worst NFL team? 

Could the best Alabama team of the decade beat the Detroit Lions when they were owing 16? 

There are people who argue. Yes, the college team could win and I think that's crazy. 

I think those games would probably be 70 to nothing... Depending on how hard the NFL team wanted to try.

Oftentimes the very best college teams of all time will have 10% or less of their roster that is drafted into the NFL, and many of those players may or may not even make an impact. Not to mention they practice less, they have less complicated schemes, it all matters. 

I agree with your original point, and it just made me think of that argument I just listed above.

[LETSTUCHINGO]

The fact that this point has to be made is a sad state of affairs!

[Amerks8796]

Figured it was common knowledge. But I played a floor hockey game about 15-20 years ago at the facility in Rochester in East Ridge Rd. I was young then, and so were my teammates. We all played competitive travel hockey, but weren't good enough to play over division 3 hockey. Anyway, out comes a team with guys like Scott Metcalfe, Jody Gage, Randy Cunneyworth, Scott Nichol etc. Nichol may have still been playing but everyone else was retired. The way they dismantled us was comical. We were younger and faster but the precision they had with the puck really drove home just how good pros are, even guys who don't make it past the AHL. 

Edited 37 minutes ago by Amerks8796

[Pimlach]

The NBA active roster for a game is only 12 to 15 players.  NBA backups would absolutely destroy non NBA players.  

Dahlin laughed and said he knew Malenstyn had some really good skills.   

Many NHL 4th liners were once high skill players.  I knew a guy that played youth hockey against Adam Mair and said he would score double digit goals pretty much every game and just dominate everybody.    

[Taro T]

13 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

Figured it was common knowledge. But I played a floor hockey game about 15-20 years ago at the facility in Rochester in East Ridge Rd. I was young then, and so were my teammates. We all played competitive travel hockey, but weren't good enough to play over division 3 hockey. Anyway, out comes a team with guys like Scott Metcalfe, Jody Gage, Randy Cunneyworth, Scott Nichol etc. Nichol may have still been playing but everyone else was retired. The way they dismantled us was comical. We were younger and faster but the precision they had with the puck really drove home just how good pros are, even guys who don't make it past the AHL. 

To the bolded, 100%.

Shockingly, the 800 or so players that actually get to the highest level of the sport are all (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions and even they are in an elite, just not quite as elite, company) within the top 1,000 or so players in the world.

[LGR4GM]

34 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Often hear people who are great at pickup basketball say they could take NBA players who are bench players that never play, but then get absolutely crushed by them in a "no-contest" type way when they get a chance to play them.

That reminded me of Malenstyn scoring on that play...while there are probably a lot of people that think they are way better players and scorers in their leagues than someone like Malenstyn who is a 4th line player, the truth is he would dominate them and their league and score at will, like 5-10 goals a game any game he wanted. 

The difference in offensive skill between the best "pickup" hockey players and NHL 4th liners is still night and day and I think we forget that sometimes.

I always think about football. In College you might be playing against 5 or 6 NFL players at a time, in the NFL, everyone is that all the time. There's thousands of college football players, a few hundred get drafted, and only a select few of them make NFL teams. 

We often talk about depth of NHL drafts. The draft produces between 50 and 60 NHL players for every 224 players selected. Now think about how many CHL, USHL, NCAA. J20, and MHL players are draft eligible each year. Only 224 get taken, and only 50ish will play 100 NHL games. 

I know UB athletes that treat college like a joke because they are going to be big in the NFL. It is great to have that dream, but you making it is slim, you being good enough to retire and live off what you earned is even slimmer. Pro-athletes in 2025 are truly elite.