Which NHLers have you been wrong about?

[#freejame]

For good or bad. A lot of us have favorites that never materialize and whipping boys who turn into studs. 
 

Bad: the original one for me is Denis Hamel. My first prospect love as a kid. I thought he was going to be great, then that scumbag Yashin blew out his knee. The Islanders remain one of my least favorite teams to this day

Bad #2: Mikhail Grigorenko. Man, I really liked him when we drafted him. My dad reached out to the Sabres and told him I was deployed and stoked to have him and they sent me a signed hat. I’ll blame his development on Teddy Nolan because I don’t like Nolan anyway, but I doubt he was ever going to make it. He wasn’t all bad for us, turning into a steal of a deal for ROR, but obviously that went nowhere too. 

Good #1/2: Zucker and Lyon. I knocked both signings at the time and they both  turned into some of my favorites. Zucker has been exactly what we needed (during the regular season) and Lyon was great last year with an awesome personality. 

Bonus: what initially got me thinking about this is how wrong I was about Zack Wheeler. He perpetually let me down early in his career in fantasy baseball so when the Phillies initially signed him in 2020 I was pretty shocked. Boy, was I wrong there. 

[Nacho Libre]

Reinhart. (Won’t happen again, but that 4th post draft year first half before the outdoor game on Jan 1 was ROUGH, to start)

Samuelsson. More multifaceted than I knew.

Marek Zagrapan - surely the next Wayne 

[ponokasabre]

Hudson Fasching - thought that was the next Marcus Foligno

Steve Bernier - See above

 

And ya its Matty Samuelsson, i would have bought him out and wouldn't have looked back and I would have been so so wrong

[tom webster]

Bad - Corey Tropp, although the arrogant me blames injuries 

Bad - Jacque Richard although his one season in Quebec keeps me defiant

Good - One of Adam Creighton’s early supporters

Good - I still count myself among the few that kept insisting Tage would be a star.

 

[Porous Five Hole]

I was wrong about Devon Levi. I expected him to become a good NHL starter and not waiver wire fodder. 

[#freejame]

28 minutes ago, Nacho Libre said:

Reinhart. (Won’t happen again, but that 4th post draft year first half before the outdoor game on Jan 1 was ROUGH, to start)

Samuelsson. More multifaceted than I knew.

Marek Zagrapan - surely the next Wayne 

I always thought you were a true believer in Samson. Color me disappointed. 

26 minutes ago, ponokasabre said:

Hudson Fasching - thought that was the next Marcus Foligno

Steve Bernier - See above

 

And ya its Matty Samuelsson, i would have bought him out and wouldn't have looked back and I would have been so so wrong

Fasching is a good one. I liked him a lot and thought he was going to be solid. He also had a great story with his brother. 

[Nacho Libre]

2 minutes ago, #freejame said:

I always thought you were a true believer in Samson. Color me disappointed. 

Fasching is a good one. I liked him a lot and thought he was going to be solid. He also had a great story with his brother. 

Was one of the last. You are forgetting 2017. His 4th year post draft and he has a total of 11 points at the turn of the calendar  

11 in 38 games his third full time year as a #2 overall was looking dire

[LGR4GM]

Tage Thompson. Thought after he couldn't hack it when first traded he was just a tall bust who was only gonna ever be like a 30pt guy at best. I also thought Girgenson's could be far better than he ever was. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Tage as well.

[dudacek]

Fasching was a good one for me, was real excited about that kid; obviously Levi; Jack Quinn (please, please pull a Samuelsson).

But going back to my youth when I read about the Sabres more than I watched them, there were so many: Steve Patrick, Paul Cyr, John Tucker, Shawn Anderson, Brad Miller — I think I must have picked one player every draft.

Edited July 8 by dudacek

[Nacho Libre]

Dylan Hunter

Didn’t he have like 200 points in junior or something one year I was like this guy is gonna be a Great

With the bloodline too 

Edit 117 points in 62 games (2nd post draft junior season lol). The kind of player that teaches you a lot about how juniors work 

Edited July 8 by Nacho Libre

[Brawndo]

Alex Nylander and to make things worse I took a premature victory lap on here. 
 

I was one of earliest members of the Benny Brigade though 

[Nacho Libre]

I feel like everyone kinda bought the kool-aid on Nylander to an extent 

[tom webster]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Fasching was a good one for me, was real excited about that kid; obviously Levi; Jack Quinn (please, please pull a Samuelsson).

But going back to my youth when I read about the Sabres more than I watched them, there were so many: Steve Patrick, Paul Cyr, John Tucker, Shawn Anderson, Brad Miller — I think I must of picked one player every draft.

Paul Cyr, Norm LaCombe and Sean McKenna they were all good ones when I thought Scotty was a God and couldn’t be wrong.

[JP51]

Loved Zach Kassian, would have loved him to stay, he did not turn out to be Cam Neeley or even Keith Primeau like I thought he would.  And one for those who may or may not have known it, we drafted Wayne Gretzky's brother Keith way back and as a kid I just knew he was gonna be like his brother...  I havent ever really been more wrong about anyone, in my life... lol 

[...]

The last one I pegged wrong was this guy.

[Nacho Libre]

Sometimes guys fall in the draft because they should fall in the draft 

We anecdotally had a run of high picks where the expectation was like “superstar 1C” and the immediate impression was like, “he seems to have trouble skating.” Grigs etc 

remember “Grigs and Girgs” lol

Frankly even Reinhart could hardly stay on his feet at first. True he didn’t end up becoming a C but elite nonetheless.

Edited July 8 by Nacho Libre

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, tom webster said:

Good - I still count myself among the few that kept insisting Tage would be a star.

I predicted his breakout season.

 

 

The one thing I've been right about on Sabrespace, I'm hanging onto that forever.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

Alex Nylander and to make things worse I took a premature victory lap on here. 

Don't feel bad.  I remember William Nylander made a remark to the effect that Alex was the better Nylander.

[Taro T]

Just now, Doohickie said:

Don't feel bad.  I remember William Nylander made a remark to the effect that Alex was the better Nylander.

Too bad so many folks, Tim Murray included, didn't realize he was referring to the fact that in Willie's opinion Alex is a better quality human being than Willie is; he was not referring to their relatve hockey playing acumens.  😉 

[mjd1001]

Both of mine were 2nd/3rd round picks from the same year...Justin Baily and Nick Baptiste

Especially Baptiste. After watching him in preseason/camp, I was sure given enough time to develop he (both of them actually) were going to be very good NHLers.

[transient]

🤔 I was pretty sure that the goofy looking string-bean of a backup goalie that was flopping all over the place in the early '90s was going to have a hard time succeeding in the NHL... 😄

Edited July 8 by transient

[Jorcus]

Rasmus Asplund. I watched him have a great AHL playoff. Seemed to have enough skill but just never grew into an NHL player. Kind of bummed he did not work out.

[#freejame]

A lot of these names highlight the fact that we went a decade with the inability to develop a bottom six 

[JKB1646]

Lane Hutson: Too Small, C- skater and a defensive liability! This is more about giving credit to the HC with little man syndrome, MSL, than me being wrong. Still think Hutson on another team never makes it out of the minors