yave1964 Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Figured I would expound on a team by team basis as to the most underrated player by team. Not neccesarilly superstars but just good players who get no pub. ARIZONA: Michael Stone. WHO????? Stone is a solid hard hitting d-man who will finish in the top 15 in the league in both hits and blocked shots,a nd nobody will notice. SABRES: Cody Franson. Warts and all, he can run a power play and is better defensively than given credit for. BRUINS Jimmy Hayes came over in an under the radar deal with Florida, the kid can play and looks like he loves the game on every shift. RED WINGS: Tatar. Nyquist steals his thunder but in truth, Tatar digs hard all the time and plays a better all around game. PANTHERS: Nick Bjugstad. I have been watching him since his college days, he is a presence on the ice and uses his massive reach as well as anyone in the game. CANADIENS: Brendan Gallagher, absolutely fearless in front of the net, establishing himself as someone who will take it to the net anytime the puck is on his stick. SENATORS: Mika Zibenajad. Stone and Hoffman got the press while Mika quietly established himself. LIGHTNING: I wont allow anyone to call Tyler Johnson underated or unnoticed anymore, after his postseason if you do not know who he is you are not a hockey fan. Instead I go with the best 4th liner in the game, Brian Boyle who simply shuts teams dow and can still sneak down and score. LEAFS: Dion Phaneuf. I mean it, he can flat out play and gives it all every night, the problem is the team sucks, he is the captain and gets cremated because of it. a brilliant hard hitting gives it all top 4 d-man who is ripped on entirely too much. PENGUINS: Fleury. See Phaneuf above but moreso. Still in his twenties, has won acup and been to two finals, look at his regular season numbes, as consistent as a goalie can be. He will win another cup or more in his career. FLYERS: Michael Del Zotto brilliant with the Rangers early, got screwed up when they made a coaching change, got lost, and buried in Nashville, resurrected in Philadelphia and is back to his old self, a solid puck mover who creates on the fly. HURRICANES: Elias Lindholm. He seemed to get it the second half last year, he is gonna put 30 in the net this season. BLUEJACKETS: Boone Jenner. The only thing keeping him from becoming a Tatar/Gallagher type is health. Jackets talking top six role, if so look out. DEVILS: Andy Greene. The veteran blueliner plays the game the right way and is mentoring the kids on the back end. Never out of position. ISLANDERS: Frans Nielson. Steady player, while the big boys get the pub he puts in 50 points a year with regularity and goes unnoticed. RANGERS: Dan Girardi. Mcdonough is brilliant and young, Staal is overrated as hell, the new guy is Yandle, even Kevin Klein got more pub with his overtime goals than girardi, who quietly is the glue of the leagues best defense. Absolutely indispensable in this unit. Plays the position of shut down defender like he invented it. CAPITALS: Derek Roy. That is, if he makes the team. He was overrated in buffalo and has bounced around since then but if used right, as a third line center who can dish the puck with the best of them, he will have a solid season. had to beg for a contract, I know he has deficiencies but he brings a lot to the table in the right role. There it is, the Eastern conference underrated by team list. Before the start of the year I will do the overrated as well, and get to the Western conference too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackStraw Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 @yave1964 - Arizona is in the Eastern conference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackStraw Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 ISLANDERS: Frans Nielson. Steady player, while the big boys get the pub he puts in 50 points a year with regularity and goes unnoticed Bingo. Highly underrated player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 @yave1964 - Arizona is in the Eastern conference?Grrr. I started typing, and after arizona, I thought, do I really want to do all 30 teams at once? So i shifted on the fly and meant to take Arizona out of it before hitting post but forgot. So just consider it a Bettman style realignment, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackStraw Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Grrr. I started typing, and after arizona, I thought, do I really want to do all 30 teams at once? So i shifted on the fly and meant to take Arizona out of it before hitting post but forgot. So just consider it a Bettman style realignment, lol. Works for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun260z Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I like your list, I don't feel Dion is underrated in TO, in fact perhaps the other way. If anyone in TO is under the radar in my mind it's Bozak. Here's a guy who's entire career has been on weaker teams and he scores at a 61% pace, whereas Kesler has had the luxury of being on some really solid teams and scores at a 60% pace. All this while under the nose of the Toronto media! Now THAT's impressive. z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Agree 100% on Phaneuf. Sad to say that due to the number of times we play other teams, I know zot about the other guys you point out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Grabner is my choice for the Leafs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD19372 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I would add Michael Raffl on the list because he helps with his size, awareness and playmaking ability and is a good compliment to G and Jake, but Del Zotto really has been desperately needed by the Flyers to be a stabilizing force. He helps them get the puck out of the zone quickly. Another guy that I think is underrated is the Rangers Mats Zuccarrello. He is very creative with the puck and makes some excellent passes, and is very good even strength or on the power play. He always seems to play well against the Orange and Black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 @FD19372Good call on Zucccarrello, I think. Pretty good list altogether, although I cannot agree about Phaneuf. I get where @yave1964 is going with it, but maybe a tad too high on him. I'm not sure who I go with for Flyers if I was doing a list from scratch. It's one on those things where I'm probably too close. But Del Zotto is a pretty good choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Tatar is a decent choice, but I would probably have picked Dekeyser for the Red Wings. He is young, and his offensive contribution isn't quite what I was hoping for to this point, but he has really been a defensive stalwart the past couple of seasons, providing the stability in the back end. Look at how much better Kyle Quincey got when paired with DDK! He doesn't have Tatar's flash, but there is brilliance to his defensive play. For such a young player, he plays like a mature veteran. It is very easy to forget about him, because he is so consistent. I'd say DDK is far more under the radar than Tatar is. He also doesn't have his own clothing line! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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