NHL's Biggest Busts: Part II
Being pick at the #1 spot could be lethal. It's do or die. Lots of them will never raise to the expections that teams have for them. Sometimes, the player cracks under the pressure. Sometimes it's work ethic; sometimes it's the scouting squad who simply make a mistake.
Our second player, in NHL biggest busts, can fall in that last category where scouts are so high on a player that they becomes blind. Because he deserved it and, mostly, because Stefan is Matt's "secret" guilty pleasure; Patrik Stefan is our second winner in NHL biggest busts.
Draft in 1999, The selection of Patrick Stefan is a bit puzzling considering that the Sedin Twins, Tim Connelly and Martin Havlat were all avaiable that year. When you look at Stefan's numbers, there's nothing to be excited. His best NHL season was in 2003-2004 with a grand total of 40 points. When you look before that season, Stefan was able to have seasons of 15 and 35 points (IHL) and 25,31,23,34 with Atlanta. Stefan was a no show since the beginning, but people, in Atlanta, had faith (it's tough to admit a huge mistake like this). Faithful there were until Ilya Kovalchuk make his debut with a 51 points rookie season followed by a 67 and 87 points season. In only 3 seasons, Kovalchuk was able to surpass the total of points of Stefan who played 6 season in Atlanta. From there, Stefan was nothing more then a ghost and when Marc Savard arrived in Atlanta in 2002-2003 and delivered a 47 season points, the choice of Stefan was even more embarassing. Stefan was not the forward Atlanta though and his defensive play was, at time, horrible since he manage to put an astonishing -41 (career total). Finally, Atlanta had enough and traded him, this year, to the Dallas Stars for Niko Kapanen.
Stefan is the best example of a team who made an horrible choice due to a blind scouting team. When you look back at the numbers of Stefan; there's no way this guy could have been an impact player in the NHL. Of course, the selection of Heatly and Kovalchuk were excellent but can you imagine what Atlanta could have been if they had selected Martin Havlat instead of Patrik Stefan?
Our second player, in NHL biggest busts, can fall in that last category where scouts are so high on a player that they becomes blind. Because he deserved it and, mostly, because Stefan is Matt's "secret" guilty pleasure; Patrik Stefan is our second winner in NHL biggest busts.
Draft in 1999, The selection of Patrick Stefan is a bit puzzling considering that the Sedin Twins, Tim Connelly and Martin Havlat were all avaiable that year. When you look at Stefan's numbers, there's nothing to be excited. His best NHL season was in 2003-2004 with a grand total of 40 points. When you look before that season, Stefan was able to have seasons of 15 and 35 points (IHL) and 25,31,23,34 with Atlanta. Stefan was a no show since the beginning, but people, in Atlanta, had faith (it's tough to admit a huge mistake like this). Faithful there were until Ilya Kovalchuk make his debut with a 51 points rookie season followed by a 67 and 87 points season. In only 3 seasons, Kovalchuk was able to surpass the total of points of Stefan who played 6 season in Atlanta. From there, Stefan was nothing more then a ghost and when Marc Savard arrived in Atlanta in 2002-2003 and delivered a 47 season points, the choice of Stefan was even more embarassing. Stefan was not the forward Atlanta though and his defensive play was, at time, horrible since he manage to put an astonishing -41 (career total). Finally, Atlanta had enough and traded him, this year, to the Dallas Stars for Niko Kapanen.
Stefan is the best example of a team who made an horrible choice due to a blind scouting team. When you look back at the numbers of Stefan; there's no way this guy could have been an impact player in the NHL. Of course, the selection of Heatly and Kovalchuk were excellent but can you imagine what Atlanta could have been if they had selected Martin Havlat instead of Patrik Stefan?
posted by Latrappe at 9:29 PM
1 Comments:
Bigger bust than Daigle IMO.
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