Rest in peace to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. It’s safe to say Johnny was the greatest player to come out of our state, wish he could’ve reached even higher heights had his career progressed.
I changed best defender to best defenseman after strong consideration, very excited to see which of the two pretty obvious frontrunners wins, the debate should be magnificent, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
by Imsorrymanyt
31 Comments
MacKenzie Blackwood
I’ll throw a controversial one out there with mike mcleod. Guy had all the tools to be one of the best fourth liners in the league and… well…
Michael McLeod is certainly in the discussion for wasted potential.
Wasted potential definitely Blackwood. I’d argue Michael Ryder being the worst though.
Michael McLeod. Was a >PPG guy in juniors, wasn’t anywhere near that good offensively with us, but was pretty solid in his role when he got going and now it’s all gone
Maybe McLeod?
Alexander Semak
Most potential…Jack Hughes 100 upvotes vs. Nemec with 70…make it make sense.
Pavel Zacha
Zacha?
Pavel Zacha
Nikita Gusev
Cory?
Cory Schneider
Mcleod
Jacob Jofesson. Pretty sure he was first round pick and was only good at one thing – Shootouts
I’ll throw out a very old one but Rocky Trottier was basically a nepo pick
I took this from a different angle and thought of Schneider. More in that the team in front of him squandered all his elite potential and instead of backstopping the team to playoff wins he ended up having to valiantly hold down the fort for underwhelming teams during his entire prime.
Alexander Holtz
Blackwood. He’s an athletic freak but for whatever reason his concentration at times during games just becomes blank and he gets blindsided with shots that he could have easily saved.
Holtz
Reid Boucher was nearly setting records in juniors, and seemed like we landed a late-blooming surefire sniper good for 40+ goals per year in his prime. He was a complete bust, unrelated to terrible off-ice issues. And if we are also now counting off-ice crimes with McLeod, then Boucher has that going for him too…
Joe Blandisi
Kovalchuk,
Reid Boucher
I’m only saying Boucher because McLeod hasn’t been found guilty yet.
Mike Danton
Neil Brady, picked 3rd OA in 1986, was a horrific whiff.
Any of the Swedes (Tedenby, Josefson, Urbom, Bergfors). Holtz is right there with the rest of his countrymen, too, but he’s already selected as the most overrated.
Severson has star skill level but a 2 cent head
Zacha, Tedenby, Holtz, Eric Gelinas all clearly had high skill levels they didn’t come close to living up to
Guys like Josefson should’ve been better than they were but eh
My answer goes to Alex Holtz
I voted for Blackwood for overrated, so this is my take.. we drafted him pretty high w the 7th overall pick. We drafted him to be Jack’s wingman, w the potential to be a bonafide sniper and offensive minded forwarded.
With the phrase “most wasted potential” I’m including both player and franchise. Franchise too because of how the Devils developed him. I don’t think he was gonna succeed w that coaching staff placing him on the third and correct me if I’m wrong, fourth line? He needed better centers to play with and a longer leash. I wouldn’t scratch him over a mistake or take away his minutes. He’s developing still.
He didn’t see much power play time. The other team is down a guy. We’re in offense mode. Just put Holtz out there. He needed to be put in situations where he could succeed not the bottom six. You don’t draft 7th overall for a bottom six.
With the return we got from him, how he was scouted and where he was drafted, how the staff handled him and how the trade market viewed him… just seems like wasted potential.
Scored 16 goals w terrible minutes and linemates. Prob had better matchups out there versing the other teams bottom six. Was a minus fifteen. Just don’t know what to make of him or what to do with him. Let some other team figure him out.
Let’s go back to Ahonen or Damphousse
To goalies taken high with no chance at getting regular NHL time the minute they were drafted.
Has to be zacha, 6th overall pick that never really panned out for us but has turned into a pretty decent pickup for the bruins. Wish we were able to unlock what the bruins did for him