Alex Kovalev with Ottawa! Most frustrating player to watch ever!
I also remember Chris Kelly used to have a thousand breakaways a game and couldn't finish
Jeff Friesen could skate and stickhandle with the best but really lacked finishing ability. Skate, skate, skate, hold the puck for ages, but do nothin' with it!
Jeff Friesen could skate and stickhandle with the best but really lacked finishing ability. Skate, skate, skate, hold the puck for ages, but do nothin' with it!
I don't think that's him...HR doesn't have him ever wearing #13, and he definitely didn't play for the Sharks when they wore that uniform.
It's strange how absolutely finished Friesen was by age 28.
I don't think that's him...HR doesn't have him ever wearing #13, and he definitely didn't play for the Sharks when they wore that uniform.
It's strange how absolutely finished Friesen was by age 28.
That's definitely Friesen - he had a training camp tryout with SJ at the end of his career in 2008.
What happened with Friesen is pretty simple - he got fat. Or big, at least.
He came into the league as an explosive winger with speed to burn, and was an electric player with the puck on his stick in his SJ days, playing at 6'0 185.
By the end of his career he was 6'0 217. Compared to his first 5 years in the league, he was a big, slow slug. The bulk he gained over the course of his career absolutely killed his speed and explosiveness.
Hm, must have missed that one. I feel like everyone who played themselves out of the league after the lockout also had an unsuccessful training camp 2 year later with their most famous team, but I didn't catch that one.
There's a reason Michael Nylander was known as "Circles" among the Caps fans. Great puck handler, but seemed to move side-ways and backwards as often as forward.
Jeff Friesen was strongly considered for the 1998 Olympics and was on many lists to make that team including mine since his speed would have helped. But he just melted away shortly after that.
Viktor Kozlov comes to mind as well for this thread. They called him the "fiddler" for a reason. That's a compliment because he had a wand for a stick, but he should have put up more points.
I always thought Arnott had all the tools to be a dominant player. Hard, hard shot. Big player at 6'4". But he never put it together fully.
But folks, this thread belongs to Alexei Kovalev. It begins and ends with him. Drove Rangers fans bonkers waiting for him to "break out" early in his career.
In Montreal, Petrov, Courtnall and Flockhart were mentioned, and all 3 fit in real good, especially Petrov. One other name needs to be added. Jan Bulis. Never seen a guy miss as many open nets as Jan. If you wanted the guy to score, you put a goalie in the net and maybe a defender in front of him and gave him no angle. If you put him 10-15 feet in front of the net and put the goalie off on the side, Jan was more likely to hit the goalie than the net.
I think everyone saw you the first time. As you have shown through out your posting career I think it's well established you dont like the guy, but he had a career s% of 14,7 whish is pretty good actually so I dont know why you are bringin him up. He just didnt shoot very much.
I think everyone saw you the first time. As you have shown through out your posting career I think it's well established you dont like the guy, but he had a career s% of 14,7 whish is pretty good actually so I dont know why you are bringin him up. He just didnt shoot very much.
And an 18.1 s% in 151 playoffs-games to go with that... As you say a pass-first guy is not an good exampel. Especially one who when it mathers ups his score.
