Le vote d’hier pour le joueur/prospect avec le plus de potentiel a été serré – l’avenir est prometteur les gars !!
Beaucoup d’enthousiasme pour Buium, Boldy et Yurov, avec une égalité entre Wallstedt et Faber. Les meilleurs commentaires de chaque joueur ont reçu le même nombre de votes positifs, Brock ayant reçu plus de commentaires dans l’ensemble avec une petite marge.
Cela dit, le joueur du Wild avec le plus de potentiel revient à Brock Faber, du Minnesota !
Pour le jour 6, quel acteur de franchise (de tous les temps) avait énormément de potentiel mais ne l’a jamais vraiment vu se matérialiser et l’a donc gaspillé ?
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Ok-Curve5569
36 Comments
Addison
Josh Harding was developing into a top 10 goalie in the league before he was diagnosed with MS :/
I have to give it to **Colton Gillies**.
Colton Gillies was a highly touted prospect when he was drafted by the Minnesota Wild, but he never lived up to the hype and has some of the worst stats for players that played over 100 games in a Wild uniform.
**Here’s more information about him:**
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**1. Draft and Expectations**
– **Drafted:** 16th overall in the 1st round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild.
– **Expectations:** As a first-round pick, the Wild had high hopes for Gillies to become a power forward with size, speed, and physicality. His junior career with the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL showed potential, as he was known for his grit and leadership.
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**2. Time with Minnesota Wild**
– **Seasons:** Gillies played parts of four seasons with the Wild from 2008-2012.
– **Games Played:** 154 games with the Wild.
– **Statistics:** During his time in Minnesota, Gillies scored 6 goals and 12 assists for a total of 18 points in 154 games. **His points per game (PPG) average was around 0.12!**
– **Role:** Despite his high draft position, Gillies primarily played in a bottom-six role, often focusing on physical play and defensive responsibilities rather than offense. His offensive production never developed to meet the expectations of a first-round draft pick.
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**3. Waivers and Departure**
– In 2012, Gillies was placed on waivers by the Wild and was claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wild eventually decided to move on from him after his lack of offensive output and failure to establish himself as a key contributor.
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**4. Post-NHL Career**
– After leaving the NHL, Gillies bounced around in various leagues, including stints in the AHL and overseas in the KHL, German DEL, and Slovak leagues. He never found consistent success and gradually transitioned out of top-level professional hockey.
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**5. Strengths and Weaknesses**
– **Strengths:**
– **Physicality:** Gillies brought size and grit to the ice, standing 6’4” and weighing around 200 pounds.
– **Leadership:** He served as a captain for Team Canada at the 2007 U18 World Championships, and in junior hockey, he was known for his leadership qualities.
– **Weaknesses:**
– **Offensive Production:** Despite being a first-round pick, Gillies never found his offensive game at the NHL level.
– **Development:** His skills never developed to match the initial potential he showed in junior hockey.
Shout-out James Sheppard
Benoit Pouliot
Filip Johansson
Remember that defenceman Fenton drafted in the first round? Filjo? Exactly.
AJ Thelen
What about Benoit Pouliet, drafted 4th overall in 2005 draft then…nothing happened. 18 pts in 65 games over 4 seasons.
Another one for Calen Addison. Dude was touted, was decent if not good at pp qb up to the point he earned a couple Calder votes in the trophy tracker but his attitude was trash and his refusal to improve his defensive side of the game was what ruined him. This is not the NFL that you play offense only. He was traded and then he was cut and now I don’t think he’s even signed for the upcoming season.
Matt Dumba, though not entirely through any fault of his own. He kept showing signs of improvement and really looked like the offensive dman the team needed with a bomb for a shot. Then he tore his pec in that fight with Tkachuk and was never the same after. His shot just never was the threat it was before the injury and though he’s still in the league, he never hit the potential a lot of people saw in him.
Best goalie might be faber too
Erik Haula. Hear me out.
Haula always seemed to be in the dog house and was never the favored child with Coyle, Nino, and Zucker playing (which were supposed to be the young core to lead us to a cup), but when he did play with limited minutes he was efficient and actually put up points during a playoff run, which is more than any of the aforementioned guys can say. He was also a key part of a line that could shut down Chicago’s top line. Patrick Kane said « you’re gonna be sick in this league » as they shook hands after Chicago eliminated us in OT.
As soon as he went to Vegas during the expansion year his point production doubled. His style of play fit in well with the fast placed tempo Vegas played. His career took a hit with not one, but two, had injuries which eliminated entire seasons. But he still recovered to show that he can be a solid 2C or 3C player with above average PK skills. He’s demonstrated this in the NHL, which is more than can be said for Gillies.
The way the Wild managed Haula is the definition of wasted potential.
(He wasn’t going to be the next superstar, but of course no one we’re talking about for this spot was going to be a superstar.)
Matt Dumba before getting injured was on pace for a top 20 defender. Thanks Tkachuck!
Submitted for consideration – A.J. Thelen – 12th overall pick in the 2004 entry draft.
Played ZERO NHL games, but had NHL talent.
Jordan Greenway. Had (and still has) all the tools to be a dominant power forward in the NHL. Given plenty of talented linemates and ice time to put it together. Yet he seemed to play smaller than players half his size (barely averaged a hit a game with the Wild) and displayed one of the worst case of yips I’ve seen. By all accounts he seems like a good guy and maybe he’ll put it together with Buffalo but for getting over 300 games with the Wild, it just never clicked.
My husband and I talked about this last night but we weren’t quite sure how this category would be defined. For the definition given in this post, we said Granlund. He was expected to be very top-notch but things just never fully came together.
Another possible definition we thought was “a player who was traded by the team before reaching their full potential”, which we said was Brett Burns.
Martin Havlat comes to mind. All the skill in the world, had proven it when he wanted to, but just didn’t seem to care like 90% of the time.
I rank him higher than some of the guys that were drafted and just couldn’t adjust or grow (Pouliot, Sheppard, Thelen, etc.)
Benoit Pouliot
Bearing in mind that Alexandre Daigle once played for the Wild, it has to be AJ Thelan. How can there be any other answer?
Shepherd pouliot thelen or gillies. So much disappointment
Definitely Benoit Pouliot. Number 4 overall pick. Did literally nothing in the league
It’s Pouilot then Sheppard
I’m going to buck the trend here of good prospects that sucked and say Brent Burns. With the benefit of hindsight, we basically traded away a future Norris winner for practically nothing.
In my mind, it’s not really wasting potential if the player just can’t transition to the NHL. To me, that means they had no potential unless they were just exceptionally lazy or exceptionally mismimaged. Those guys belong in a most disappointing category. Burns on the other hand had tons of potential as one of the league’s best young defenders and was coming off his best year before we traded him.
Any of our 1st round picks from 2005-2008…
05 – Pouliet 4th overall, 06 – James Sheppard 9th overall, 07 – Colton Gillies 16th overall, 08 – Tyler Cuma 23rd overall
On paper, Jordan Greenway was gonna be an absolute monster. And he disappointed us over and over again.
Hear me out: Kirill Kaprizov
As a player, everything you would ever want. But there’s a five (realistically, four) year gap between his draft and debut that you can never get back.
Especially for the timing. What if he’s in the NHL for the stretch/playoff run in 2016-17, the best Wild squad ever? Or if he was around in 2017-18, which was basically that Wild team’s last hurrah. A lot of prime years from Spurgeon and Brodin… gone
Blane Russia, Blame Fletcher, whoever, but to me, losing three-four years of Kaprizov out-weigh the gap between, say, Zack Phillips being a bust or averageish player.
Deep cuts pick is Roman Voloshenko, he was the OG Russian hype prospect for the Wild. 33 goals, 60 points in 69 games for the Aeros in his first year NA, then completely stopped trying the following season and back to Russia, eventually turning into a VHL caliber player. He was our top ranked prospect at one point lol.
Donato. He’s still young, but man… he had everyone’s hopes up after he scored the OT winner against St. Louis right after we acquired him. He the got traded to the Sharks, drafted by the Kraken, and then Chicago, which killed his career.
I would say the 2018 first round draft pick.
I think Calen Addison takes the cake for the most wasted potential. He toyed with our hearts.
Some honorable mentions are Greenway, Granlund, Fiala, and Zucker. These guys were good players, but each one of them seemed to let us down in terms of potential. All of them showed signs of being what we expected, but none of them were able to do it.
Zucker was fast, but dang, if he was on a breakaway, he couldn’t hit the net to save his life.
Granlund was really good, but he was expected to be better than he ended up being, especially as a center.
Fiala still has many Wild fans hearts, especially since he left via trade that gave us our Superman. Fiala showed signs of being that guy that could compliment Kaprizov, but he would continuously take dumb penalties and would mentally checkout of games sometimes.
Greenway was also the epitome of wasted potential with his size and strength. He showed us many times that he could use that to his advantage, but it only seemed to happen after he would be called out by the coaching staff.
Couldn’t you get a picture of Fabes with his glasses?
Holy cow, so many duds to choose from. Pouliot, Sheppard, Greenway, Dumba. But I’m gonna have to go with Mikael Granlund. Picked #9 overall, he was hyped up so much because he was dominating the Fin league, so already competing at an elite level. He was supposed to add to the scoreboard at a time when the Wild desperately needed offense. He turned out to be a pass-first player that just never seemed to be able to elevate his game to the NHL.
I’m going to throw out Charlie Coyle on this one. That guy had moments where he looked like he could have been a top 20 player in the league.
I also always felt like the org kind of botched his development by rushing him into the league as a 20 year old. Starting him on the wing and flipping him back and forth between center. He never really settled into a defined role on the team or had the break out season that it felt like he should have had.
Benoit Pouliot
Most wasted potential… Charlie Coyle