Will Jonathan Cheechoo Ever Come Back To The NHL

[JagerMeister]

will he ever come back?

[flyercanuck]

I think the game is just too fast for Cheech now,

[J0e Th0rnton]

No. The double hernia and fact that he was not fast to begin with 

[JagerMeister]

No. The double hernia and fact that he was not fast to begin with 

i dont think he was ever a bust actully.. didnt he get injured or some sickness after the 50 goal season? was it hernia?

[yave1964]

He scored all those goals with Thornton setting him up, making him appear better than he was. Bouncing around Europe and the A is about all that he can expect going forward.

[flyercanuck]

@yave1964

 

He did manage a 28 goal season prior to big Joe showing up there. But his passes certainly helped Cheechoos scoring.

[jammer2]

 Cheech....Blaine Stoughton, Al Secord...all guys that pulled off 50 once and could never do it again.

[yave1964]

@yave1964

 

He did manage a 28 goal season prior to big Joe showing up there. But his passes certainly helped Cheechoos scoring.

He most certainly did, but then he doubled it with Thornton feeding him the puck. But as time went on and he got slower and the game got quicker he simply got buried. One heck of a shot, kind of reminded me of Andrechuk for a minute there but the game is too fast paced for him to succeed.

[J0e Th0rnton]

He most certainly did, but then he doubled it with Thornton feeding him the puck. But as time went on and he got slower and the game got quicker he simply got buried. One heck of a shot, kind of reminded me of Andrechuk for a minute there but the game is too fast paced for him to succeed.

No doubt.

 

Cheechoo was already not a fast guy. The double sports Hernia just brutalized his speed.

 

However, before Joe Thornton arrived in the dead puck era, he played on the 3rd line with Scott Thornton and Mike Ricci. Not bad scoring 28 goals with only 2nd tier PP time, 20 of them even strength with those guys.

He had some slick moves and good ability to get into scoring spots alone.

 

And that was at 23. It was expected he would get better. Certainly Thornton feeding him those pucks bumped his numbers after clutch and grab went away, but I think he could have been a 40 goal scorer without him.

 

Thornton definitely was able to elevate his linemates to insane degrees. A lot of Thornton's linemates learned a lot from him. Enough to be good players even without him. Ryane Clowe was the most obvious example. He was a goon. Plain and simple. He was put on Thornton's line to be a John Scott, and ended up learning key skills because Thornton went out of his way to teach him puck possession, cycling, Corner mucking, using his size for things other than fighting, and prime scoring areas to go to. He barely even played on Thornton's line after 2009, but he kept those skills.

 

The other extreme example I can think of is Mike Knuble.. Milan Michalek's game was a different type, but he learned a lot about getting into scoring areas from Joe.

 

Guys Thornton just plain elevated but were unable to retain those numbers, Cheechoo is the first to come to mind, but Bill Guerin, Glen Murray are the next two.

 

Boston was still around a playoff spot when they traded Joe, and fell off a cliff for YEARS. You can't replace a generational superstar with 3 depth players. People act like getting rid of him instantly made Boston better, but they plain sucked. Despite adding Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara. By the time they won a cup, one member of the 2005-06 Roster remained. Patrice Bergeron. Tim Thomas kinda counts I guess, although he played zero games until they realized Raycroft was not going to win them games.